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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9562019/Moment-pet-TIGER-seen-roaming-Houston-neighborhood-man-manages-lure-home.html

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'There's a freaking Bengal roaming the yard': Illegal pet TIGER stalks armed deputy in Houston neighborhood before owner throws it in back of Jeep and flees

A pet tiger was filmed roaming around a West Houston neighborhood on Sunday

Footage shows the tiger approach an off duty Sherriff's deputy who has his gun trained on it, as terrified residents watch from their homes

'There is a freaking Bengal tiger roaming in this yard and this dude needs to be careful,' a woman is heard saying

As Houston PD officers arrived on the scene, the tiger's owner bundles the big cat into his white Jeep Cherokee and fled the scene

Police spokesman Victor Senties told the DailyMail.com officers gave chase but soon lost him, and now the city's Major Offenders Division are investigating

Texas has some of the most lenient exotic pet ownership laws in the United States, but it is illegal to own a tiger in the city of Houston

An escaped pet tiger was caught on camera as it roamed through a Houston neighborhood Sunday night, before its owner dragged it back inside and then bundled it into his Jeep and fled as police arrived on the scene.

Terrified residents filmed the big cat roaming freely in Ivy Wall Drive, in West Houston, at around 8pm.

The animal appears to be a pet, and is seen wearing a collar in the 54-second clip posted to social media. While the state of Texas has very relaxed laws on ownership of dangerous animals, is illegal to keep a tiger in the city of Houston.

Houston PD spokesman Victor Senties told the DailyMail.com that officers were called to the scene, but the owner fled in a white Jeep Cherokee.

Police pursued the vehicle for a short time through West Houston before losing sight of it as it drove west on Memorial Drive.

Detectives with city's Major Offenders Division are now hunting for the owner.

In the video, an off duty Waller County Sheriff's deputy who lives in the neighborhood is seen pointing his gun at the tiger as it stalks towards him.

The deputy backs up a few paces as the tiger gets within a few feet of where he is standing.

'There is a freaking Bengal tiger roaming in this yard and this dude needs to be careful,' a woman is heard saying on the video.

'What the heck? Why is there a tiger?'

The footage, posted online on Sunday evening, shows several pickup trucks and other vehicles appear to be trying to block the tiger in to prevent it from escaping.

An eyewitness capturing the footage, Maria Torres, can be heard shouting: 'It has a collar. It is somebody's pet.'

The person capturing the footage, which has been viewed nearly 750,000 times by Monday morning, makes a run for it when the tiger gets too close.

Eventually, a person who appears to be the tiger's owner emerges from a house and can be heard saying: 'I'll get him, I'll get him.'

The man grabs the animal by the collar and takes it back into a house.

'Get the f** back inside. F**k you and your f**king tiger,' another man can be heard yelling at him.

Senties said the owner of the tiger bundled the big cat into his Jeep and fled the scene as officers arrived. Police pursued the vehicle but soon lost sight of it.

Senties, the Houston PD spokesman, said they had a possible ID for the tiger owner, who had been seen acting suspiciously with exotic animals in the street before.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 5 foot 5, and around 28 years old.

Neighbor Jose Ramos later told ABC13 that he had seen a capuchin monkey at the residence before.

'I figured, 'OK, this is a small animal. It could be domesticated.' But I never thought they would hold a tiger in their house.'

A person named Rob Wormald posted video of the encounter between the tiger and the deputy on his Twitter account.

'Apparently there's a tiger loose on my parents' West Houston street?' he writes.

Texas has some of the most lenient pet ownership rules in the country, however it is illegal to own a dangerous animal in the Houston city limits.

The neighborhood where the tiger was filmed is about 18 miles west of downtown Houston and still within its city limits.

Animal welfare activists estimate there could be between 2,000 and 5,000 privately-owned tigers in the Lone Star State - making it second only to India in tiger population.

You CAN keep a tiger as a pet in Texas... but not in Houston

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Moment a pet TIGER is seen roaming around a Houston neighborhood

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Mobile phone footage captured a tiger on the loose in a quiet suburban Houston neighborhood. As police arrive, its owner bundles the big cat into his Jeep and flees, as officers give pursuit.

