When authorities find wildlife that are being illegally trafficked, at ports or airports, the animals are often in terrible shape. Sick, starved, distressed. A pilot project in Southern California aims to get seized wildlife immediate care.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, San Diego Zoo Global, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service organized a summit in August 2019 with forty key stakeholders from over twenty organizations and government agencies to discuss the issue of increased cases of wildlife trafficking in the United States. The summit led to the establishment of the Southern California Wildlife Confiscations Network. Its creators hope the Network’s new response protocol for the placement and care of confiscated wildlife will serve as a template for other high-volume confiscation regions in the country.