The 74 protected species of chameleons that were stuffed into socks and ice cream boxes and smuggled in a suitcase from Tanzania to Austria have now delivered offspring after adapting to life at the Vienna Zoo.The Tiergarten Schonbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, welcomed offspring of the rare chameleons that were brought to the zoo after customs officials discovered them during an X-ray scan of a man's luggage in January 2021.According to police, the man was initially traveling from Tanzania via the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and intended to sell the lizards on the black market for a value of nearly $44,000.
Illegal wildlife trafficking is “the fourth most lucrative global crime after drugs, humans and arms,” according to the World Economic Forum.
The black market for trafficked animal can generate from $7 billion up to $23 billion each year.Tanzania is home to 1,077 species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania.
Wildlife trafficking and poaching further threaten these species.