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1.There are more tigers in backyards than in the wild.
2.3 rhinos are poached everyday
3.Animal trafficking is 28 billion dollar business
4.This is the fourth lucrative business in the world
5.Approximately 28,300 Freshwater Turtles are Traded Each DAY.
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/shocking-facts-about-how-the-illegal-wildlife-trade-drives-species-extinction/

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The rate at which wild animals are disappearing from the planet is alarming to say the least. Over the past 40 years alone, nearly 52 percent of the world's wildlife have been wiped out of existence. Suffice it to say that this is hardly something normal or natural. Noting the stark decline in the world's animal populations, scientists have declared that we are currently in the midst of the planet's sixth period of mass extinction. Over the course of Earth's history, there have been five major extinctions of species ... except in the past, these extinctions have been driven by natural phenomenon, or asteroids ... this time, the asteroid is us.

Humans are the single most influential species in our ability to alter our natural environment. Between the excess of greenhouse gases we produce through livestock production and industry, deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade, we have accelerated the standard rate of species extinction to be about 1,000 times faster than normal. While we may be familiar with the impact that deforestation and environmental pollution has on the world's species, most people overlook the massive role that the illegal wildlife trade plays in species extinction.

To give you an idea of how serious this trade is, let's take a look at 10 shocking facts you probably did not know about the illegal wildlife trade:

1. Between 35,000 - 50,000 African Elephants are Poached a Year.

The African elephant population has been cut in half since the 1970s due to ivory poaching. It is estimated that the African elephant will be extinct in the next 10 years if this does not stop.

2. There are More Tigers in American Backyards Than in the Wild.

The illegal wildlife trade also fuels the exotic pet trade. The WWF estimates there are 5,000 tigers being kept in U.S. backyards ... there are only around 3,000 left in the wild.

3. Three Rhinos are Poached Everyday.

Despite scientific evidence refuting the efficacy of rhino horn to treat illnesses such as cancer, it still remains a popular ingredient in Traditional Medicine.

4. More Than One Million Pangolins Have Been Traded in the Past 10 Years.

Pangolins are largely poached for their scales or sold as bush meat.

5. Approximately 28,300 Freshwater Turtles are Traded Each DAY.

Around 80 percent of Asia's freshwater turtle species are in danger of extinction. These turtles are used for medicine, food and pets.

6. Around 30 Percent of the Asian Elephant Population is in Captivity.

Like the African elephant, the Asian elephant is at dire risk of extinction. There are an estimated 32,000 Asian elephants left in the wild. One-third of the remaining population are being held in zoos, circuses, or used in tourist attractions.

7. The Illegal Wildlife Trade Generates Between Five and 20 Billion Dollars, Annually.

The species who fall victim to this cruel trade as quickly becoming endangered and threatened with extinction. As the supply of these animals drops, the price tag for their goods rises.

8. It is the Fourth Most Lucrative Illegal Trade in the World.

According to United for Wildlife, the illegal wildlife trade ranks right after drugs, human trafficking and the arms trade.

9. Over the Past 25 Years, the Wholesale Price of Ivory in China has Risen From Five Dollars to 2,100 Dollars.

The African elephant population is quickly dwindling, making the price of ivory rise. China is the world's largest market for ivory ... the U.S. comes in close second.

10. Over 1,000 Rangers Have Been Killed in the Past 10 Years.

In an effort to protect species, many national parks and wildlife reserves have rangers who guard endangered species from harm. Given the high potential pay-off for the sale of wildlife parts, poachers will do whatever it takes to kill wildlife ... even if that means killing humans as well.

What You Can Do

First and foremost, the best thing you can do to help end the wildlife trade is to stop purchasing wild animal products. You might not associate and ivory statue with the death of an elephant, but every single ivory trinket was made possible by the illegal wildlife trade. By informing others and raising awareness about the plight of the world's wildlife we can help people see the animals behind the commodities. Share this post and let's help save some of these species ... while we still can!
Graphics by Hannah Williams
Lead image source: Peter Steward/Flickr

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10 Shocking Facts About How the Illegal Wildlife Trade Drives Species Extinction

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The rate at which wild animals are disappearing from the planet is alarming to say the least. Over the past 40 years alone, nearly 52 percent of the world's wildlife have been wiped out of existence. Suffice it to say that this is hardly something normal or natural.

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1. I can draw posters put them around my community
2. I can tell people about it so once they know there will be less demand.
3. I can make a animation and post it on youtube.

