Endangered Reptile Skin Trade Imperils Tropical Wilderness : Environment: Sale of so-called exotic leathers threatens 23 species. Their disappearance can lead to loss of wilderness because they regulate population of other species.

Peter Brazaitis held up what looked like two alligator handbags, one green and supple, the other a tawny brown, cracked and peeling.

The green bag was indeed alligator. The inferior brown bag was made from an endangered species of caiman, a South American reptile whose skin has bony plates that cannot be softened by tanning.

“Both of these sell for $600 to $800,” said Brazaitis, a herpetologist and curator of animals at New York City’s Central Park Zoo. “Caiman skin breaks, so when the public buys an endangered skin, they’re getting ripped off.”

Indeed, unwary consumers lose twice: They pay handsome prices for inferior products and their purchases reduce the numbers of an endangered species.

Trade in so-called exotic leathers made from reptile skins is threatening the survival of the world’s 23 species of crocodilians, 19 of which are threatened or endangered. Crocodilians include alligators, crocodiles and gavials.

Some reptile skins are legal. Among them are the skins of American alligators, which make high-quality leather and are sold for $350 each. About 375,000 skins were obtained from legal sources last year, Brazaitis said.

“But if you look at how many skins are estimated to be in trade, it’s 2 million a year,” he said. “Two-thirds of the trade is either from an endangered species or an illegal source.”

Illegal skins, which may earn their trappers a mere $5 to $10 apiece, are “laundered” by mixing them with legal skins before they reach tanneries, Brazaitis said.

Trade in illegal skins is not confined to Asian bazaars or remote tropical outposts. Top department stores and the exclusive boutiques on Manhattan’s East Side sell products made of such endangered species as the yacare caiman of Central and South America.

“I’ve just done a circuit of all the major stores surrounding the zoo here, and I’ve found products from yacare caiman,” Brazaitis said. A prestigious name on the door is no guarantee of the quality of the reptile skin products inside, he said.

As Brazaitis’ survey suggests, trade in illegal skins is flourishing. It is widespread in the United States, despite tight safeguards established by the United Nations and by Congress, under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates 2,000 to 3,000 shipments, each containing up to several thousand reptile skins, enter the port of New York each month.

They include skins from boa constrictors, Nile crocodiles, African monitor lizards, Siamese crocodiles, anacondas and Indian rock pythons, all shaped into handbags, belts, shoes and briefcases. Many carry the names of world-famous designers and prestigious retailers.

Only experts like Brazaitis can tell the legal skins from the illegal.

“When you get to the department store, they don’t care,” said Brazaitis. “They don’t know.” Nevertheless, sales clerks confidently assure customers that everything the store sells is made from legal skins, Brazaitis said.

The skins of more than 350 animals confiscated in New York by the Fish and Wildlife Service are on display at the Central Park Zoo in an exhibit titled “The Illegal Skin Trade.”

The exhibit includes a U.S. Customs declaration form attesting to the legality of a wildlife shipment of royal pythons and boa constrictors from Africa. Brazaitis chuckled as he pointed it out. “Royal pythons come from Asia, and boa constrictors come from South America,” he said.

Most people find reptiles about as welcome as a boa constrictor’s embrace. “People say, ‘What do you want to save those things for? They eat people,’ ” Brazaitis said.

But their disappearance leads to the loss of tropical wilderness, a problem receiving increasing attention as Americans prepare for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22.

Crocodilians are predators at the top of the food chain, Brazaitis explained. They regulate the population of other species.

An experiment to remove aggressive, fearsome Nile crocodiles from a lake in Egypt showed how balances can tip, he said. “The fish that people couldn’t eat--the garbage fish--proliferated. The fish people could eat couldn’t compete. They declined.”

Caimans eat snails that carry the parasitic disease schistosomiasis, deadly to humans. With fewer caimans, outbreaks of the disease could be more common, Brazaitis suggested.

The concern about trade in reptile skins has echoes of the anti-fur movement, but the situations are not the same.

Opponents of fur are concerned largely about the welfare of the animals that are killed and skinned for their fur. Trade in fur from endangered species has largely been stopped, wildlife officials say.

Trade in reptile skins, on the other hand, is seriously aggravating threats to many of the world’s endangered reptiles, Brazaitis said. It is an environmental issue more than an animal welfare issue.

Brazaitis would like to see it become a consumer issue.

“If you elect to buy the caiman product, it’s not going to last,” he said.

So how do customers avoid getting swindled? They can hire a herpetologist, or refuse to buy exotic leather.

“We would prefer that people do not buy exotic leathers,” Brazaitis said. “The only ones that need reptile skins are reptiles.”