Last week was not a good one for endangered animals and the conservationists that care about them. Forty dead tiger cubs were found frozen and preserved inside a temple in Thailand that is known as a popular tourist destination for Westerners, even though it has been accused of animal cruelty and participation in black market tiger trafficking for years. Another one of the handful of rhinos left was killed by poachers. A beloved and critically endangered gorilla was killed at the Cincinnati zoo after a 4-year-old succeeded in crawling through multiple barriers to get into the enclosure. One of the last remaining Denali wolves in Alaska was killed because the law that would have protected him is not effective until 2017, and now his mate’s pups will most likely die or have to live in captivity.
It seems like the rarer and more beautiful an animal is, the more people are willing to pay for it, dead or alive. The less elephants and rhinos left in the wild, the more the price of ivory goes up. The closer tigers get to extinction, the more people want them taken from the wild so they can enjoy watching them in zoos. While trophy hunting and illegal poaching still pose the greatest risk to our most beloved predators, a new threat is pushing many more towards extinction: the exotic “pet” trade.
We see viral videos every day of people finding orphaned or injured animals in their backyards and deciding to keep them as pets, since the only other option would be euthanasia. Although most states have laws regarding keeping undomesticated animals as pets, we usually turn a blind eye in these cases because the animal’s life was saved, and squirrels, foxes and deer are relatively docile animals. But should we think of the videos of people cuddling their lemurs “imported” from Madagascar? What if they have a lion cub?
The concept that someone would be stupid and selfish enough to keep an endangered animal that is strong enough to kill them (not to mention, probably wants to) in their home sounds wild to most people. I remember being shocked upon hearing my environmental science teacher say that there’s a predicted 200 tigers living in New York City (and you would be right to say that there’s only a handful of zoos in New York City). I assume the appeal of buying an exotic animal is similar to that of stolen artwork; you have a lot of disposable income, and you want something that none of your other rich friends have (and who cares how you got it, right?).
Although we all agree that kidnapping an endangered animal from the wild for your own entertainment is wrong, it is harder to convince people that trafficked animals that are not endangered (yet) is just as much of a crime. The people that purchase these animals often hold the short-sighted belief that because they are not killing the animal, they are not doing any harm. They refuse to recognize that the fatality rate for trafficked animals can be higher than 75 percent, meaning that for every “order,” a trapper must capture more than four animals from the wild to ensure that one will make it into the buyer’s hands alive. Also, if you take an animal out of its habitat you might as well have killed it. An animal does not contribute to its native ecosystem and cannot help ensure the survival of its species by producing offspring if it is kept in a cage. If you claim you love an animal so much that you want to live with one, you should realize it belongs in the wild. You all know the old saying. “If you love something, let it go.”
Although saddening, it is very easy to see why international agencies have not done more to combat this issue. Between human trafficking, the organ black market and drug rings, they simply have bigger fish to fry when it comes to smuggling. Most of the demand for these “exotic” animals comes from Western countries, but lack of awareness about the severity of the illegal pet trade and specific laws to prosecute the offenders (as mentioned previously) lead to very little enforcement.
When convincing the public that species conservation is important, the line between adoration and respect is a fine one to walk, and a wrong step can cost a species its existence. For example, conservation groups are trying to reverse the negative stereotype of wolves by showing people that wolves are sentient, beautiful and intelligent, and allowing them to be exterminated out of fear is a mistake. At the same time, they have to fight off trappers that want to sell them as pets. Frustrating, isn’t it?
We have ended the era of allowing rare animals to be captured and used in circuses on the grounds that entertainment is not an acceptable reason for animal abuse. It is time to apply this logic to trophy hunting and animal trafficking by supporting legislation to curb these practices in our country, therefore reducing demand for endangered animals, both dead and alive.
