I write about an episode of corruption involving Tom Schultz. Its interest in having tremendous numbers of having rare animals goes way back. It was one of the pioneering zoos in the country and had a fantastic reptile department starting in the late 1960s. How does the San Diego Zoo fit into the history of reptile smuggling? The public is not so sophisticated that they’re going to walk into a reptile house and say, “This collection sucks because all 10 species in the genus of East African viper I came to see aren’t here.” What the zookeepers wanted to do was outdo one another. Then zoos began following in their footsteps.ĭo you think zoo patrons noticed that certain zoos had better reptile collections? There was no interest in how they got them, only that they got them. They’ve got a starchy image now, but back in the day, they relied on the shadiest freelancers to get their specimens. The museums have the craziest history of all. Reptile smuggling doesn’t fit with the image of zoos as being the establishment, upright and honorable like museums. They often say that, “If we didn’t smuggle those animals, they all would have been eaten.” Needless to say, this is sort of out of style, but the reptile breeders have adopted it. It’s a self-serving line: “If we don’t breed animals, they’ll be eaten, bulldozed, burned in their native countries.” Zoos themselves said they did these things in the name of captive breeding.
I don’t know that they even did rationalize it. How did zoos rationalize getting involved with smuggling? Jennie Erin Smith, a journalist, chronicles the illegal animal trade in her new book “Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery.” In an interview, Smith explains why zoos got caught up in international intrigue and how the San Diego Zoo found itself linked to a scandal. The case spelled the end of an era of illegal activity at America’s zoos. And the San Diego Zoo got ensnarled in the mess: A reptile curator was convicted of smuggling endangered animals and sentenced to probation and a hefty fine.
In the late 1990s, the underground industry in reptile trafficking went down for the count in court.
Or maybe not: For decades, prominent American zoos made deals with reptile smugglers who pilfered snakes, tortoises and lizards from foreign lands and brought them to the United States. But maybe the nation - Australia, perhaps, or Indonesia or Madagascar - doesn’t want to give up its rare animals. Want to get your hands on an exotic snake? You could try to legally import it from a foreign nation. Brews & News: Voice of San Diego Live Podcasts.SD Zoo's Reptile Smuggling Legacy | Voice of San Diego Close
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