THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ANIMAL TRAFFICKING

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ANIMAL TRAFFICKING

The abundance of images of wild animals caressed, cuddled on Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok encourages unprecedented traffic since everyone wants to imitate their favorite star or personality... The illusion of taming wild life and holding a exotic animal is a sidekick that is causing illegal trafficking to explode. But keeping a lion, a serval or a caracal is illegal!

How does liking influencer photos promote traffic?



• This conveys the idea that owning an exotic animal is normal and legal
• Encourages people to do the same and detain these animals, in disregard of the law and their well-being
• Facilitates illegal sales
• Promotes animal abuse, since these approaches can in no way respect the well-being of the animal

Approaches carried out abroad, in countries where animal respect is not a priority (Dubai, Arab Emirates, USA, etc.), or illegally in France ..

In any case, let us not condone this behavior and these detentions! A lion has no business on a sofa, any more than a caracal in a bedroom or a serval on a leash.

2022 : UNE ANNÉE RECORD

Since the end of 2021, we have experienced a real explosion in Servals traffic in France. Our shelter was entrusted with 10 Servals in the space of a few months, and we had to refuse just as many due to lack of space. All these Servals come from individuals. A very worrying increase in animal trafficking to which we must say STOP NOW because having a Serval or a Caracal is prohibited by law.

Traffickers are playing on the legality of a breed of domestic cat derived from the Serval, the Savannah, to introduce pure Servals onto the market. A drift which would not exist if hybridizations of protected species with domestic cats were prohibited...

Faced with the significant development of Serval trafficking, the Tonga Terre d'Accueil association has decided to develop a bank genetic data on the Serval species thanks to zoological parks that are members of the French Association of Zoological Parks (AFdPZ). This will help the justice system in its research and be able to identify or control Servals and/or Savannahs as well as their origins during seizures or abandonments.