The palgrave international handbook of a 460

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R. Sollund

I was also given access to the paperwork relating to a large number of penal
cases which can only be superficially and selectively treated at this point as
they far outnumber what can possibly be analyzed for this brief chapter (but
see Sollund forthcoming). The penal cases include 87 cases coded as ‘2510:
Illegal importation of alien wildlife species’ (breach of Wildlife law §47) and
723 cases coded as ‘5901: Illegal importation/dealing with exotic species’ §30
nr. 76 (breach of a regulation under the Animal Welfare Act) in STRASAK,
the central penal case statistics of the police. These files include all from
charges, police interrogations, fines, verdicts, photos, and so on; in short all
material the police have gathered in relation to an offence.

Typical Cases: Reptile/Combination Cases and Parrot
Trafficking
Findings indicate there are typically two different types of seizures of live
animals in Norway; a repeated violation is trafficking parrots into the
country, but the most frequently seized species are reptiles. Reptiles are
seized at borders or in private homes. In most cases relating to parrots,
these are attempted smuggling (traffickers not declaring the parrots to
Customs) but some cases also include problematic paperwork when the
necessary CITES permits are not in place, for example, more birds being
brought into the country than the number that the permits allow. The
number of individuals may vary; the most birds who were seized at once
during the time I have conducted the research (between 2010–2015) was
25. On some occasions, and this is the case for a particular recidivist
offender, he trafficked birds together with other contraband such as
alcohol and tobacco. This indicates that his main motive for smuggling
is profit, as both parrots and alcohol may be sold for a good price.

Another typical type of offender featured in the confiscation reports is
the tourist who purchases a tortoise at a local market while visiting Turkey
or Greece and brings her/him home in the pocket or hand luggage to have
the animal as a pet. Other typical penal cases in the material I studied are
what I refer to as ‘combination cases’ in which a recidivist offender who is
charged on numerous grounds, usually violent and drug offences, is also
convicted of a breach of the wildlife law or violation of the regulation
against the keeping of exotic species under the Animal Welfare Act
because a reptile is found in his home during a police search.
In such combination cases, except when the main offence is another crime,
the punishment for trafficking is usually very lenient—usually a fine or a