Songbirds such as canaries were among the most popular wild imports
hanif66 via Shutterstock
Nearly 3 billion plants and animals have been imported into the US over the past two decades, most of which were taken from the wild.
“The numbers are absolutely massive,” says Alice Hughes at the University of Hong Kong. She says that estimate still probably falls short, as it only includes legal exchanges, and there is no comprehensive way to track the total trade of wildlife around the world. “We are just scratching the surface,” she says.
