A Texas man was arrested for trafficking a vulnerable Mexican baby spider monkey. Mexican baby spider monkeys were unable to sell on Facebook, split into San Diego, separated from their mother.
Salmado Gared Duffer, 33, was recently sentenced to four months of detention and 180 days of home confinement for trafficking six young primates, according to the US Department of Justice.
Agents with the US Fish and Wildlife Service said they discovered his crime in 2023 and intercepted three Mexican spider monkeys smuggled by people working for him across the Calexico border.
Not only is it illegal to own a primate as a California pet, it also raises a special eyebrow for owning baby spider monkeys. The species are plastered at endangerment, and infants need constant, skilled care to survive.
“The crime torn apart a few weeks ago from the mother, destroying vulnerable ecosystems, putting vulnerable species at risk, poses serious public health risks,” Us Atty said. Adam Gordon in a statement Friday.
After authorities seized three monkeys in August 2023, they searched the smuggler’s phone and found a message indicating he was bringing animals across the border for Duffer.
In the judicial agreement, Duffer has allowed them to coordinate human trafficking of baby spiders, to receive them in the United States and arrange for sales.
Three confiscated monkeys, named Chrissy, Jack and Janet, were temporarily quarantined at the San Diego Zoo. As part of his sentence, Dafar was ordered to pay more than $23,500 in reparations for the costs of the quarantine.
The monkey was subsequently permanently housed at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, where two other baby spider monkeys (named Frankie and Vice) were assisted by prosecutors seized in another southwest border smuggling case.
During the investigation, authorities discovered that in June 2022 and July 2023, Duffer had previously been smuggled and sold at least three Mexican spider monkeys.
Their location is unknown.
These three additional monkeys are not isolated. This is mandatory by law to prevent the spread of fatal diseases such as Ebola, Marburg and MPOX from primates to humans, prosecutors said.
“This is not just an economic crime. It’s a serious and permanent injury to both wildlife and public safety,” Gordon said. “Border security is not about stopping drugs or preventing illegal entry, and it also involves protecting the public from dangerous illnesses.”
The investigation showed that Duffer intentionally trafficked baby spider monkeys despite the risk of separating them from their mothers, as they believed they were susceptible to hiding.
When a Facebook user sent Dafar a news article about Spider Monkeys seized by US Border Patrol agents, he said, “He’s stupid Brin.”[g] In[o] Many of them and all adults make a lot of noise and they are active. According to court documents, babies are most sleepy, tiny sleep and hidden to hide.
Dafar has sent a message to potential customers on Facebook, sending pictures of baby spider monkeys under diapers and heat lamps. Both signs indicate that the primate is too young to survive on its own.
Spider Monkeys usually nursing for the first two years of their life, but most remain close to their mother until they are four years old.
Their mothers are protective, and according to testimony from American fish and wildlife agents, their mothers work together to protect their babies in the face of threats. As a result, poachers often kill their mother and army when they try to catch a baby.
Genetic tests for Chrissy, Jack and Janet showed that they all had separate mothers. This means poachers could kill and catch many monkeys.
Dafar was ordered to surrender before May 29th, prosecutors said.
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