By Andreas Wilson-Spath - Daily Maverick Conservationists have demonstrated that legalised trade and commercial breeding of wild animals stimulates demand, encourages poachers and smugglers and ultimately pushes species towards extinction in the wild. A new study supports this view. People involved in the commercial breeding and trade of wild animals would have us believe that they are conservationists; that their industry – a growing and increasingly influential player in South Africa – contributes to the survival of species in the wild. A sophisticated new study conducted in the huge...
