The Tiger Trade

The Grizzly Bear Trade

The Elephant Trade

The Wildlife Trade

          Unlike most apparent multi billion dollar industries such as arms smuggling and drug trafficking, the exotic wildlife trade has been cleverly hidden from the public eye for decades. While there are occasional reports of its horrors portrayed in news stories, the trade is more commonly overlooked due to the lack of publicizing since it is a problem that affects animals rather than humans. In the United States alone, the trade’s declared minimum value was approximately $1.2 billion annually (Hemley, 52-55). Worldwide, its annual value topped $10 billion. Countless animals become victims each year as people capture, ship, and sell these creatures as pets or for their highly valued body parts that will be used as novelty items such as souvenirs. For instance, elephants are traditionally harvested for their pricey ivory tusks while bears are captured and caged for their highly sought-after medicinal gallbladders (Hemley, 36-41). If the wildlife trade continues rapidly as it has in the past, countless animals undeservingly placed on the endangered and extinct lists. Currently, there are organizations such as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and its counterpart, WWF (World Wildlife Foundation), that are working towards ending the trade industry, but the only method for success is proper education. Since this business is not well known, the public must become more conscious about the situation at hand so that proper action can be taken against those who are testing the law each day.

Unfortunately, there are no highlights to the wildlife trade as it encompasses a great deal of suffering and fear brought upon defenseless animals. For this business to be successful, traders must capture the wildlife from their natural habitats and prepare them for sales and shipment. Once captured, animals are then transported across the globe, enduring a journey of loneliness, malnutrition, and stress due to confinement in this an unnatural environment. Police reports from the past have shown that traders will go to virtually any means to smuggle animals for sales. For instance, “Parrots might have their beaks and feet taped and be stuffed into plastic tubes that can easily be hidden in luggage…baby turtles have been taped so that they are trapped inside their shells and shoved by the dozen into tube socks, and infant pythons have been shipped in CD cases” (“Animal Underworld”). Often times these animals do not even make it to their final destination alive. When interviewed, a German customs agent revealed that there is a mortality rate within the range of 80 to 90 percent (Panorama). Whether these animals are ultimately sold dead or alive, their journey to get there still remains identical, as they, at one time or another, endured suffering to satisfy people’s selfish desires.

There also proves to be a high risk for injury and even death when a person purchases a wild animal of any kind. People frequently disregard the fact that these animals are not domestic and can pose a great danger to those who think otherwise. A report by National Geographic stated that “for every tiger of lion trapped in a zoo, there may be as many as ten privately owned (Christy, The Kingpin).” People tend to buy exotic animals such as lions or tigers when they are young and seemingly harmless. However, it is not until the creature is six months old and has grown into an adult that this once idealistic idea of owning an exotic animal no longer seems as appealing. In the recent past, there have been numerous incident reports of captive wildlife attacks. One example would be a case in 2009 involving a woman who lived in Pennsylvania that was mauled by her pet black bear as she entered its cage to feed the animal (Smith, 594). This is just one example of the many tragedies that can occur when wild animals are treated as a pet dog or cat would be. 

Perhaps one of the most disturbing aspects of the illegal wildlife trade is that a high percentage of the animals affected have been previously placed on the endangered species list and have a disturbing fate ahead of them. As these animals are continually hunted and captured due to this industry, populations are steadily decreasing, ultimately wiping out invaluable species. Populations of endangered animals have been drastically affected. For example since the 1970s, the rhinoceros population has decreased by 90 percent while the presence of 1.2 million elephants roaming the African savannahs has dropped to a mere 600,000 (Hemley, 36). If this trade continues at the rate that it is currently progressing at, animals will continue to be put on the endangered list and eventually fall into the irreversible category of being extinct. People must make an effort to actively become more aware of presented issue because otherwise within almost no time, the animals that we have grown up to love will not be around for future generations to come.