Amazon species are turning up in Bangkok’s pet markets

More Amazonian species, in larger numbers, are being offered for sale on the other side of the world in Southeast Asia’s exotic pet trade, according to Mongabay contributor Gloria Dickie. Over the past two years, Scott Roberton, who leads the counter-trafficking programme of the US nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society, has seen more Latin American animals in Thai markets, crammed into small enclosures next to domestic pets. They include marmosets, capuchin monkeys, tamarins, capybaras, matamata turtles and rare Amazonian fish. “The volume is greater. The diversity of species is great,” Roberton said. “Every time we come, there is a new species here.”

The supply chain can begin deep in the rainforest and often runs through hubs such as Iquitos in Peru. Animals poached in Colombia, Brazil and neighbouring countries are carried along Amazon rivers into Peru, where corruption and illegal trafficking, including fraudulent paperwork, allow wild-caught animals to be passed off as captive-bred stock that can be legally traded. “A lot of products from different countries get to Iquitos, and then in Peru it’s easier to launder,” said Renata Cao, Latin America project lead at the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

From South America the animals go through stressful flights with several legs, lasting more than 25 hours, to reach Asian markets. Social media platforms that connect buyers and sellers around the world also fuel the trade, according to the wildlife researcher Neil D’Cruze.