The dark business of animal trade.

• Author: Lennard, Jeremy

The Colombian government has taken important initiatives in the battle against illicit trafficking in rare species from the wild, a black market second only to narcotics worldwide

As dusk falls over Colombia's Amazon River port of Leticia, Juan and his driver load up their motorized dugout in the last of the violet light. Armed with just a hand-held halogen lamp and a few lengths of rope, we are off in search of the caiman - a small tropical alligator native to Central and South America, particularly to the upper reaches of the Amazon. Once away from the port, the motor is set at full throttle. Juan, with a broad forehead and high, prominent cheekbones, stands on the bow, staring out into the pitch darkness and signaling directions to his driver. The halogen lamp is not to be used for navigation, in order to save the batteries. Juan, however, is a local Ticuna Indian and claims to know this area of the Amazon and its countless tributaries better than the pink river dolphins whose dorsal fins occasionally break the water around us.

After nearly three hours at screaming pitch, the motor is dropped to idling and the nighttime cacophany of the jungle becomes audible. Spider monkeys whoop and chatter, and birds screech over the incessant whirring and chirping of crickets. The halogen lamp is switched on, its beam dancing on the shoreline in search of the telltale red glow of a caiman's eye. In the distance, we catch sight of what looks like the burning tip of a cigarette and maneuver toward our target. The light in its eyes renders the caiman immobile and helpless. Usually this is the last thing it sees; the species, like many others in the region, has been hunted to near extinction. This creature, though, is one of the lucky few. Juan and his colleagues are the frontline of a unique and somewhat controversial conservation project.

Once back in Leticia, Juan's caiman will be transported to one of a growing number of captive-breeding centers that dot the country. The Colombian Institute for Natural Resources (Instituto Nacional de los Recursos Naturales Renovables y del Medio Ambiente - INDERENA) is encouraging entrepreneurs to invest heavily in these centers. In return, the investor is offered an opportunity to make a handsome profit, and at the same time, to contribute to the conservation of Colombia's rarer species. Critics argue that action has come too late. In 1994 an estimated 600,000 animals were illegally exported from Colombia. During the same period, customs seizures included twenty-six thousand live birds, turtles, snakes, and primates, and many more skins.

As we reach our quarry, Juan thrusts his hand into the water, and in what seems a risky move, grabs the now thrashing animal around the neck and tail and wrestles it into the pitching canoe. In one fluid movement he binds and gags it, grinning all the while, his teeth glinting in the darkness. He determines its sex, the motor whines into action, and the search continues for further specimens.

Returning to Leticia at dawn, Juan muses, "Tonight we only saw small ones. When I was younger we would regularly see alligators three or four times the size of these - we were terrified to go near. But the hunters have taken them all. I haven't seen any larger than these now for many months."

Colombia is a country with an extraordinary wildlife heritage. It is the imperiled home of over seventeen hundred species of birds (more than any other country in the world); four hundred species each of reptiles, mammals, and amphibians; and thirty species of primates, according to...