Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network
September 27, 2000
By Robin Eveleigh

In one scenario, you approach the airport check-in counter with a suitcase stuffed full of doped parrots. In the other, you wear a body belt bulging with two kilos of pure cocaine.

In Brazil, one gets you a slap on the wrist and the other lands you a long stretch in a flaky, third-world prison cell. Hardly surprising, then, that the smart criminal money in Brazil — about a billion dollars a year — is increasingly funding animal smuggling over drug trading.To turn the tide, a Brazilian non-governmental organization, the National Network Against Trade in Wild Animals, or Renctas, is launching a global alert about the problem, targeting scores of countries worldwide.

The group estimates that, in Brazil alone, 12 million animals a year are removed from their natural habitat for sale to unscrupulous collectors at home and abroad, or for use in the preparation of traditional medicine.

In some cases, entire communities depend on the trade to survive. The choice for some is between stealing baby parrots from the nest and selling them to organized crime or starving to death. Deterrents are pitiful: An arrested trafficker is likely to be free within hours on payment of a small fine.

Renctas president Dener Giovanini, who has received death threats from traders since the organization began a year ago, said: "On top of that, the Brazilian government is simply not aware of the size of the problem. We're aiming to change that."

Getting the attention of government and domestic authorities is the first hurdle, one that Renctas began tackling this year with the release of a video and poster campaign highlighting the scale of wild animal trade.

The aim is to alert state border patrols to the problem, push for tougher legislation and harsher penalties for dealers, and educate the Brazilian public. Said Giovanini: "In Brazil it's always been common for people to keep wild animals as pets. It's part of the culture."

The campaign also includes a training course for police officers on how to spot animal traders.

In Brazil, raids are often successful in reclaiming wild animals. But the scale of animal smuggling is global.

Renctas is already seeing positive results. In Rio de Janeiro state, wild animals are sold openly in scores of weekend fairs. Several fairs have been raided by the Forestry Batallion of Rio's Military Police force acting on tips passed on by Renctas.

Just last weekend, more than a hundred wild birds, seven turtles, two parrot chicks and various traps and cages were seized in one such raid. Ten people, including two minors, were arrested.

To achieve any lasting success, however, Renctas has to hit foreign markets and organized crime bosses who control the supply network. Rare birds and reptiles are the favorite catch, but spiders, scorpions, insects and primates are also popular among collectors.

Profits are huge. A single blue lear macaw, one of the most endangered species on the planet with only 150 remaining in the wild, is worth up to $60,000 in Europe and the States, but changes hands in Brazil for as little as $2,500.

Worldwide, trade in wild animals nets an estimated $10 billion annually, losing out only to the traditional black market leaders: drugs and firearms. The United States tops the list of illegal foreign markets.

Trade is also thought to be responsible for a large proportion of the 100 species that disappear from the planet every day.

"Only one in ten captured animals make it to their final destination," Giovanini said. "The rest die in transit or during the capture."

Smugglers employ horrific methods to avoid detection. Piercing the eyes of birds so that they can't see sunlight and won't sing is one of many cruelties. Other animals are simply drugged with tranquilizers.

Renctas' international campaign, which has been delayed because of a lack of funding, is slated to start in November and will involve every country with which Brazil maintains diplomatic relations.

The Renctas video, translated into English, German and Spanish, and posters listing the species most coveted by collectors will be distributed by Brazil's foreign consulates and embassies to government authorities and NGOs abroad.

Said Giovanini: "We've got to end with the romantic notion that animal traders are these poor souls selling birds in fairs. They're not. This is one of the largest illegal markets in the world, and it's managed by highly specialized criminal gangs."

Renctas operates on an annual budget of about $60,000, the same price a smuggler can charge for a single rare bird. The organization, which does not receive funding from the Brazilian government, is seeking international partnerships and sponsors. Error: Unable to read footer file.