Experts spoke about the problems of combating the sale of wild animals on the black market

The fight against the trafficking of wild animals on the black market in Russia is hampered by insufficient responsibility, which includes only administrative fines. This assessment was made by experts in a conversation with Izvestiya on November 18.

According to them, it is necessary to toughen penalties for such entrepreneurial activity, as it is now difficult to achieve responsibility for its participants, although over 200 applications have been sent to the controlling authorities over the past year.

"From Rosprirodnadzor we are told that they do not have the authority to conduct pre-investigative actions and even less to organize a control purchase, without which it is impossible to move forward here. The Prosecutor's Office also has no such authority. All of them redirect our applications to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and there, as a rule, a response after a month," said zoologist Mark Pestov.

As Izvestia correspondent Dmitry Yuzupchuk found out, wild animals can now be bought openly on the Internet without veterinary passports and other necessary documents. Thus, the owner of a monkey kennel stated that as a private breeder he does not feel the need to obtain a license. In turn, the owner of one of the fur farms noted that the law on responsible treatment of animals does not take into account the caged foxes, as a result of which many people have them living in apartments.

Experts noted that the turnover of such illegal business exceeds $10 billion a year, and it is possible to count only the seized animals, which end up in shelters crippled and sick. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the profit from the sale of wild animals far exceeds the fines stipulated.

"There is no criminal liability for ordinary trade in animals that are not included in the Red Book. Here only at most we can talk about the seizure of the animal and a small administrative responsibility for violating the rules of their maintenance," explained lawyer Yevgeny Korchago.

Earlier, on October 30, zoo activist Natalia Shapovalova told "Izvestia" about the peculiarities of keeping semi-wild and wild cats - such as caracals - at home. She noted that these species are not domestic and we are talking about a large animal that requires discipline, high physical activity and compliance with the diet.