The pet trade, unlike
the other threats to the rainforest, does not cause the removal of
the forest trees, but directly removes essential species of the
rainforest instead. It is estimated that 38 million individual
animals are being taken from the rainforest each year for this
practice.
photo M. Noonan
Traders sometimes
capture the animals by killing the mother and then taking the baby,
thus even further reducing the numbers of that particular species in
the wild and reducing the number of wild animals that can reproduce
in the future.
photo M. Noonan
Two of the most popular types of animals in the pet
trade today are parrots and primates. Many species in these two
target groups have in fact become endangered in the wild due to the
illegal pet trade.
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