87 exotic animals were being trafficked. The people who were smuggling were caught in Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. There were 6 people smuggling and going to Mumbai. It is pretty stupid to try to smuggle animals through a security checkpoint that could check your luggage.
The 6 people were 5 men and 1 woman trying to go out of the country to Mumbai which is in India. They are being arrested for trying to smuggle animals. Again, pretty dumb to smuggle exotic animals through a security checkpoint going out of the country.
The 87 animals were exotic and some of them were endangered. Some of the animals were a red panda, two monkeys, 29 lizards, 21 snakes, and rare birds, including a parrot, and a Sulawesi bear cuscus which is a type of rare marsupial which is native to indonesia.
All the animals were protected under a multilateral treaty called CITES which protects endangered animals and plants from illegal smuggling. This is good because if CITES wasn’t a thing then illegal animal smuggling would be more common in this world and that’s a bad thing.
In Thailand, which is where this is taking place, you could get up to 4 years of imprisonment.
Most of the animals were in small, clear plastic containers with tiny holes for the animals to breathe, as seen in this picture
Places like Thailand, China, Kenya, and the United Arab Emirates are sometimes major transit hubs for illegal animal smuggling. This issue should have a bigger consequence internationally because invasive species would be larger and could be a serious issue. There are many serious problems with invasive species. Some invasive tree pests can reduce carbon sequestration rates in forests. Aquatic invasives decrease the resilience of green infrastructure to resist flooding and sea-level rise. Another issue is that invasive species alter habitats.
Some issues of animal smuggling is that wildlife trade threatens the local ecosystem and puts all species under additional pressure at a time when they are facing threats such as over-fishing, pollution, dredging, deforestation and other forms of habitat destruction. Some of these issues can also be that animal trafficking in wildlife can diminish species populations and cause local or even global extinction. When endangered species are involved, any poaching or harvesting of that species to supply the illegal trade risks the species becoming extinct.
Animal snuggling can completely destroy animals whether it’s by their ecosystem and habitat, to the native animals way of surviving. “The early bird gets the word” is that the birds that wake up the earliest have the best chance of catching a good meal, since no other birds have awoken to pick for worms. The most likely actual meaning probably says that early people get a better chance than late people, but we’re gonna stick with the bird one. If the invasive species also eats worms, then who has to wake up earlier, the bird or the invasive species.
This also has impacts to an environment because if say a full grown cactus were to end up in a rain forest, then how would the cactus or the rainforest try to adapt to all of this, well it can’t because invasive species ruin other animals habitats, environments, and lifestyle. This is why we should try to do an international ban on animal smuggling. That way invasive animals don’t destroy other animals’ way of living and their lifestyle in the world.