Well when I was out in the pet business, there was a tremendous amount of exotic animals available from dealers that were supplying zoos and pet shops. Because at that time, the concept was the forests, the jungles had to be tamed. There was a demand for sugar, sugar cane. There was a demand for bananas. So forests were being cleared to plant plantations of sugar, bananas. And the indigenous people that were around either helping to clear the land or are being displaced by the clearing of the land discovered that they could collect animals and sell ’em to animal dealers. There were animal dealers goin’ up and down the Amazon River buying animals from the indigenous people to ship off for the pet trade. You could buy baby caiman freshly outta the jungle.
