On Facebook, a lively take place, often illegal trade in reptiles. Conservationists say the Internet giant to do little against the wild animal trade. A key role plays also a reptile fair in Germany.
The lizards in their plexiglass containers, are literally in a panic, the turtles go crawl slow and cumbersome-and-forth. You want to get out, but there is no Escape. The reptiles will be sold at the Terraristika, Europe’s largest reptile fair. Often in small boxes issued, you will be offered for several thousand euros. The fair is expected to be a major hub for the illegal wildlife trade.
Four times in the year it takes place in the small German town of Hamm, and attracts thousands of reptile fans. You can buy exotic animals, from coin-sized glass frogs on spiders to poisonous snakes. In the wild some of these species are already in danger of extinction.
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The Terraristika is a giant marketplace. Not only on the site, also on the Internet, linked, around the trade fair, a global Online Community of traders and reptiles lovers of your contacts. Interested buyers search the network for animals and will pick you up at the Terraristika. Sometimes the transactions take place only at the edge of the event – where no one’s looking so carefully, for example, in the Parking lots. On Facebook-groups, the seller can organize, where the animals were to be picked up. Owner will give care tips in the Internet forums and post it on Youtube to buyer Videos that show how you unpack at the show purchased animals.
Live reptiles in Germany, most of the business with wild animals. The result is a report that the animal welfare organisation International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in the year 2018 has been published.
Most of the Ads the researchers found in Internet forums. They discovered but also closed Facebook groups whose names indicated on reptile trade.
Visitors to the Terraristika can buy all sorts of reptiles, including snakes.
A Search of DW revealed: Also in Facebook-groups such as the Terraristika in Hamm — the MARKETPLACE and the Hamm and Houten Reptile Classifieds were an endangered species of reptiles for sale.
Some of the offered species are protected by the cites agreement, also CITES called. 183 States have signed the agreement, which restricts trade in endangered species of wild animals and in some cases, entirely banning them.
It is important to know: In the traded reptile is not always a case of poaching. Often, the animals are bred in captivity, so that they can be bought in some cases, completely legal and sold. However, conservation groups fear that due to the hardly be sold at regulated Online trading gewilderte or illegally bred animals on the Internet.
In a group certification, a buyer of assets that the lizards, which he had bought on Facebook, survived the delivery by Mail. “Give me 1200 euro [sic],” he wrote in a private message to the seller, and put a laughing Emoji behind it. “You sent dead animals.” The Screenshot of the message he published in the group.
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Public and yet invisible
DW has asked Facebook several times to have an opinion, but the group was not ready for it. Faced with the Screenshots of the relevant pages, thanked the speaker of a Facebook representative, the PR company for the “passing on of the examples of groups that promote the sale of endangered animals.” Facebook has deleted the groups then.
The corporate policies of Facebook stipulate that users must not post any advertising for the sale of animals. The group is a member of the so-called Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, an Association of conservation organizations, Internet companies and technology giants such as eBay, Baidu, and Google, which want to end the illegal wildlife trade on the Internet.
Some on the Internet traded reptiles toner on the protection of species agreement under the provisions and prohibitions of the Washington, also CITES called
But conservation groups fear that the opportunity to buy live animals on Facebook and other platforms, has opened up the market for smugglers only. The Online trade of wild animals is an “extreme Problem,” says Catherine Lameter, a biologist with the nature conservation organization Pro Wildlife, because he makes endangered animals for “normal people” are available.
“This means that any advertising can. There are so many species on offer and everyone can buy these animals without you ever being seen. Often the animals from reptiles to measure from to be sent, or equal to, picked up,” says Lameter of the DW.
Unlike drugs or weapons, wild animals are rarely traded in the Darknet – that corner on the Internet where you can buy prohibited goods anonymously. What is offered there, usually only single body parts like tusks of elephant, rhinoceros, or the scales of the Pangolins. Live animals are rare because dealers prefer normal Online platforms, which provide access to larger markets.
“Cyber crime is the focus, because the Internet is a platform where you can place illegal Goods in a simple way to anonymously and can offer these animals belong to the wild,” says Sergio Tirro, an expert on environmental crime at Europol, the European police authority, which is responsible for cross-border organised crime. “It is easy to hide financial flows, if one uses a Prepaid card.”
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Also, loopholes in the law make it a criminal pursuers hard to catch Wildlife traffickers in the act. So, for instance, Germany is in the centre of the illegal trade in reptiles from Sri Lanka, as an April study published by TRAFFIC shows, in an organization, the pet trade does regularly Pay to the international game.
Reptiles are popular Pets. You are traded online, but also offline as well as on this show
More than half of all reptile species in Sri Lanka are threatened. The government has banned the Export of live animals almost completely. But the national prohibition often brings a lot of. Because the reptiles are also protected internationally by the cites agreement, you can, for example, are traded freely within the European Union – even though this violated the laws of Sri Lanka. The EU has adopted an import ban for wild animals.
TRAFFIC found that in Facebook groups and closed reptiles forums, species are sold that are “extremely endangered by over-exploitation”. In the run-up to the quarterly Terraristika, the number of Online increases view for endangered reptiles, including those in Sri Lanka are endemic advertising.
In the busy exhibition halls of the Terraristika seller prices eager the “exotic” origin of the offered species of reptiles of Sri Lanka, Mexico or Vietnam for example. They emphasize, however, that the offered specimens reared in Europe in captivity, and is not illegal from the countries of origin were smuggled.
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But the transactions that are made on one of the nearby Parking lots, in hotel bars, or face down on the fair, can monitor the authorities difficult. Styrofoam boxes with reptiles go outside of the Fairgrounds to the owner before the Terraristika has even begun. Traders who arrange their Parking transactions via the Internet, will not be reviewed and will find buyers, without having to at the show log.
The organizers of the Terraristika have not responded to the request for opinion. On questions of news Agency dpa and they answered in August with a public statement. Accordingly, the organizers cooperated with the authorities to prevent illegal activities. The fair is not responsible if the animals would be listed with fake documents incorrectly, as an Antiques market also cannot guarantee that sellers do not offer stolen Goods.
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But the Internet and digital media can also be used in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade used. Sergio Tirro, Europol says that customs officials often make photos of suspicious specimens and immediately contact experts to identify more send. Reptiles such as turtles may have small physical differences that show whether a species is endangered or not. “You do not need to have the animal physically,” said Tirro.
“If you have very precise images, you can see the Essentials. You don’t need to travel all over the world, to find out whether an animal belongs to a protected type.”
Also, not all Internet services are affected platforms. DW found this on eBay, no reptiles, which were offered for sale. The group is said to be an open marketplace is suitable for the trade with living animals, because every entry is accessible to the public. Nature conservation organisations confirmed that.
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Ebay said that it will use Algorithms to search for suspicious key words. Administrators would then be alerted to remove the offers. Terms such as ‘ivory’ are automatically locked by the block filter. The seller will receive a warning message when you try to switch to a display with an unauthorized word.
It is unclear whether Facebook is applying similar methods. DW, however, has found through its own Search multiple listings of endangered species, by looking for the Latin names of the animals. Conservation organizations demand that Internet companies have stricter rules and tougher enforcement. You also have to keep in mind that if a platform prohibits wildlife trade, traders simply switch to another, where not so strictly controlled.
“It would be Best if the Online-would be prohibited in trade with all the living animals will be complete,” recommends a biologist Katharina Lameter of Pro Wildlife.
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