Authorities in September cracked down on animal-traffickers in three southeastern Brazilian states, rescuing over 800 wild animals—some of them members of species threatened with extinction—and arresting 47 suspected smugglers.

Described by state authorities as Brazil’s largest-ever enforcement action against animal smuggling, the operation—named Saint Francis after the Catholic patron saint of animals—began on Sept. 16. It targeted traffickers in the neighboring states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais and involved over 1,000 Rio de Janeiro environmental-enforcement agents and civil police, along with environmental-enforcement teams in the other two states.

“This was the biggest crackdown on wildlife traffickers ever undertaken in Brazil based on the over 1,000 environmental enforcement agents and civil police, and the three states where wildlife was rescued and where arrests were made,” said Cleber Ferreira, biodiversity director in the enforcement arm of the Rio de Janeiro state Environmental Secretariat (SEAS).

Added Ferreira: “The operation was also important because it arrested the ringleaders of the three main families involved in wildlife trafficking in Brazil, families also involved in drug trafficking, and because tips we received during and after the crackdown will lead to a second operation in the near future.”

Broad sweep

The operation—conducted after an investigation lasting over a year by SEAS’ enforcement arm, the Rio de Janeiro State Environmental Institute (INEA)—included 270 searches and seizures in the three states, with forged documents regarding the origin of smuggled animals among the evidence collected.

The rescues and arrests did not take place in pet shops and outdoor fairs, where fair merchants who buy smuggled animals often sell them out of sight of authorities. Instead, they occurred at private residences and businesses upstream of these retail venues in order to curb trafficking closer to its source, officials said.

Under Brazilian law, wildlife traffickers can receive sentences of one to three years in prison. But they are usually fined from R$500 (US$100) to R$5,000 (US$1,000) per animal for the illegal capture, purchase or sale of wildlife, with the precise size of the fine determined by how threatened the species is.

Over 90% of the wildlife rescued in Operation Saint Francis comprised native bird species, including parrots and macaws. Other animals saved included monkeys, other mammals, and boa constrictors. Birds belonging to four species under threat of extinction were rescued in the operation: vinaceous-breasted Amazon parrot (Amazona vinacea), andaya parakeet (Aratinga jandaya), buffy-fronted seedeater (Sporophila frontalis), and the great billed seed finch (Sporophila maximiliani), Ferreira told EcoAméricas. Great billed finches are prized for their song, with owners entering them in singing competitions to win cash prizes.

Environmental enforcement teams released a small number of seized animals found to be healthy, taking them to protected areas in the three states, where they likely originated. But the vast majority of confiscated animals were sent to recovery and rehabilitation centers for medical treatment before being returned to their closest natural habitats, in some cases transported by domestic airlines. Those habitats include the Brazilian Amazon; the Cerrado savannah; the coastal Atlantic Forest; and the Pantanal wetlands.

Lucrative cruelty

Wild animal trafficking generates millions of dollars for criminal rings in Brazil, with networks that have operated for decades using hunters, transporters and document forgers, Ferreira told EcoAméricas, adding that many captured animals die before reaching buyers.

Dener Giovanini, general coordinator of the National Network to Combat Wild Animal Trafficking (Renctas), a Brazilian nonprofit, told EcoAméricas that though Operation Saint Francis was large, “such sporadic crackdowns don’t resolve the trafficking problem.”

Giovanini added that illegal wildlife fairs “continue to flourish here.” Another problem, he said, is that in the last 15 years, Ibama, the enforcement arm of the Environment and Climate Change Ministry, has granted 400,000 licenses allowing citizens to own, raise or breed native bird species in captivity. Some licensees buy birds illegally from traffickers and then sell them, often to pet shops, falsely presenting them as captive-bred species.

Giovanini contends federal and state environmental authorities are rarely able to return rescued wild animals to their native habitats, adding that only 10% of trafficked wildlife survive due to long, punishing transport distances, abrupt temperature changes and malnutrition. He adds some animals, mainly snakes and spiders, are sold over the internet and delivered by mail in cardboard boxes.

“To resolve the trafficking problem the government needs to draft a national wildlife policy,” Giovanni said, one that addresses “rampant licensing abuses” and illegal sales at outdoor fairs.