Gibbons in Peril... and Coach Class: Increasing Seizures of Black Gibbons in Illegal Wildlife Trade Activities

Jake Frietze - Blog Post 1, Feb 13

Looking through your bag at the airport, you might expect TSA to find deodorant, belts, a laptop but least of all a small gibbon face staring up at you!




The trade of wildlife has been one dark character of human society since we were able to capture animals. This has historically led to many declines in endangered populations, accidental killings of non-target species, and traumatization of survivors. Today, the buying and selling of exotic animals has been prohibted through law an some regulations, but many endangered and exotic specimen fall victim to smugglers to be sold as pets, exotic meat, and decorative and/or medicinal body parts. India is one of the 20 countries most affected by the illegal wildlife market; this is due to its dense population increasing anonymity and decreasing traceability of illegal products, its high level of biodiverse and exotic species, its many shared border easing smuggling, and poorly-adept regulations which often fall short of the level of conservation effort that is needed. 


Recently, seizures of exotics through airports has increased, implying an uptick in their overall capture rates. Particularly, Spoorthy Raman discusses the increased seizures of black gibbons, a group of primates which fall under the critically endangered to endangered status according to the IUCN. 2024 saw 3 seizures– two concerning siamang gibbons and the other agile– compared to 0 gibbon seizures just 2 years before. This may not initially sound like a lot, but each seizure event usualyl contains many animals in general and certainly multiple gibbons. Furthermore, this has dark implications for the gibbon community based on the method in which poachers capture gibbons. Going for the mother-dependent infants, poachers will shoot and kill the mother in order to harvest the baby, often killing both. From there, many captured gibbons die in transit to their destination, with the few survivors exhbiting chronic and severe signs of trauma such as social withdrawal and self harm even after rescue.


A lack of solid regulation, such as the largely unenforced Wildlife Conservation Act of 2022, continue to fail these species, sending their numbers frighteningly low. Thus, conservationists are arguing for the revamping and increased enforcement of policies regarding illegal trade, but questions of feasibility have been raised based on other pressing matters (like arms and human trading) taking more interest. In addition, people behind smuggling rings must be found and dismantled in order to increase the ‘cost’ of engaging in the trade compared to the benefit to hopefully limit its continuation. For now, though, gibbons remain in peril.




References:


https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/increase-in-gibbon-trafficking-into-india-has-conservationists-worried/


https://india.mongabay.com/2022/06/explainer-why-is-india-a-major-hub-for-wildlife-trafficking/


https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/illegal-wildlife-trade


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