The Fatal Impacts of the Illegal Wildlife Trade

There are more tigers in American backyards than in the wild. About three rhinos are killed every day for the “medicinal” properties in their horn. About 28,300 freshwater turtles enter the illegal wildlife trade every day. 

Source: NRDC

We glorify and celebrate media that promotes illegal and exploitative interaction with wildlife, as seen with the docuseries Tiger King. 

We “like” and “share” photos on social media of people holding baby monkeys, petting baby tigers, and bottle-feeding chimpanzees in diapers.

We experience devastating disease spread, like with HIV, Coronavirus, and Ebola, stemming from the illegal capture and consumption of wild animals.

And yet, we still don’t see the bigger picture. 

What Animals Are Illegally Traded the Most? 

The illegal wildlife trade encompasses three major illegal activities. Some animals are used for the pet trade, others are poached so their parts can be sold. Within the selling of animal parts, there are two distinctions: trophies and medicine. 

Upwards of 50,000 African elephants are poached every year for their tusks and where are those tusks going? The top five consumers of ivory are:

If we then consider the use of animal parts for eastern medicine, the number of animals being killed and illegally traded multiplies. The parts in highest demand for eastern medicine are rhino horn, tiger teeth/bones, elephant tusks, and pangolin scales. Sadly, there are no additional substance found in any of these items that cannot be obtained through the consumption of human nails, hair, or bones. And yet, the demand is still as high as ever. 

And it doesn’t stop there. Any species that isn’t poached for parts, is still at great risk for being traded for a different reason. When looking at the pet trade it’s very common to see primates, birds, rodents, large cats, and reptiles being captured from the wild and shipped around the world. And while this can sound like a very discrete operation, if you look closely, it’s all around us. 

A few weeks ago, this monkey was taken from Chitwan National Park and sold within a small rural town. The original captor of the monkey got paid which reinforces to him that if he gets more monkeys, more people will buy. And unfortunately, they probably would. After more locals saw this monkey walking around town on a leash, they decided they wanted their own monkey. 

This is how the illegal pet trade is perpetuated. With what seems like one small action, the door could now be open for tens of baby monkeys to be captured and brought into human civilization. 

When taking a closer look however, it’s not just in the animal’s native land that they’re being sold and exploited. Many animals are taken from around Asia and Africa and brought to Europe and the United States to be kept as pets. If there was not such high demand, the number of illegal pet tiger in the US wouldn’t outnumber the number of wild tigers left in Asia. This puts every single person in contact with these animals at a high risk for disease. This is another pandemic waiting to happen…

How do Zoonotic Diseases Spread?

Zoonotic diseases are those that spread between humans and non-human animals. This term covers a disease that a human gives to another species and a disease that a non-human animal gives to a human. We’ve seen all too clearly over the past two years what the impact of zoonotic diseases can look like with coronavirus, but this is not the worst of it if we cannot get control over zoonotic disease spread.

Magouras et al 2020

While these diseases can spread through habitat destruction, they can also commonly spread through the illegal trade of wildlife. Since wild animals carry different diseases within their bodies, when we are exposed to them we are more prone to experiencing problems. This can occur from eating an animal, being bit by an animal, and even by being exposed to the urine/feces/blood of an animal.

Primates carry a number of life-threatening diseases if contracted by humans, such as HIV. They also get more difficult to manage as they age, increasing the chances that they’ll bite a human if it’s being cared for as a pet. Whenever we take an animal out of its habitat and force it to mesh into our society, there are going to be consequences.

The Disconnect Between Demand and Morality

As long as someone is willing to sell, consumers are willing to buy. However, there’s a disconnect between our consumer actions and our morality. When surveyed, the vast majority of people say they would support a ban on the illegal wildlife trade imports and exports from their country. Meaning, the pet trade, the parts trade, and the medicinal trade. The figure below comes from the same study as the figure above for the top five countries consuming ivory products. So while the majority of consumers report supporting a ban, they’re still buying the products as they come. 

While you always have to account for people not telling the truth out of shame in these kinds of studies, this information tells us so much about the human psyche. We know something is wrong, but yet, as long as it’s available, we’re willing to overlook the morality to feed our ego.

We know it’s wrong to pet a baby lion or walk a monkey on a leash, but maybe other people will think we’re “cool” if we post a photo doing it. 

We know it’s wrong to buy ivory, but we also know it’s expensive and if we can afford it, others will know we’re successful. 

We know there’s no health benefit to consuming rhino horn or pangolin scales because it’s made of the same thing that makes up our finger nails, keratin; but then again, what if it could increase our sex drive? Can’t hurt to try it… right? 

Humans are so afraid of the way we’re perceived by others that we’re willing to send dangerous animals carrying potentially life-threatening zoonotic diseases around the world. We’re willing to destroy entire populations of animals simply because we want what they have. But at the same time, we’re destroying ourselves. We’re the only species willing to destroy our own home to satiate our need for control, money, and material possessions. 

What if we all lived just one day as one of the animals we so cruelly hunt down for the illegal wildlife trade? If we wouldn’t be happy with that fate as our own, I suggest it’s time we take a hard look at the human priority, and start to match our morality with our actions. 

How Can we Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade?

Source: Conservation International

The illegal trafficking and poaching of wildlife is not a regional problem. It’s the fourth most profitable global crime, ranking after the drug trade, arms trade, and human trafficking. Therefore, we need to fight this organized crime as we would any other.

Knowing that most of us rarely, if ever, are in the situation to buy illegal wildlife parts, the category we have the most control over as consumers is the pet trade, here’s how. 

Every time we “like” a photo on a social media platform of somebody interacting with or showing off a wild animal being kept as a pet or photo prop, we are giving our stamp of approval to the illegal wildlife trade. We would never “like” or share a photo saying “HOW CUTE” about human trafficking, so why do it when the trafficked species isn’t our own?

Every time we “follow” an account of somebody who owns a wild animal as a pet, we are saying that we condone this kind of behavior. We are also showing those involved in this illegal trade that there are many potential consumers if the supply is available.

The way we interact with the world, even through our simple “likes” and “shares” on social media, has an impact. Because when more people see this and think it’s ok, the demand skyrockets, ultimately making the trade more profitable. This continues to encourage people to take more wild animals from their homes to be put in cages, bred in forced environments, and forced to live unnatural lives. 

We CAN put a stop to this by being more mindful, educating others about the topic, and saying something when we see something rather than ignoring it.

Sometimes our voices can feel small, but don’t ever let that stop you from speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves.