Hidden inside a ceiling in Bangkok, a team of wildlife detectives found something astonishing: living corals, smuggled into the country and stashed above a room where nobody thought to look. Nawee Changpirom, who heads a raid unit for Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), still shakes his head over the creatures his team has uncovered over the years — leopards, hornbills, monkeys and, once, even an anteater.
Thailand sits at the center of one of the world's most profitable and widespread kinds of organized crime. Alongside weapons, drugs and human trafficking, the illegal wildlife trade is run by cross-border cartels. Thailand is especially vulnerable because it has abundant local wildlife, rare species are available in nearby countries, and it is easy to reach by sea, air and land. In 2023, the DNP created a dedicated Wildlife Crime Intelligence Unit with just three permanent staff to track down and intercept illegal purchases.
Much of the unit's work happens online. Wildlife traders now use social media as their "key channel" for buying and selling illegal animals, says WCU director Polawee Buchakiet. Sellers often describe animals as needing to be "rehomed" instead of selling them outright, and post tightly cropped photos so nobody can figure out where they are. But the unit's undercover officers are skilled at finding them anyway.
One undercover officer, who uses the pseudonym "Tee," has climbed electricity poles dressed as a repairman to peer into courtyards and snap photos, and posed as a land surveyor to look through the windows of neighboring properties. Gathering that evidence is what lets the unit get court warrants to storm in and free the animals. Tee, 43, is haunted by the cases where the team arrived too late, finding creatures already dead or so sickly they died soon after rescue. "Whether they are big or small, all animals' lives are precious," he said.
The animals are often badly weakened by smuggling. They are stressed from losing their habitat and family, and vulnerable to unfamiliar diseases. A six-month-old leaf monkey rescued at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport was small enough to curl up in the rubber-gloved hand of DNP vet Thanawadee Phaichana. He was bound for India, where demand for exotic pets is growing, but a second monkey found in the same bag died after being rescued. "Most of these smuggled animals will be in a weak condition... some are given sedatives or even mild anesthetic to keep them from moving or making noise," Thanawadee said.
Rescued animals come to the DNP's small facility for treatment before moving to a sanctuary. Older, healthier ones may eventually return to the wild, but younger animals struggle to learn how to survive. There have been wins, including a July raid that rescued a leaf monkey, a gibbon and hundreds of turtles. Wildlife traffickers can face up to 10 years in prison for protected species, or 15 years for endangered ones. But the unit also battles setbacks, a 2019 court dismissal and shortages of staff, funds and help from social media sites. Undercover buyers sometimes even use their own money. For Nawee, the real fix is simple: an end to the exotic pet trade.