International
Gallery: The Global Traffic in Exotic Animals
A look inside the global trade in exotic animals
A loss of wildlife isn't necessarily the biggest concern in the battle against exotic animal traffickers these days. Organized criminal networks--including the genocidal Sudanese Janjaweed militia--are getting in on the action, funding atrocities against human and animal alike with their sales. Both the size and the sophistication of the smuggling networks have intensified in the last 10 years, say law-enforcement officials watching the market. Much of the underground animal trade can be traced to Africa and Southeast Asia, where the animals are captured and shipped to China, Japan and the Middle East to be consumed as delicacies and medicines, or displayed as collectors' items. With the rise of Internet purchasing, the trade--and the responsibility for its brutality--has truly gone global. Here, a glimpse into what animal trafficking looks like for the animals.
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Member Comments
Posted By: Elaine Hendrix @ 03/11/2008 8:24:39 PM
Comment: Thank you NEWSWEEK and Sharon Begley for reporting on this horrific trade. I am beyond saddened by the lack of compassion and regard for a living, breathing, feeling being. It embarrasses me to be a human. PLEASE keep reporting stories like this so that more people will become educated. Sharon is right that the entire onus lies in the blood-stained hands of the buyers. www.idausa.org
Posted By: veganvictoria @ 03/08/2008 2:15:38 PM
Comment: I COULDNT HAVE PUT IT BETTER MYSELF. HUMANS ARE THE MOST SELFISH SPECIES ON THE PLANET. WE ARE NOT ONLY DESTROYING ALL THE ANIMALS BUT EVENTUALLY WE WILL DESTROY
OURSELVES.
Posted By: Icare2 @ 03/04/2008 12:18:19 AM
Comment: Face it. Cruelty, selfishness and greed are attributes of the entire human race, not just certain countries. Look at our (U.S.) attrocities against animals. More than 4 million pets are destroyed in the shelters every year, and people keep breeding their pets for a quick buck or out of ignorance. People dump their pets because they are tired of caring for them. Puppy mills give dogs lives of loneliness and pain for a profit. Farm animals and poultry are kept in tiny cages, so small that they can't turn around, in the name of profit. The human population is growing at an alarming speed and pushing out all animals that can't live within its cities or exist with its pollution. Humans are the most selfish species on the planet.