In Romania and Albania, zoos and private individuals are selling exotic animals — tigers for €5,000 a cub or more, raccoons for €400, lion cubs for €9,000, raccoon dogs for €250, and even a liger, a lion-tiger hybrid, for €50,000 — reveals the investigative film Animal Hustlers, made in partnership with Scena9 (Romania) and Vijesti (Montenegro).
Journalists infiltrated networks of buyers, breeders and sellers of exotic animals in Romania and Albania, revealing a cross-border trade of “hustlers” who engage in businesses that either expose loopholes in the law or break it outright in many European countries.
The project reveals the men who trade in the animals. Some are long-distance drivers looking to make some extra cash with yet another illicit product. Others call themselves collectors or animal lovers — but once they transform their hobby into a shop, costs rise, welfare is sacrificed, and the animals’ lives are at risk.
Many of these hustlers operate in transnational networks that smuggle animals across countries such as the Czech Republic, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Raccoons and raccoon dogs (both for sale in Romania) are classified as invasive alien species, according to the EU, which means their sale, keeping and breeding is banned, as their potential release into the wild could have serious negative consequences for their new environment and rural economies.
The journalists also show the exploitation of exotic animals in zoos, such as a liger forced to perform for selfies and an injured white tiger forced to play with visitors. They also filmed exotic animals — such as rhesus macaque monkeys, caiman and pythons — displayed for selfies on the seaside in Montenegro.
Although the EU has strict regulations on the trade of certain endangered and dangerous animals, the investigation shows that exotic-animal breeding, trade and exploitation are out of control. This has huge impacts for both animal welfare and human safety.
Solutions include strengthening the existing laws to combat animal trafficking, and there is a strong debate on whether the EU should introduce a so-called “positive list” of animals that are allowed to be companion animals or pets, as already exists in Belgium and the Netherlands. Overnight, this would likely limit the trade in animals to only a few dozen species. If bans are introduced, there also needs to be a strong network of shelters to house abandoned exotic animals, to ensure animal welfare is respected.
Animal Hustlers was produced and researched by Ovidiu Stancu (Romania), Michael Bird (UK), Vjosa Cerkini (Kosovo) and Damira Kalac (Montenegro), with design by Andrei Cotrut, data visualisation by Razvan Zamfira and editing and post-production by Cristian Gagea.
The media partners are Scena9 (Romania) and Vijesti (Montenegro).
Check out the productions below, including an interactive microsite that takes you into the world of animal trafficking.