But Asia does not have monopoly on the cruel and unsustainable exploitation of wild animals. Europe and the United States provide huge markets for the pet industry. None of this trade is necessary. It serves one purpose-to provide status symbols to those who need them and who otherwise don't know or don't care about the harm done.

Exactly what are we talking about here? Tens of millions of fish and invertebrates and thousands of tons of coral per annum to supply aquaria in the U.S. and Europe. None of this stock can be farmed or raised in captivity to sell. It has to be harvested from the world's shallow reef systems, the "rain forests" of the seas. To add injury on top of injury there is massive waste, with a 50-90% mortality during harvest and transport!

Coral reefs around the world are being plundered and poisoned at a clip faster than tropical rain forests. Out of sight, out of mind seems to apply here. There is less publicity and concern for the reefs than the rain forests. Some of the facts are shocking. Unscrupulous traders dynamite or release sodium cyanide onto millions of coral heads each year. Believe it or not. Stunned and dead fish alike float to the surface where the live ones are easily plucked from the water. No matter that these practices are indiscriminate, with huge overkill. Or that they destroy reefs, for, let's say, a thousand years. The attitude is, "It's not my problem."