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1. Do you think this problem is serious?
2.Have you ever used animal products?
3. What do you think about it?
4.Are you know concerned

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The loss to tourism of a single elephant over its lifetime is more than US$ 1.6 million.

Elephants are worth more alive than dead. This statistic, from the iWorry campaign of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, proves it. Furthermore, poaching and trafficking of elephants and other species threatens economic growth in African countries that depend heavily on wildlife tourism for jobs and income.
Tell your friends

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Share the Facts About Wildlife Trafficking

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Elephants are worth more alive than dead. This statistic, from the iWorry campaign of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, proves it. Furthermore, poaching and trafficking of elephants and other species threatens economic growth in African countries that depend heavily on wildlife tourism for jobs and income. Tell your friends

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An ecosystem can be defined as the biological community of living beings, communicating with the physical environment and other nonliving components. It can also be defined as the chain of communication or interaction between the living organisms and their environment.

An ecosystem differs in their size, which can either be small as an oasis or vast as an ocean. The two main components of an ecosystem are:

1. Abiotic components - All nonliving components of an ecosystem, including air, water, light, soil, rocks, minerals, and nutrients are examples of abiotic components.

2. Biotic components - All living components of an ecosystem, including producers, consumers, and decomposers are examples of biotic components.

Also Read: Biotic and Abiotic Factors

Importance of Ecosystem:

1. It provides habitat to wild plants and animals.

2. It promotes various food chains and food webs.

3. It controls essential ecological processes and promotes lives.

4. Involved in the recycling of nutrients between biotic and abiotic components.

5. It helps in maintaining the usual flow of energy in an ecosystem including- Carbon Cycle, Energy Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, Oxygen Cycle, and Water Cycle.

Apart from these importances, the ecosystem also plays an important role in controlling weeds, rotation of crop, management of grasslands, forests, biological surveys, conservation of soil, wildlife, etc.

Stay tuned with BYJU'S to know more in detail about the ecosystem, their types, components and their importance to human welfare.

Explore more:

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An ecosystem can be defined as the biological community of living beings, communicating with the physical environment and other nonliving components. It can also be defined as the chain of communication or interaction between the living organisms and their environment. An ecosystem differs in their size, which can either be small as an oasis or vast as an ocean.

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These days this problem has improved because of much stricter laws so this is taken more seriously now than before. If all the animals become extinct it will be terrible for the ecosystem. If there is no ecosystem the earth will be uninhabitable

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1.Pangolins
2.Rhinos
3.Tigers
4.bears
5.beetle

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After the smuggling of guns, drugs, and people, the trafficking of wild animals and their body parts is said to be the most profitable illegal activity in the world. The scale of the problem is undeniable, yet discussions of the illegal international trade in wildlife can fuel long-established and generally hypocritical preoccupations of people in the Global North with the activities of people living in countries of the Global South. At the same time, however, advocates and activists are also examining the illegal trafficking of domesticated animals-such as puppy trafficking in Europe and the U.S.

What Is Animal Trafficking?

Animal trafficking is what happens when people transport animals unethically. The term is usually used when this transport is done against the law for the purposes of selling the animals, often in another state or country. While trafficking of domesticated animals, such as designer puppies, does happen, the term "animal trafficking" is most often used in the context of wild animals. Similarly, although farmed animals are transported for commercial purposes in ways that can reasonably be called unethical, for example from grow lots to slaughterhouses, the term "animal trafficking" typically excludes the transport of farmed animals.

In her 2019 book on the topic, Ragnhild Aslaug Sollund defined the term "wildlife trafficking" as follows: "Trafficking in free-born animals involves the legal and illegal trade, smuggling, abduction, theriocide [the killing of animals] and collection of animals pertaining to (often endangered) animal species, either alive or by turning them into products." Sollund does not like the term "wildlife," but uses it when people take animals from their habitats, then kill, transport and trade them. Wild animals that are bred in captivity, such as animals that are kept in zoos, are also included under Sollund's definition of wildlife trafficking.

According to Ragnhild Aslaug Sollund and Siv Rebekka Runhovde in their analysis for The British Journal of Criminology, advocating against wildlife trafficking has the potential to be seen as a practice of neo-colonialism, a form of control wielded through "economic, political, religious, ideological and cultural means" for the "exploitation rather than the development of the less-developed parts of the world."

