An Inside Look at the Abominable Exotic Animal Trade

Profiles by VICE (an HBO series)
Commentary by Patrice Greanville
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The trade in exotic animals is one more abomination perpetrated by our breed. Other rich people, don’t hunt them or do something really cruel with them, but feel the need to “own” something that is rare.  The animals become a mark of status. Lastly, a still significant number of people manage to obtain these animals to keep them as pets. Such people also fuel the demand for exotic animals and the incentives for poachers across all continents.

None of these issues will be fixed until the human species gets serious about respecting animals, and that “seriousness” involves hefty punishments for violators across borders—since, as our colleague Roland Vincent often points out, the protection of animals logically requires a real, effective world government—plus a cultural rejection of dominionism found in so many religions, most critically at the core of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths.

Naturally, considering the appalling state of the world, ruled in almost every nation by corrupt, self-seeking elites at the helm of authoritarian regimes (i.e., Saudi Arabia) or nominal democracies, with poverty and war chaos rampant as a result of the inequality produced and enforced by imperialism and the rule of billionaires everywhere, and with runaway corruption in scores of “failed states” (include here just about every country in Africa, from top to bottom, and many in Asia (especially Indonesia, Philippines, etc.) any plan put forth by well-meaning people to help the animals faces desperate odds. By the way, the Gulf sheiks—especially Saudi princes— are notorious for their bloodlust and backwardness when it comes to animals. Their lavishly organized death-dealing expeditions have blighted just about every spot in the world where hunting and other excrescent pastimes are permitted or can be obtained for a suitable bribe.

Rounding out this depressing tally, it’s worth remembering that humans are also causing the massive die-offs we see today in many species, via climate change, and rapid habitat destruction. How the human species is supposed to be the one chosen by God as its “favorite” is hard to fathom, but such conceit tells us as much about “God” as it does about our petulance.