Illegal animal trade
Globally, trade in animals is a major environmental problem. Species at risk of extinction are being bought and sold to become pets or used as food, natural medicine, souvenirs etc.
A monitor lizard smuggled in a sock inside a speaker.
Photo: US-Fish-And-Wildlife-Services
Turtles packed and smuggled in newspaper and tape.
Photo: Bob-Herndon-US-Fish-And-Wildlife-Services
Snakes in pantihose, smuggled inside a speaker.
Photo: Bob-Herndon-US-Fish-And-Wildlife-Services
A king cobra smuggled inside a jar of chips.
Photo: US-Fish-And-Wildlife-Services
Reptiles are often smuggled
Reptiles are the most common group of species involved in the illegal trade of live animals. Because most reptiles can cope well on very little food and water, they are unfortunately “practical” to smuggle. Many reptile collectors are prepared to pay a lot for unusual species of snakes, lizards and turtles. When live animals are smuggled, the conditions for them are often very poor from an animal welfare perspective.
Pelts and other animal origin products confiscated on the JFK Airport in New York.
Photo: Steve-Hillebrand
Smuggled asian songbirds confiscated by the Los Angeles police.
A slow lori getting its teeth pulled in connection to smuggling.
Photo: Materialscientist-CC-BY-SA
Snakes and pangolins exposed to illegal animal trade in Myanmar.
Photo: Dan-Bennett-CC-BY
CITES
To try to deal with this problem, there is an international treaty called CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). It regulates how and whether species can be bought and sold. If a species is listed by CITES, it means that trade in that animal is either completely illegal or requires a permit. This applies both to live animals and to products that contain animal parts, such as skins, bones, eggs or meat.
TRAFFIC
To monitor compliance with CITES regulations, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) founded an organisation called TRAFFIC. It works to monitor trade in animals, to report illegal trade, to inform people what is permitted or not, and to propose legislation that can limit smuggling.