The Trade In Wildlife

Is the trade in wildlife ethically acceptable? If it is made according to law and regulations and making sure there is a high standard of welfare and fauna protection, YES! If illegally done No! People who are trading in Wildlife are usually interested in Fauna, which they love and mostly intend to protect. Usually a lot more than these self made none government orginisations.

Only small quantities of wild fauna is taken for the live trade, a lot less then these "Hobby Hunters" are killing in one season. As an example; thousands of birds are killed in Guinea Bissau each season by Portuguese "Hobby Hunters", this quantity River Zoo farm will never export in a life time. Other millions of Birds and Mammals are hunted by the population for food and 1000's of small "Aquarium fish" are sold dry by kilos each day on all local food markets in Africa. They have been doing this for centuries and without damaging the populations. So will the local fish populations be damaged by taking a few hundred each year for the ornamental fish trade?

More and more species of being commercially produced on breeding farms around the world, including here at River Zoo Farm, these farms are doing a lot for Fauna conservation. One example is breeding Crocodiles. In the wild normally 90-95% of the young destroyed during the egg phase by predators like Mongooses and Varanus or the when they hatch they will be preyed on by other species. The regulations for Crocodile farms state that a percentage must be released once they reach a few months of age and have a good chance of survival. With this system it is possible to increase the worldwide population of Crocodiles so much that they would soon need to be reduced again. However then comes along these these "Self made fauna protectors" with their big mouth an no real knowledge or expertise campaigning against Crocodile farming and crocodile leather. Because of this many farms get closed down and the wild populations decrease thanks to these so called wildlife protectors.

Reason for the decline in many species is not the trade in live species! The biggest problem is the fast growing human population but also the unregulated trade of species for food and medicine especially for countries in East Asia where large quantities of wild fauna is consumed or used for medicine, including some very rare species. Because of this many species are surviving only in captivity. There are many relocation and restocking projects that are working well but only because some one was keeping these species in captivity before.

Since River Zoo farm is working in the area around Bambadinca the fauna population is not going declining because we educate the local population amount sensible hunting and the values of fauna protection. We also set up our own fauna reserve.