It’s shockingly easy to buy some of the world's most endangered species on Facebook... It Took Us Less Than 24 Hours to Order an Endangered Tiger on Facebook
ezgif-3-f967d9ecbd.jpg
Bears, pangolins, leopard cats: It’s shockingly easy to buy some of the most endangered species globally on the world's largest social media platform.
The hardest part of buying a tiger would have been getting to the pickup spot. The trafficker said he’d only deliver to Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city and major port—but if someone could meet him there he’d sell them one of the world’s largest cats for the equivalent of $29,000. “If the price is right, you get it,” he said through a voice note in Burmese, a parrot screeching in the background, after VICE World News found him advertising his wares on a public Facebook group. “When we meet up in Yangon, we will make payment in cash. If you confirm and we have the tiger, I will call you.”
It took just half a dozen messages and less than 24 hours to line up the deal. Thanks to Facebook, it’s about as easy to find someone selling an endangered jungle cat as it is to adopt a domestic shorthair. Other specimens, including some of the world’s most critically endangered species, are even more easily obtainable. Within three days, using nothing but public Facebook groups and Messenger, VICE World News was also able to track down and all but execute the purchase of an Asiatic black bear ($1,000), two leopard cat cubs ($280 for both), a wolf ($67) and a slow loris ($45)—a species of vulnerable primate that is often illegally traded as an exotic pet or for traditional medicine.
Both the bear and the wolf, according to their respective dealers, could be picked up in Myawaddy, a small border town and trading point between Myanmar and Thailand. The leopard peddler, meanwhile, promised international delivery—as long as the buyer was willing to pay full freight.
1649332552242-imageedit195570471607.png
1649329294666-imageedit179891299704.png
1649332598394-imageedit214571597396.png
1649330051924-imageedit137578054735.png
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7ny...-facebook-meta