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Smuggler Blues

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BrokenWing
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« on: March 04, 2009, 08:47:54 am »

BrokenWing Chronicles
Smuggler Blues

American consumers fueling the demand.

A study by Defenders found that Mexican trappers
illegally capture tens of thousands of parrots, such
as the lilac-crowned parrot, each year for the pet
trade. About 75 percent of the birds die during
capture and transport.

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.’
Miami Int'l Airport Inspection of Imported Asian Box Turtle. © U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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.

Brown Tree Snake. © U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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.

Parrot smuggling in the USA

149 exotic parrots protected by U.S. and international law and confiscated from smugglers at the U.S. border with Mexico have been returned to Mexico, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. The parrots, Amazon and Conure species taken from the wild in Mexico, were turned over to Mexican wildlife authorities.

More than 300 species of parrot are found throughout the world, primarily in countries with tropical and semi-tropical climates. Because of their beauty and intelligence, parrots are prized as pets throughout the United States. The high demand for parrots as pets, combined with loss of habitat in many countries, has jeopardized many wild populations. According to the World Wildlife Fund, 94 parrot species are threatened with extinction. The high demand provides an irresistible incentive for smugglers to profit at the birds’ expense.

The Service’s San Diego Law Enforcement Office has documented over 30 arrests of individuals transporting commercial quantities of smuggled birds from Mexico over the past eight years. During this same period, Service special agents and wildlife inspectors seized 641 birds valued at over $222,000 in Southern California alone. One individual from California is estimated to have illegally transported between 6,000 and 10,000 exotic birds valued at more than $1.5 million before he was arrested and charged under federal customs and wildlife protection laws.

The birds being returned to Mexico today represent only a handful of the untold thousands of threatened and endangered wildlife that end up in the illegal trade each year.

Parrots and other birds smuggled into the United States avoid health screenings or other tests that typically assure pet owners they are buying a healthy bird. This trafficking not only places species in the wild at risk, but also represents a potential threat to the health of poultry and people with Exotic Newcastle’s Disease and potentially the H5N1 bird flu.

Parrot species are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and U.S. and Mexican law. The Wild Bird Conservation Act (WBCA) was enacted in 1992 in an effort to encourage captive breeding of the more popular bird species by placing a moratorium on the importation of many wild birds like parrots. Nearly all parrots sold in U.S. pet stores are captive bred birds.

 American consumers fueling the demand for imperiled Mexican parrots could ultimately cause their extinction, according to a new report from Defenders of Wildlife.

The Illegal Parrot Trade in Mexico: A Comprehensive Assessment, released in February, found that of the top 10 Mexican parrot species smuggled into the United States, five are endangered, two are threatened and one is under special protection in Mexico.

"Clearly, this is not a sustainable market. Smuggling is increasing and birds are being taken from the wild, sometimes plucked right out of the nest, and dying at alarming rates for sale in the pet trade," says Juan Carlos Cantu Guzman, lead author of the report and manager of Defenders' Mexico program. "Next to habitat loss, parrot trapping poses the greatest threat to the birds’ survival in Mexico."

The Defenders report estimates that Mexican parrot trappers illegally capture about 65,000 to 78,500 parrots a year. About 75 percent of the birds die from stress, disease, rough handling, crushing, asphyxiation or dehydration during capture and transport. “In many instances, 50 parrots are stuffed into a shipping container barely larger than a shoe box for days,” says Cantu. As many as 9,400 parrots from Mexico are smuggled into the United States each year—and none of these birds has the required health examination and quarantine to identify potential disease risks.

In the report, Defenders urges American consumers not to purchase parrots that lack proper documentation. A captive-born parrot will have a closed band around its legs that identifies the breeding facility.

Of the 22 parrot species found in Mexico, seven are listed by BirdLife International as either endangered or vulnerable. It’s not just habitat destruction that has led to this: huge numbers of wild parrots - including Thick-billeds - have been captured by professional trappers or by locals who keep the birds for themselves. The smuggling of wild parrots into the US from Mexico has been called the second-largest illegal border business next to drug smuggling.

BrokenWing Comments
The USA is so called a "super power", the leader in space technology, but yet we can't secure our own boarders.
What else is walking into this country?
Anthax maybe?
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When all is done that is asked from me and I can fly no higher, I pray this day his hand extends to welcome home a flier.

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