Italy is preparing to enlist dogs to help in the war against the illegal trafficking of exotic animals and plants, a global business worth millions of dollars a year.
Europe's first two 'wildlife detector dogs' are being trained by forest rangers for duties at Italian airports, where they will sniff out people illegally transporting various forms of wildlife.
Rock and Moony, a pair of 18-month-old golden retrievers, are being taught to detect reptiles, parrots, monkeys and other animals known to be the object of frequent trafficking.
But they can also smell products such as caviar, in which there is a flourishing black market, and some rare plants.
"The dogs are undoubtedly a great deterrent. The dog indicates the suspicious package or person, then the customs officials will carry out the checks," said Antonio Mostacchi, head of the forest ranger dog training unit.
Rock and Moony, who can currently recognise about 20 different animal and vegetable smells, will be on patrol at Venice and Rome airports next year.
Although legal trade in animals and plants is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an estimated one-third of the global sales of 25 billion dollars a year is illegal.
As a branch of organised crime, global turnover is reportedly surpassed only by arms and drugs trafficking.
Environmental pressure groups note that there is enormous demand for wild species in Europe with the market varying according to the fashion and customs of each country. Italy, for example, is particularly keen on rare birds. At least 110,000 exotic birds, most of them from Latin America, are thought to brighten the homes of Italian families.
Some 35,000 animals are brought to Italy each year, among them toucans, parrots, iguanas, crocodiles, small monkeys, and spiders. One of every three are smuggled into the country, report environmental groups.
The trade generates profits of 500 million dollars a year, according to their estimates.
Europe as a whole is the world's leading destination for reptile skins, parrots, and boa and python snakes, and the second for primates.
The jungles of Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, and forests of Central America, Mexico, Argentina and Paraguay, are the main sources of wild species trafficking to the European Union. Local hunters earn little for capturing the animals. The pink macaw (Ara macao) costs 15 dollars in the jungles of Brazil, but fetches as much as 2,000 dollars in Italy.
Children are also often involved as slave labour. Traffickers often camouflage their live merchandise, mixing them among legal shipments to confuse authorities. Or they use boxes with hidden compartments. Police sometimes find toucans with their beaks taped shut and parrots stuffed into stockings. Three out of four trafficked animals die before reaching their destination.
