Tainted Love: The Trafficking of Mammals for Pets in Middle and South America
摘要
This chapter describes current illegal uses, exploitation, and seizure data on mammalian species of Central and South America. Official seizure data was obtained directly from governmental institutions or through collaborators, and nonofficial data was obtained from news published on digital media. Seizure items encompass dead and live animals, parts, products, wild meat, taxidermy, and trophy, while uses include meat consumption, crafts, accessories, fashion, culture, medicine, tourism, pets, trophy and sport hunting, status products, and collections, among others. The most important factor was the difficulty obtaining official data and the lack of standardization on the data obtained, which led to a dataset with gaps, limiting the evaluation to descriptive analysis. Nonetheless, although Central and South America represent an extensive area where species of mammals are subject to several types of exploitation, some relevant trends could be identified: the high prevalence of primates among all seizures, most being live animals used as pets, display animals or ostentation props in social media, and biomedical research; the use of sloths in wildlife tourism, particularly selfie-tourism; several distinct species of Artiodactya, Rodentia, and Carnivora that are hunted for multiple purposes; the demand for species that are exotic to Latin America for hunting and private collections; and felids, namely, jaguars, being exploited in different markets. Besides trends, this chapter points out some key actions necessary to better understand and counter wildlife trafficking.