The Wildlife Trade in North America

29/10/2007 00:00:00 Miami International, which sprawls across more than 3,200 acres and is still growing, is big enough to be listed as one of the few civilian emergency backup landing sites for the space shuttle. It also ranks first in the United States in international freight shipments and in live animal traffic. That translates into about 3,000 live wildlife shipments every month, spot-checked by Service's Office of Law Enforcement airport field office.

Authorities estimate that the wildlife trade in the United States is a billion-dollar business and the potential for illegal profits pushes it into the top three smuggling crimes, right alongside drugs and guns. Resident Agent in Charge Eddie McKissick guesses that, pound-for-pound, illicit profits in wildlife probably exceed those of cocaine.

‘How much we stop is significant,’ said McKissick, ‘but I still worry about what's getting through.’ Fruitbats in vogue
McKissick said the illegal trade in wildlife runs in fads. ‘For awhile, giant fruit bats were in vogue. Then it was poison arrow frogs, then marmosets. It's a constantly changing market, driven in some measure simply by what wealthy people don't have.’ (Poison arrow frogs are so named because they supply the lethal liquid used by South American Indians on the tips of their arrows).

A typical day for Wildlife Inspectors would be to inspect a stack of crates, almost all of which contain at least 100 bird-eating spiders (the Goliath tarantula of South America, which commonly eats hatchlings but has been known to consume adult hummingbirds) or 500 giant African scorpions, or deadly puff adders, vipers or the legendary black mamba.

Inspections of shipments like these can be tricky, especially if one of the animals gets loose; they also require great care and skill, an expert knowledge of species descriptions as the animal inside the box must match the paperwork, and be performed quick enough that the animals -- provided all is in order -- can continue on their way.

Some inspections are easier than others -- like the time a Komodo dragon came through, housed in a cage bigger than several airline baggage carts.

However, in a recent shipment, there were 10 black mambas, listed in the shipment paperwork as being worth $2,000. Some 150 poison arrow frogs are listed at $600 and 25 puff adders, $500. Those are the wholesale prices. The retailer will turn a huge profit.
And profits in the illegal trade are far greater. ‘We caught a guy with a suitcase full of bird-eating spiders,’ said McKissick. ‘He also had 200 poison arrow frogs and some boa constrictors. He bought all of that overseas for about $350. He could have sold the entire contents of the suitcase for about $45,000.’

As in the smuggling of guns and drugs, it is that kind of money that drives the illegal wildlife trade; it is those profits that push smugglers to view some wildlife deaths in illegal shipments as simply a cost of doing business. The mark up is so high, smugglers can lose half their animals and still make a small fortune. Commercial pet trade
Eighty percent of live animal shipments to Miami are imports from Africa, South America or Europe, and between 70 and 75 percent of those go to the commercial pet trade. Wildlife trade is regulated by agreements under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the 172-member international organization of which the United States is a member. Virtually every wild animal that enters the U.S. must be accompanied by a correct CITES permit and supporting paperwork from the exporting nation. (Most of the shipments through the Port of Miami go through the airport; live animals are rarely, if ever, transported by sea).

There is almost no limit to what wildlife inspectors have found or seized in Miami. More than 300 dried seahorses smuggled from Peru. Packages of spiders from Brazil and Belize with illegal paperwork. Three endangered South American river turtles. And more unnerving than most -- two brown tree snakes, which were promptly sent back to Indonesia. (Brown tree snakes have exterminated all the songbirds of Guam and have become a major threat to people. A major concern is that the snake might be introduced elsewhere, either accidentally or deliberately).

‘This kind of operation is all about tactics,’ said McKissick, ‘ours -- and theirs. We can tell we're gaining if there's a dip in seizures. That means the other side is changing their tactics. And it means we have to change -- to keep up. They know we're coming, and that we'll always be coming, and we don't give up.’

Hundreds of parrots found being smuggled in from Mexico.