The illegal wildlife trade makes for an easy villain. Smugglers. Traffickers. Animals taken from the wild. Criminal networks moving reptiles across borders.
Monsters of God, the new HBO documentary from Tiger King creator Eric Goode, exposes that the line between the illegal wildlife trade and supposedly respectable institutions is not always as clean as people might like to imagine. The five-part series follows the reptile trade over several decades, interviewing traffickers, enthusiasts and federal agents who pursued them. It also examines claims that reptile dealers supplied illegally obtained animals to major US zoos.
In the first episode, Florida reptile dealer Tom Crutchfield says he previously sold illegal animals to Detroit Zoo, while also naming the New York Zoological Society, Fort Worth Zoo, Gladys Porter Zoo and Los Angeles Zoo.
The global wildlife trade is estimated to be worth between $30.6 billion and $42.8 billion annually, with around $22.8 billion thought to be legal. That word, legal, separates the trafficker from the licensed dealer. The smuggled reptile from the legally traded one. The criminal transaction from the zoo acquisition. An animal can be captured, transported, confined, displayed or sold entirely within the law, but they are treated as somebody else’s property, that is the fundamental injustice.
According to United for Wildlife, at least 100 million animals and plants are trafficked internationally each year, excluding domestic trafficking and other wildlife crimes. Social media has also helped create demand for exotic animals including otters, primates and reptiles. Of course illegal trafficking should be opposed. Animals suffer because of it, ecosystems are damaged and organised criminal networks profit from exploitation. But ending illegal trafficking while leaving the wider commodity status of animals untouched only draws a legal boundary through the same underlying relationship.
Goode himself makes the wider accusation explicit. Speaking to USA Today, he argues that humans place ourselves above other animals while behaving as though the planet and its inhabitants exist for our use. The reptile trafficker is an obvious target. The harder question is why buying, selling, breeding and displaying sentient individuals becomes acceptable once the paperwork is in order.
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