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Adorable? Demand for Cute Selfies Killing Animals at Risk

Agence France-Presse

   GENEVA - Social media users are fueling a burgeoning appetite for
   acquiring wild otters and other endangered animals as pets,
   conservationists say, warning the trend could push species toward
   extinction.

   Popular Instagrammers posting selfies with their pet otter may simply
   be seeking to warm the hearts of their sometimes hundreds of thousands
   of followers, but animal protection groups say the trend is posing an
   existential threat to the silky mammal.

   "The illegal trade in otters has suddenly increased exponentially,"
   Nicole Duplaix, who co-chairs the Otter Specialist Group at the
   International Union for Conservation of Nature, told AFP.

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