Brasília, 9 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The minister of Environment, José Carlos Carvalho, launched yesterday a national campaign to combat illegal traffic of wild animals. In a first stage, areas where the animals are captured, mainly in the Central-West, North and Northeast, and destination areas, mainly Rio and São Paulo, will be closely monitored.

According to Dener Giovanni, who coordinates Renctas, a network that combats illegal traffic of wild animals, this traffic is only smaller than the traffic in drugs and arms. "Today there are 400 gangs in Brazil that export illegal animals. They use the same routes that drug traffickers use. Illegal commerce of wild animals is a business with revenue between US$1 billion and US$2 billion annually," he says. (AB)