Causes of Animal Trafficking

The perpetrators of animal trafficking cater to a distant supply chain that often ends at kitchens, tourist sites, and apothecaries. Sometimes the smuggled animals end up in people's homes as exotic pets, like alligators, tigers, parrots, or tarantulas. There is even illegal trafficking of dogs and cats as companion animals in Europe and the U.S., as merchants arrange for the transport of babies that are too young to be traded.

Demand

People love animals and enjoy purchasing animal-derived products, but they often don't realize the extent of the suffering inflicted on those animals, whether they are kept as pets, or killed to make consumer products. Popular illegal commodities from wildlife include elephant ivory, tiger bone, and bear bile. For the most part, advocates concerned with animal trafficking focus their efforts on protecting wild animal species from being snatched from their natural habitats and sold for entertainment, companionship, or to become products such as food, medicine, clothing, or decorations. Live wild animals are also used for scientific research.

Europe, the Middle East, China, and other countries in Southeast Asia are all major hubs and destination markets for wildlife trafficking. The United States and the United Kingdom are "among the largest ivory trading countries in the world," wrote Deborah Cao in a 2020 article for Animal Sentience.

People may not realize that by purchasing a dog from a breeder, they may be supporting an industry that puts animals' lives at risk. In the case of illegally trafficked designer dogs such as French bulldogs, Yorkshire terriers, and chihuahuas in the U.S., people like to get their puppies as young as 8 weeks old. Traffickers thus have an incentive to transport dogs who are too young to be separated from their parents, and also too young to be properly vaccinated. On one occasion, a pregnant dog was hidden in a carrier so that, upon arrival in the U.S., two or three additional puppies could be sold.

Gaps in Protection

In the case of the import of puppies to the U.S. from international puppy mills, rabies vaccination requirements by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seem to have alerted officials to puppies' conditions, rather than any requirements for protecting animals during live transport. The Animal Welfare Act in the U.S. is the law that establishes the welfare standards for the transport of certain animals. The agency tasked with enforcing those standards, the USDA, is "chronically underfunded and understaffed, making it virtually ineffective" at enforcing protections, including for wild animals in the exotic pet trade.

An international treaty called The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) regulates, restricts, and bans the trade of certain wildlife animals and plants, but its goal is not to stop the business of animal trafficking. CITES' purpose is instead "to prevent trade leading to species extinction," writes Sollund. Meanwhile, the online marketplace is an unregulated haven for illegal trade in wildlife.

It's Big Business

The illegal wildlife trade in the U.S. alone is estimated to be worth $19 billion annually. Natural resources of somewhere between $91 and $258 billion are being stolen each year through environmental crime, according to INTERPOL and the U.N. Environment Programme. The illegal wildlife trade, which they estimate to have been worth $7 to $23 billion in 2016, is just one component of the substantial category of crimes against the environment.

The Punishment Rarely Fits the Crime

Proposed methods for ending illegal wildlife trafficking have focused mostly on law enforcement and "reducing consumer demand," though global advocates are increasingly recognizing that these approaches are not working. As a result, the voices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) are starting to be heard in the field of wildlife protection.

Wildlife crimes can differ in terms of scale, but the "heavy-handed, militarized responses to wildlife crime" have often obscured that there are distinctions between large-scale "crimes of greed," and subsistence "crimes of need," according to a TRAFFIC report on a 2016 meeting of IPLC advocates. One major theme of the meeting was the need to engage ILPCs as active partners, by making nature conservation efforts rewarding and protective against illegal wildlife activities like poaching.

Why Is Animal Trafficking a Problem?

Animal trafficking is a problem because it results in the suffering of animals. There are also economic, public health, and larger environmental consequences to the illegal trade of wildlife and free-born animals in particular.

Economic Impacts

Illegal wildlife and domestic animal trafficking are often connected to transnational organized crime. Organized crime produces violence and human deaths, aside from the animal deaths that are associated with animal trafficking.

Human Health Impacts

Live animals that are taken from their natural habitats can be aggressive, dangerous, or expose humans to zoonotic diseases. According to the Eurogroup for Animals, about 72 percent of emerging zoonotic diseases (diseases that nonhuman animals transmit to humans), originate in wild or free-born animals.

Environmental Impacts

Taking free-born animals from their natural habitats and putting them in new settings not only endangers the health of the animals but can also create a cascade of harm for the ecosystems they are from. Also, should they enter unfamiliar ecosystems, they may disrupt those local habitats and spread diseases.

