Wildlife trade is becoming more popular, as the demand for exotic animals and plants rises. The uses of animals range from collecting them as pets, using their bones as medicine, or religious practices. The primary motivation is for personal financial gain, or even a large business, such as marine fisheries or logging companies. It’s atrocious that companies use a living creature for their own gain. They are treated like objects, and I see the involved people as monsters.

Animals are often taken from the jungles of Africa, Australia and Brazil. The laws on animals aren’t very strict in these provinces. In order to transport the animals, they have to go through horrible conditions, and survival is 10-20 percent.

According to peta.org, birds often have their beak and feet tapped up, and shoved into tubes. Turtles are stuffed into their shells and tapped, completely impairing any movement. The stress and lack of air often kills the helpless animals, and their bodies are sold still. In one case, 400 iguanas had been put into shipping crates, but the order had been canceled. For two weeks, the lizards suffered and half died from lack of food and water. During the discovery of the fraud, thousands of animals were found but later died from physical trauma.

For the animals that manage to survive, their caretakers aren’t capable of owning an exotic species. Most animals prove to be too much for the owner, and they are released into an unfit environment, where the creature will either die of starvation, predators, or the elements. For the ones that do manage to beat the odds, they will imbalance the ecosystem and threaten the native wildlife.

With the facts laid out, I think immediate action needs to be taken. Laws in third world countries to be created, and responsibility taken for their actions. All life is precious, and the life of a parakeet isn’t any less of a dog, or human. If your family pet had its mouth taped shut, and legs tied together, stuffed in a suitcase for four days, wouldn’t you do something about it? Just because you cannot see it, does not mean it’s a constant, ever going, real situation.