ANIMAL TRAFFIC | TF1 | Reportages

More than 60 million of them share our daily lives: in France more than one in two households has a pet. A market worth several billion Euros that is blighted with every sort of trafficking: illicit farms, illegal imports from Eastern European countries, theft and exploitation of protected species. The illegal trade in animals is ranked third in the list of the most lucrative trafficking, after drugs and arms.The SPA (Animal Protection Society) has six full-time investigators hunting down animal traffickers in its anti-traffic division, headed by Julien Soubiron, a former gendarme: State services don’t necessarily have much time to worry about animals. So we build up cases, supported by evidence, which we then hand over to the justice system.” Alongside Julien we follow a long case: the hunt for a female trafficker of puppies illegally imported from Bulgaria. “It’s an extremely lucrative traffic, and irresponsible. She imports dozens of puppies that are far too young.” Born in a country where rabies is still prevalent, these animals are often poorly immunized against this deadly disease.&nbspTo decode the operational method of this illegal trade, we follow the traffic route back to Bulgaria. Lying at the far southeast of Europe, this country is the new El Dorado of dog trafficking. Here, dogs are bred in deplorable conditions, then sold on by local wholesalers specializing in export. “Don’t worry, the puppies are 8 weeks old, but their papers state they are over 3 and a half months so they can be exported to France.”&nbspPets are not the animals hardest hit by the trafficking. To supply the market in NAC (new, or vanity, pets) millions of protected species are taken from their natural habitat every year. Among them is the Hermann turtle. At Gonfaron, in the Var, a scientific and animal park is the largest turtle reserve in France. Bernard, its director, has devoted his life to these reptiles: “The turtle is under great threat because it’s inoffensive, easy to capture and people think it looks pretty in their gardens.” The result: in less than two years the Turtle Village has been burgled three times. During the latest theft, 71 Hermann turtles were stolen in a single night. In exasperation, Bernard and his team are taking radical measures: engraving each turtle shell to make them valueless on the black market.&nbsp