Black market animals: the stealing, smuggling and selling of endangered species as pets is a $10 billion illegal business worldwide - special report

0 Comments | Current Events, April 14, 1997

They have weird names and even weirder looks. The Komodo dragon, for instance, is a 10-foot-long meat-eating lizard from Indonesia. The pigmy marmoset (photo at left) is a tiny, big-eyed, monkeylike creature from South America. The shin gleback skink is a stubby, bumpy skinned lizard from Australia.

What the three animals have in common is that they are all endangered species that bring high prices on the black market in rare animals. People in the United States, Japan, and Europe who want endangered animals as pets are willing to pay up to $50,000 for a Komodo dragon. A pigmy marmoset fetches up to $20,000. A shingleback skink will bring $2,500.

The demand for such pets has created a worldwide illegal trade in endangered animals now worth an estimated $10 billion per year. It has also brought many of the world's most endangered species to the edge of extinction.

Bought low, Sold High

Animal smuggling today is second only to drug smuggling as a major international illegal business. The profits are enormous mainly because poor native peoples, who know nothing about the endangered status of the animals, sell them to smugglers for next to nothing.

A rare toucan (a tropical bird) purchased in Bolivia for $10, for instance, is worth $1,500 in the United States. A radiated tortoise, one of the rarest reptiles in the world, bought for 30 cents in Madagascar will sell on the black market for $10,000. An orangutan (a large, red-haired ape) that cost $200 in Indonesia will bring $50,000 on the illegal market.

Highly organized rings of criminals smuggle the animals into the United States at night, often by boat. The chances the smugglers will be caught are low because many customs officials are looking for smuggled drugs, not animals. And even if smugglers are caught, the penalties are much less for smuggling endangered animals than they are for smuggling illegal drugs.

"If you get caught illegally transporting animals on a first offense, it's possible you won't even do jail time," says Tom Striegler, head of law enforcement for U.S. Fish and Wildlife. "You can't say the same for drugs."

One smuggler who was caught with animals worth $250,000 on the black market was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 46 months in jail. A $250,000 load of cocaine would bring a fine of at least $175,000 and as many as 151 months in jail.

Lows on the Books

Animal smugglers in the United States are tried under two laws more than 20 years old. In 1973, the government enacted the Endangered Species Act, which restricts the types of animals that can be exported from the United States. Two years later, the United States signed the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). CITES, which has now been ratified by 130 countries, requires special permits to transport endangered animals and plants across national boundaries. It also bans the worldwide trade of animals on the verge of extinction.

People vs. Environment

Unfortunately, CITES and other laws are difficult to enforce in many countries. In the United States, for example, there aren't enough U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department agents to patrol the U.S. coastline and intercept all incoming illegal animal shipments.

In poorer countries, people willingly capture the animals and sell them to smugglers at a low price. Many poor people in those countries don't understand why saving a wild animal from extinction is more important than making money today. Selling just a few animals can supply a poor farmer with enough money to feed his family for months. "The tortoises are here, and I have to eat," says a villager in Madagascar who sold 53 endangered radiated tortoises to a smuggler for $16. "That is all I need to know. My people have always done this. They have collected what is nearby for food and money. Why should that change?"

Wildlife officials understand why poor people supply endangered animals to smugglers, but they have little sympathy for the smugglers themselves.

"They're not doing this to eat. They're not trying to save the species. They're out to make a buck," says Robert S. Anderson, a wildlife official.

The Inner Workings

Animal smuggling operations are very complex, so wildlife special agents have to do a lot of work to figure out a smuggling scheme. Usually these schemes are set up so that no one person knows the entire operation. In case anyone gets caught, they can't tell on anyone else.

The most advanced animal smuggling operations involve criminals bribing officials in the country where they get the animals and then forging documents that say the animals were not taken from the wild, but bred in captivity. It's not against the law to transport animals that never lived in the wild. If forged documents aren't available, animals must be hidden in special suitcases or other containers.

A Deadly Ride

Many of the smuggled animals don't make it. Smugglers have to find creative ways to carry the animals so officials can't detect them. Such creativity is often cruel--and frequently deadly--to the animals.