Below, we present the following article, and then, as you can see, we offer a brief reflection on how to approach the topic in the classroom. The subject matter is multidisciplinary, as it can be addressed within the fields of Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, or even as a journalistic text in Language Arts.
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Brazil: Wildlife trafficking is a concern
Macaws, parrots, monkeys, turtles, snakes, pumas: traffickers spare no species, not even those on the verge of extinction. And it's the most lucrative business after drugs and weapons.
"According to our estimates, some 38 million wild animals – 80% of which are birds – are illegally captured in the Brazilian rainforest and almost 90% die during transport," explained Rauff Lima, spokesman for the NGO Renctas, which in 2001 published the first national report on the illegal trafficking of animals.
But these deaths are "more than offset by the sale of a single specimen," and traffickers earn close to US$2 billion per year in Brazil, making this trade the third most lucrative after drugs and weapons, a scale that is repeated worldwide, Lima says.
It was precisely in 2001 that the last wild Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) – the blue macaw from the recent animated film Rio – disappeared in the state of Bahia, and only 70 others remain in captivity worldwide, a couple of them in the Rio Zoo. Most "are in the hands of private collectors who bought them illegally," Lima emphasized.
The Federal Police seize, on average, 250,000 animals per year and the Brazilian Institute of Environment (Ibama) captures another 45,000 in controls that have multiplied in recent years throughout the country, figures that have remained stable since 2008.
At the Wild Animal Selection Center (Cetas) in Rio de Janeiro, an organization that depends on Ibama, veterinarian Daniel Neves takes care of between 7,000 and 8,000 recovered animals each year, generally sick or hungry, victims of Brazilian smugglers.
Located in a rainforest area 75 km from downtown Rio, Cetas resembles a zoo. The large macaws have a spacious cage called a "flight corridor" that allows them to practice for their eventual release into the wild after captivity. Another 700 animal cages are stacked on top of each other in precarious conditions.
The animals "remain in quarantine until their health improves. The goal is to release them into the wild, but we only manage to do so in 20% to 30% of cases. The parrots could go to zoos, but these are overcrowded," laments the veterinarian, for whom Brazil "should have an animal adoption law."
"It's safe to say that anyone willing to adopt a blind parrot won't do it any harm," argues the veterinarian. "It's a real problem, because they're no longer able to fend for themselves in their natural habitat," says Daniel Neves.
Brazil, with 8.5 million km², has the greatest biodiversity in the world, along with Indonesia. In total, 530 species of mammals, 1,800 of birds, 680 of reptiles, 800 of amphibians, and 3,000 of fish have been recorded.
According to the Red Book of the Ministry of Environment, at least 627 species are in danger of extinction, a figure that has tripled in 15 years.
Brazilian law prohibits hunting throughout the country, as well as the keeping in captivity of any wild animal, unless it is the product of authorized breeding, which is very rare in the country.
Since 2001, the police have been tightening the net around traffickers and smugglers. The force's immediate goal is to reduce the profits and increase the risks for poachers and smugglers, which requires prior intelligence work.
Buying a green parrot or toucan captured in its natural habitat on the black market costs less than $100, while its value is more than 10 times higher in a legal store. This price difference is what fuels the trafficking, according to the police.
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This article published in Infobae invites class discussion on the problem of animal trafficking – in this case in Brazil – animals that are captured in the Brazilian jungles to be sold later in illegal markets.
Our goal in conveying the anti-speciesist message is to focus the message so that students can put themselves in the place of the parrot or monkey that has been kidnapped while in the wild with its brothers and is separated from its natural environment for life to be used as a resource and become a commodity.
It can also be said that whether the trafficking or trade of animals is legal or illegal has no bearing on the individual. He or she is unaware of the reasons for their mistreatment, whether they are smuggled on a ship or transported legally in a truck.