Facebook News & Updates: Social Media Becomes A Gateway For Animal Traffickers To Sell Illegal Exotic Pets

Hundreds of exotic animals are apparently being sold on Facebook and it was not until earlier this month that this issue has been raised. On March 3, a report started to circulate about Facebook groups that are illegally making exotic animals available for purchase to just about anyone in the world and most of these groups are from Malaysia and other countries in South East Asia.

In an article published by Express UK, animals like sun bears; radiated tortoises and other endangered species were caught being sold from different Facebook groups based in Malaysia. Thanks to the help of TRAFFIC - a legit international network that checks on exotic and wild animals trading. About 14 Facebook groups were found doing this kind of business online, including KPK-I (Klub Pecina Kura-kura Indonesia).

Most of these groups are from Peninsular Malaysia and they are not only selling land-based animals, but even otters and rare animals that can be found in Madagascar. The program manager of TRAFFIC, Kanitha Krishnasamy told the press, "The rise of social media appears to have enabled the creation of a thriving marketplace for wild animals as pets where one previously didn't exist in Malaysia."

The Mirror also got a hold of this news and reported that the organization has finally closed some of these Facebook groups and they were 14 of them with over 68,000 active members. There are still others that try to hide their illegal activities and TRAFFIC is still doing their best to investigate and exposed those businesses no matter how hard those people are trying to conceal it.

The staff of TRAFFIC wants to address the danger of social media, as it opens doors for people to do such illegal activity. "Social media's ability to put traffickers in touch with many potential buyers quickly, cheaply and anonymously is of concern for threatened wildlife and enforcement agencies which demands nothing short of a concerted global response," Sarah Stoner, TRAFFIC's senior crime analyst revealed.