Just the Facts
- An estimated 350 million live animals, worth nearly $20 billion, are traded around the world each year - many of them illegally.
(WWF-UK. "Souvenir Alert Highlights Deadly Trade in Endangered Species." 19 Sept 2001)
- According to animal shelter sources, 60 percent of all wild animals who are kept as "pets" die within the first month of ownership; of the remainder, 20 percent die within the first year, and only 10 percent are still alive by the end of the second year.
(South Bay In Defense of Animals, Nike Animal Rescue Foundation, St. Francis of Assisi Animal Rescue, and Companion Animal Rescue Effort, "Exotic Pets--for the Ultimate Animal Lover?" factsheet)
- Wildlife experts estimate that the illegal trade in exotic animals
is a $10 billion-a-year business.
(Toufexis, Anastasia, "All God's Creatures Priced to Sell," Time, July 19, 1993)
- Amphibians and reptiles may be caught in traps, clubbed with sticks, or dragged out of their dens with hooked sticks. Some methods of capture, for example the draining of marshes, also destroy habitat.
(International Fund for Animal Welfare)
- The removal of animals, either dead or alive, from the wild can seriously affect wild populations and lead to species becoming endangered.
(International Fund for Animal Welfare)
- Many animals are discarded after their novelty wears thin and may end up as curiosity displays in roadside or travelling "attractions", set loose in naïve hope that they will be able to fend for themselves, or are sent to hunting ranches.
(www.wildlifepimps.com)
- Experts estimate that there are at least 15,000 "pet" tigers in the United States alone.
(www.wildlifepimps.com)
- Parrots have their beaks and feet taped and are stuffed into plastic tubes that can easily be hidden in luggage, and stolen bird and reptile eggs are concealed in special vests so that couriers can bypass x-ray machines at airports.
(Kevin G. Hall, "Trafficking of Animals Becoming Big Business," The Virginian-Pilot, 16 Aug. 2001: A1)