According to a 2024 report by Transparency International Brazil, titled ‘The Wildlife Laundromat’, criminal organisations utilise elaborate smuggling techniques, including fraud and corruption, to traffic millions of live animals. For example, in 2017, authorities at Miami airport found 21 splash-backed poison frogs – endemic to the southern tributaries of the Amazon river – covered by false paperwork that was issued in Europe and not Brazil, the frogs’ country of origin. This exemplifies the widespread practice of document fraud, which is used to ‘launder’ illegally trafficked wildlife into legal markets. As a wildlife trafficking analyst summarised: “This is not just about smuggling wildlife in suitcases anymore. It’s about laundering money and laundering the animals themselves to pretend their business is legitimate.”