Wildlife trafficking a $20 billion per year global business. The US Fish and Wildlife service investigates an average of 30 cases a day. These smugglers are caught by customs agents, federal investigators, or even local police. They run the gamut from rare spiders to infant monkeys to alligators, and what are the cops supposed to do with them? Despite having no expertise, they used to take them home with them until they could talk a zoo or wildlife shelter into taking them in. Or they turned to euthanasia. Then in 2023, the Wildlife Confiscations Network was established by a partnership between the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. And Mandy Fischer became the go-to person for exotic animals stranded nationwide.
Fischer only has jurisdiction in California, but she's assembled a nationwide network of experts, shelters, zoos, and volunteer organizations that can step in and rescue a wide variety of creatures and get them the care they need. It's a complicated setup. Fischer once had to deal with a duffel bag full of baby spider monkeys, which normally would go into quarantine, but needed round-the-clock care immediately. The closest facility that could handle them was hours away, but the infants were saved. Read more of Fischer's rescue stories at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: Elba Benabe-Carlo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)