Experts reveal troubling trend driving illegal trade: 'When wealth increases, it correlates with a high number of trafficking'
Wildlife trafficking in India is on the rise, and conservationists are concerned about one primate species.
Social media and growing affluence in the most populous country on Earth are contributing to an increase in the illegal trade of gibbons and other wildlife, Mongabay reported.
Authorities seized 3,951 exotic species across 56 operations in 2023, and there were three seizures of gibbons alone last year. Primates from Indonesia, Malaysia, Latin America, and Africa have arrived in India only over the last few years, primatologist Dilip Chetry of wildlife conservation nonprofit Aaranyak said.
The jungle border with Bangladesh offers traffickers easy access to the country, and unenforced laws provide another avenue, according to the outlet. TikTok is contributing to the problem via celebrities and advertisements, and prosperity is too.
"When wealth increases, it correlates with a high number of trafficking, as people want to own pets that are considered rare or unique or beautiful, and they hold a certain level of appeal," Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia director at TRAFFIC, also known as the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, told Mongabay.
Gibbons are "one of the most threatened primate groups," according to the outlet, with five critically endangered species and 14 endangered species among their 20 species, which are all protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The small, tree-dwelling apes "make up most of the seizures" in northeastern India — reptiles are next — where they are moved elsewhere to be sold. Their capture is the second-leading threat to the creatures behind habitat destruction, and it's destroying the gibbons' complex social structures as well as native ecosystems.
Adult female and infant gibbons are often killed in the process, and the captured ones can die or suffer trauma in transit. Despite these horrifying circumstances, gibbons don't garner the conservation support of other endangered wildlife, including, for example, the Malayan tiger and Asian elephant, Mongabay reported.
Protecting wild animals helps to keep natural biodiversity in balance, and it also supports the economies of developing nations, many of which rely on tourism.
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Significant fines and other punishments can boost the effectiveness of laws, but if enforcement agencies are underfunded, traffickers will continue to exploit the system to their benefit.
Mongabay reported that the illegal wildlife trade is worth $10 billion annually, and Krishnasamy emphasized the importance of investigations and convictions.
"If the people that are behind the smuggling operations can be identified and put a dent in their business, it will make a difference in terms of how you also influence the demand and the supply," he said.
To do your part, support conservation organizations that prioritize trafficking and consider eco-friendly travel destinations.
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