Millions of animals trafficked in Brazil annually - report
Poor quality data means the problem isnt taken seriously enough, warn its authors
Dom Phillips in
Rio de Janeiro
Published onMon 27 Jul 2020 02.00 EDT
Millions of wild animals are trafficked domestically and out of Brazil every year, a new report has found, with its authors warning that a lack of good quality data means the countrys illegal wildlife trade is not taken seriously enough, with grave consequences for biodiversity.
The information is very dispersed, said the lead author, Sandra Charity, a biodiversity consultant who wrote the 140-page study with Juliana Ferreira from Freeland Brasil, a non-profit group combating the trade. Produced by wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, it called for a national strategy to combat the lucrative business.
The Covid-19 virus, a zoonotic disease scientists believe was passed to humans from horseshoe bats, shows how important control is, said Ferreira. There is a serious risk of pandemics, she said. We have reached a turning point in how we deal with wild animals.
One employee of the environment agency Ibama said it received 72,000 wild animals across Brazil in 2018, the report said, but data varies and police forces have their own numbers. Traffickers feel a sense of impunity because existing legislation does not consider wildlife trafficking a serious crime, with mild penalties that do not act as a disincentive, it said.
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The Amazon also suffers from a growing trade in jaguar parts, exported to Asia for use in traditional medicine, replacing tigers as their population falls. The pressure on them is increasing, said Charity.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/millions-of-animals-trafficked-from-the-amazon-annually-report
Monsters.