DeepSummary
Rachel Carlson and Nate Rott visited the Aquarium of the Pacific in Southern California to see some of the nearly 500 pieces of confiscated coral colonies being held there. These corals were seized by authorities because they were illegally shipped into the United States, part of a massive illegal wildlife trade estimated to be worth billions of dollars annually. The illegal wildlife trade causes problems ranging from harming biodiversity to disrupting local economies and ecosystems.
The hosts interviewed Tamisha Woolard, a US Fish and Wildlife Service regional supervisor, about the challenges of caring for confiscated live animals like reptiles, fish, and birds. They also visited a facility housing box turtles that were seized from smugglers who planned to sell them in Asia as part of an alarming new trend of Americans poaching North American turtles for the overseas pet trade.
To address the issue of proper housing for seized wildlife, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has partnered with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to create a pilot network in Southern California aimed at finding homes for confiscated animals at zoos, aquariums and conservancies. While helpful, the network is just treating a symptom of the larger problem of the lucrative illegal wildlife trade.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The illegal wildlife trade is a multibillion-dollar global industry causing major harm to biodiversity, local economies, and ecosystems.
- Authorities face significant challenges in properly caring for and housing live animals confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade.
- A new alarming trend sees Americans poaching box turtles and other species for sale in Asia's lucrative illegal pet trade market.
- A pilot project aims to create a network of zoos, aquariums and conservancies to rehabilitate and house seized animals in the US.
- Solving the issue requires addressing the root causes driving consumer demand for trafficked wildlife products.
- Wildlife trafficking is being fueled by increased online commerce and desperation amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Confiscated animals are often subject to cruel conditions by smugglers attempting to conceal them during shipping.
- Some species like turtles are highly sentient beings who should not be treated as mere products in the pet trade.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “What to do with confiscated live animals has been a concern for as long as I've been a wildlife inspector, because the quantity, the care, what happens after they're here.“ by Tamisha Woolard
- “People also don't realize that they can feel through their shell. They have personalities.“ by Nate Jaros
- “If it's inside of a shoebox, tucked away in a shoe, like, wrapped in tin foil, and all sorts of other stuff like that, you're like, okay, this is something that needs my attention. Right? And we get a lot of that at the male facilities.“ by Nate Jaros
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Episode Information
Short Wave
NPR
6/10/24
One network launched last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association for Zoos and Aquariums hopes to help. And with wildlife trafficking surging globally, the organizations are now in talks to expand the program to other parts of the country.
Read more about illegal wildlife trafficking and check out more photos in climate correspondent Nate Rott's full story.
Have other wildlife stories you want us to cover? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
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