How Many Animals Are Trafficked Each Year?

It is difficult to quantify the numbers of wildlife and domesticated animals trafficked each year, in part because of the illegal nature of much of the trafficking. In a six-week study of online trade in four European countries (France, Germany, Russia, and the U.K.) in 2018, the International Fund for Animal Welfare identified nearly 12,000 specimens of endangered and threatened animal species. A similar six-week study of digital markets in the U.S. found advertisements for nearly "2,400 animals, parts, derivatives, or products of protected species." Each year, about 20,000 elephants are killed for their ivory.

Most Trafficked Animals in the World

Iconic species of the illegal wildlife trade include live reptiles (including turtles), European eel, guanacos, gorillas, orangutans, elephants, tigers, rhinos, antelopes, pangolins, corals, birds, sharks, and sturgeon. Sturgeon were particularly desired for their caviar in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Why Are Pangolins the Most Trafficked Animal in the World?

Pangolins' scales are used in traditional medicine, and their meat is a luxury food in China and Vietnam. Because the animals are "commercially extinct" in China, there is demand to have pangolins imported into the country, even though they are considered endangered species.

How to Stop Animal Trafficking

There is no magic bullet to stop animal trafficking, and it will require many different approaches, targeting specific areas of trade. Thai Van Nguyen, a Vietnamese conservationist, has a multi-pronged approach to protecting the beloved pangolins in the forests of his country, including working directly with poachers. He also lobbied the Vietnamese government to end the status of pangolins as approved traditional medicine.

If you're looking for a companion dog or other domesticated animal, seek out a local animal shelter, and avoid buying one online or from a pet store. Adopting a pet from a local shelter is a safer route for the long-term welfare of animal companions because it's extremely difficult to know whether the breeder you're purchasing an animal from is truly responsible. Four Paws has publications to help you prepare for life as a caretaker of a small animal and a flow chart to examine why you want to get a pet.

To help the animals during your leisure time, reconsider visiting a wildlife attraction, especially if it allows you to take pictures with wild animals, pet a tiger cub or get a ride on an elephant, pony, camel, or donkey. Know that by paying to do so while on holiday, you may be supporting the unethical breeding of such animals. Be careful when purchasing products that might be made of endangered species, like ivory, tortoiseshell, coral, or leather.

What's Next

The global demand for free-born animals and domesticated animals as pets or as products is fueling wildlife and animal trafficking, especially given the lack of protections in place for animals during transport and in many of their home countries. The costs of animal trafficking include harms done to the animals themselves, threats to human health, and loss of biodiversity in local ecosystems. Ending this trade means undoing centuries of practices with deep roots in colonialism and imperialism. Yet even as advocates are using the internet to investigate continuing markets for illegal animal products, the internet is also a source of information and sustenance for advocates working to protect against animal trafficking, whether those animals are puppies, farmed animals, or pangolins.

An End to Animal Testing Is Within Reach Factory Farming: What the Industry Doesn't Want You to Know Harvard Law Clinic Urges USDA to Improve Lives of 100,000 Research Animals

Hemi is a writer and educator.

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What Is Animal Trafficking and What Is the Most Trafficked Animal?

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Animal trafficking is considered to be one of the most profitable illegal activities in the world. Monkeys, tigers, and pangolins are all heavily trafficked.

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It is when people transport them illegally most of them are either killed or abducted from their homes.

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Mostly money because the more rare the species the more desire and value. Another thing is that a lot of people in vain want a special pet but what they don’t know about the creatures origin

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Animal trafficking works by the hunters first killing them or taking them from the wild. Then if the animal is lucky it will be put in a really cramped box most of the time starving to death. If the package gets caught the animal will be saved unless the animals does not make it due to trauma.

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I need to find out what drives people to hunt animals

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I need to find out what drives people to hunt animals

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easy money

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Professor Luke Gibson and the Biodiversity Lab @SUSTech study emerging threats to biodiversity in China and Southeast Asia, with a primary focus towards the conservation of wildlife communities in tropical forests

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Actions / WHY?​What will you do with this information?​Why do you want to know?​

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Actions / WHY?​What will you do with this information?​Why do you want to know?​

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HOW?​How will you gather this information?​

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HOW?​How will you gather this information?​

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HOW?​How will you gather this information?​