For decades, zoos and aquariums have played an important role in providing care for confiscated or rescued animals. Sometimes that care has been lifelong. Sometimes it's been a case of stabilizing animals before they can be rehomed to other facilities. Whatever the case, these rescue efforts have typically been patchwork, driven independently by individual zoos and aquariums working on there own.
Recently, that has changed.
The new Wildlife Confiscations Network, coordinated by Amanda Fischer, seeks to bring together zoos and related facilities in an organized manner so that they can quickly and effectively respond to confiscation emergencies. Such situations are by their nature unpredictable - you can go months or years at a time without your facility needing to respond, and then suddenly, middle of the night, get a call that your help is needed.
I enjoyed reading this new article in Smithsonian Magazine, which introduces Fischer's network and helps the general public understand the scope of the problem, and how zoos and aquariums are working with government agencies to address it, all while providing the best possible care for the animals victimized by these crimes.
"When a smuggler stuffed a monkey in a duffel bag and threw it out of their car window at the Texas-Mexico border, law enforcement called Mandy Fischer. When a baby jaguar turned up in a dog crate, law enforcement called Fischer. And when a man attempted to stuff 60 lizards and snakes under his clothes near San Ysidro in San Diego, they called Fischer once again. In each case, they had the same question: Now that we've saved these animals, what do we do with them?"
Read the rest of the article here.
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