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Live Cargo
Each year millions of animals of all types are captured from the wild and sold in the international live wildlife trade. The commercial uses of these animals include the exotic pet trade (birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish), biomedical research and teaching (primates, reptiles, amphibians, and fish), stocking of public or private game farms and hunting ranches (deer, antelope, rhino, and wild sheep), and food (reptiles, amphibians, and fish).
The trade in live wildlife results in the injury and death of a large percentage of the animals captured. Mortality rates vary depending on the type of animal, the country of origin, the capture and transport techniques used, and—ultimately—the ability of the species to withstand extreme physical and psychological trauma and adapt to a captive environment.
A "Free" Product
It may seem odd that a business based on trade in a live animal would not take all measures necessary to ensure that the "product" was delivered alive to the buyers, if only to ensure a profit. However, this is not the case. This is because animals captured in the wild are essentially "free" to those who capture them. There are no costs associated with feeding and rearing the animals, as there might be on a farm. Therefore, those who capture wildlife have no investment in the animals at the point of capture. If it is easier to capture many animals using techniques that result in high mortality or injury, then it is worth it to those engaged in this enterprise—provided that some of the animals survive to the point where they are sold to the exporter.
Capture Mortality
Studies of a number of commercial live wildlife trades (the trade in birds and reptiles for the pet trade and the trade in primates for biomedical research, for example) indicate that mortality at capture can be very high. For example, finches and waxbills captured in Senegal for the exotic pet trade experience a 40 to 50% mortality rate prior to export. A recent study of the export of birds and reptiles from Tanzania indicated that 31% of birds captured die before export.
Air Transport Guidelines
Once the animal is exported, it has entered the international transport phase of the trade. Virtually all live wildlife traded for commercial purposes is transported via air. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has established voluntary industry guidelines for shipping animals of all types. These guidelines are regularly updated when experts bring information to the attention of the IATA Live Animals Board, which is composed of airline representatives.
Because the guidelines are voluntary, there is no penalty for failure to comply. Therefore, many airlines do not ensure that live animals are shipped in accordance with the guidelines. There is evidence that even when officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) advised airlines that shipments don't not meet IATA standards, airlines have refused to enforce the guidelines, resulting in the death of animals.
Transport Regulations
A United Nations treaty,
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),
requires live animals covered by the treaty to be shipped in accordance with
IATA guidelines. However, most importing and exporting countries do not
adequately enforce this requirement. For example, in the United States,
fewer than 25% of live animal shipments are inspected by FWS agents. When
shipments are inspected and violations are found, FWS agents often give the
importer a warning rather than taking the stricter measures allowed by law.
When cases involving violations make it to federal court—which is rarely the
case—the judges generally don't impose stiff penalties. Consequently, there
is little incentive for those engaged in the live wildlife trade business to
comply with the law. Furthermore, most species in the live trade are not
listed on CITES, so most live wildlife in trade have no legal protection as
far as shipping conditions are concerned.
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