Exotic Pet Trade

What is the Real Cost of the Exotic Pet Trade ?

I didn’t expect to find the Exotic Pet Trade, illegal drugs and weapons sales in the same sentence together, but as it turns out they have much in common with one another. They are, all three, multi-billion dollar a year industries. All use black-market distribution networks; a complex infrastructure in which poor nations whose rainforests and climates house the exotic wild life, are then, enticed by huge profits to capture and sell them.
What drives this market are the wealthier countries insatiable desire for the next different and unique pet to own, and clearly like illegal drugs there is a huge demand. The ASPCA tells us that the United States alone pulls down15 billion dollars a year from the Exotic Pet Trade. The transactions of live exotic animal trafficking is made easy with Internet sales, trade magazines, and some big pet store chains.


Not so easy a transaction for the animals.


This trafficking is global in scope. While the profits are high to those engaged in this criminal market, the cost to wildlife and ecosystems is almost immeasurable. To help focus and characterize the problem, I will use the statistics from Brazil as an example. They are the most conscientious of the South American countries. Due to emerging wealth and national pride, they have begun to put the breaks on the loss of their rain forests and the wild life that fills them.

Even so, 12 million exotic birds a year are captured for the pet trade there. Most of the birds are young fledglings. In order for hunters and poachers to get to the nests, trees are cut down, disrupting habitats and entire ecosystems. Many of the birds captured are critically endangered, adding further stress to bird populations. Of the chicks who survive the fall from the felled trees, many won’t make it alive to the auction block. They are often too young or fragile to withstand compartments or containers that cause dehydration or suffocation. Of those that survive that ordeal, more will die on the trip to their destinations from similar abuses; stored in hubcaps, given alcohol to keep them quiet on flights. There are a multitude of other dangerous and perilous schemes to get them shipped to every crevice of the world, where they will simply perish.

Now take into account the other species; mammals, (big cats are a favorite), reptiles, amphibians, and non-human primates. The ASPCA reports that infant animals are the most desirable and garner dealers the fattest profit. Poachers will often kill the protective mother first, making capturing her young easier. These cute and cuddly young, which most buyers have in their possession, arrive in a world that is nothing like the one they have adapted to for millions of years.

Once in the hands of naive owners, clueless to the responsibilities in store for them and faced with providing proper food and habitat to growing, unpredictable, destructive, dangerous adults in captivity, survival becomes problematic. Not to mention, these ‘pets’ often come carrying highly infectious and potentially fatal bacteria and viruses, including salmonella, herpes B, rabies and monkey pox.
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Owners who lose control or interest will leave some animals to languish in horrifying living conditions, or some to die from poor diet or untreated illnesses. Many are released into an area they can not survive in; starving and slowly dying a cruel death. Many experience the reverse, thriving in order to disrupt the natural ecosystem they are unleashed in, i.e., the python in the Florida keys eating everything in its path.

To add insult to injury, exotics are now put on display at public animal attractions, and become the targets in ‘canned hunting’. A canned hunt is one in which the prey are exotic animals confined to a certain area. Hunters shoot at close range, much like shooting fish in a barrel, paying large sums to bring home an exotic trophy. According to the ASPCA, there are over 1,000 canned hunting operations in the U.S.
So what can you do about a global billion dollar phenomena that is endangering already endangered wildlife and ecosystems?
Always educate yourself and others about the problem and give solutions.
Simply stated, we are one of those wealthy nations with high demand for exotics. So do not buy them or frequent places that do. Know the laws and help enforce or strengthen them. Know the organizations that watch and enforce them:
A few federal laws do exist prohibiting the sale and interstate transport of certain exotic animals, including the Endangered Species Act, the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, and the Wild Bird Conservation Act. Most states have restrictions on keeping exotics as pets.

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: ASPCA
International Union for The Conservation of Wildlife: IUCW
Convention on International Trade of Exotic Species: Cites
Species Survival Network: SSN
US Fish and Wildlife Service: WWWswf.gov -

Interpol Environmental Crime Program
or “Operation Cage” And “Operation Cyberwild” are newer organizations in Latin America formed to crack down on the growing rape of their wildlife. Here is a brief quote from IECP’s article,

“Over 8,700 birds and other animals have been seized - and 4,000+ people arrested - in what appears to be a large-scale crackdown on the black market Latin American bird trade. The arrests and seizures were conducted between April and June of this year, as part of INTERPOL's "Operation Cage.
Operation Cage is involved with interventions and raids at sites including airports, postal services, markets, pet stores, and taxidermists across Central and South America, sending a strong message that the wanton disregard for wildlife will not be tolerated. As the general public becomes more aware of the magnitude of this heinous destruction of the world’s wildlife, more will be protected and saved.”
Case in point, fifteen years ago I was delighted to partake in a Chinese delicacy at a wedding, being served shark fin soup. My ignorance and prejudice of sharks were common place at that time. I just didn’t know what I was participating in, nor the damage I was a part of. Now I do. Thanks to others who continually speak out for wildlife and spread the word I am aware of my behavior and its consequences to our planet and have added my voice to speak for the voiceless. Every voice makes a difference. It did for me.