Wildlife Smuggling Nets Big Bucks For Organized Crime

Illegally traded animals can end up anywhere from a cooking pot in Asia to a pet shop in Europe
Joan Delaney, The Epoch Times 18 Mar 09;

Humming birds bound and stuffed in cigarette packets, snakes and tortoises inside a hollowed out teddy bear, exotic birds’ eggs made into necklaces—these are just some of the myriad ways used to smuggle wildlife in a lucrative worldwide trade.

Run by organized crime, the illegal trade in wildlife and animal parts is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars per year, making it the biggest money-maker for organized crime after drugs, according to Interpol, the international police body.

Stingrays and piranhas from South America; star tortoises from India; pygmy slow lorises, a primate, from South Asia; rare albino carpet pythons from Australia; Hawaiian chameleons; endangered sea turtles; West African songbirds—the list of smuggled species is endless.

The animals are stolen from their natural habitat by poachers and spirited out, mostly to developed countries where collectors or those who simply want an unusual gift for their kid’s birthday can afford the exorbitant prices charged.

“Some of these rare parrots or deer falcons can fetch up to $100,000,” says Michael O’Sullivan, chairman and CEO of The Humane Society of Canada (HSC).

And although many creatures do not survive the trip because they are smuggled in cruel conditions, the trade still proves profitable to organized crime.

“The figure that is often quoted is that only one out of about every 10 animals that start out the journey actually survive it,” says O’Sullivan, a veteran of undercover work in Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere.

The illegal wildlife trade, coupled with the destruction of habitat and the hunting of wild animals for food, has put the world’s wildlife “under assault,” he says.

In addition, many of the animals traded are already endangered. “The more rare they are, the higher the price they command. The endangered species are actually more valuable.”

Wildlife smuggled out of Canada includes falcons, especially deer falcons, which are highly prized in Middle Eastern countries. Eagle parts, bear paws, and bear gall bladders—which sell for up to $10,000 each in Asia—are also in demand.

Once a successful pipeline has been established for smuggling wildlife, crime networks will use it to smuggle drugs, illegal weapons, people, and other contraband. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States are among the top 10 smuggling hubs for wildlife.

HSC partners with Interpol to fight the illegal wildlife trade. In a five-country sweep in Africa last November, Interpol, HSC, and other groups seized one ton of illegal elephant ivory. Fifty seven people were arrested. The African elephant was declared endangered in 1978.

In cooperation with Interpol, HSC has set up a fund to help provide support for the families of park rangers who are killed by poachers.

“It’s a very dangerous job. At least 100 [rangers] are killed every year throughout the world. The poachers are armed with automatic weapons, high tech gear, the latest and fastest boats and aircraft, and four wheel drives,” O’Sullivan says.

Drug gangs in Mexico and Colombia are known to be partial to exotic pets themselves, the most common being venomous snakes, lions, tigers, and hippos. Rumour has it that some cartel leaders throw the bodies of their rivals to the big cats as food.

Drug gang leaders like to own rare animals as a status symbol and often build private zoos at their mansions. A raid on a drug mansion last year in Mexico City uncovered two black jaguars, two lions, two Bengal tigers, and a monkey.

China and the U.S. are the largest markets for illegally traded wildlife. The demand in China for exotic meats for consumption, and for animal parts to make medicine has virtually wiped out the country’s small wildlife. Now, in a multi-million dollar smuggling business, poachers are branching out into surrounding countries in order to supply this market.

Conservationists fear that Bokor National Park, one of Asia’s last surviving wildernesses, is becoming rapidly depleted of its wildlife. According to a Sky News report, 50 rangers armed with AK 47s patrol the park, but they are losing the battle with the poachers.

While poor villagers do the poaching, the operation is actually run by organized crime. The stolen animals include chameleon lizards, poisonous cobras, and the protected leopard cat. Tigers are taken from the forests of Burma, brush-tailed porcupines from Indonesia, and makak monkeys from Cambodia.

The majority of the bear gall bladders smuggled out of Canada end up in China and Korea. With the Asiatic bear in danger of extinction, the illegal trade in bear parts is creating growing pressure on the black bear populations in other countries.

Canada’s black bears are protected by the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES, to which 175 countries are signatories, sets controls on the international trade and movement of animal and plant species that are threatened due to excessive commercial exploitation.

However, while countries can be sanctioned and have trade prohibited under CITES, it doesn’t impose penalties; seizures, fines, and imprisonment are up to the laws of individual countries.

Wildlife organizations complain that, if caught, smugglers often face little more than an inadequate fine or a short jail term in most countries.

O’Sullivan says a “useful tool” in existence in many countries for fighting the illegal wildlife trade is conspiracy laws and organized crime laws that can be used to seize assets.

“The only way to attack these organized crime networks is to go after their money, throw them in jail, confiscate their homes and the aircraft they use, and smash these networks. Because they are in fact organized crime, I think it’s in everyone’s interest to shut these people down.”

In the meantime, he says, being domesticated “is a terrible life for a wild animal. We ought to leave them alone with their families in the wilderness where they belong. They don’t belong as pets.”