Grim Menagerie

Photographs by Patrick Brown / Panos
A loss of wildlife isn't necessarily the biggest concern in the battle against exotic animal traffickers these days. Organized criminal networks--including the genocidal Sudanese Janjaweed militia--are getting in on the action, funding atrocities against human and animal alike with their sales. Both the size and the sophistication of the smuggling networks have intensified in the last 10 years, say law-enforcement officials watching the market. Much of the underground animal trade can be traced to Africa and Southeast Asia, where the animals are captured and shipped to China, Japan and the Middle East to be consumed as delicacies and medicines, or displayed as collectors' items. With the rise of Internet purchasing, the trade--and the responsibility for its brutality--has truly gone global. Here, a glimpse into what animal trafficking looks like for the animals.