Collecting exotic animals can become a pathological obsession, as evidenced by some of the many collectors Chris Heath interviewed for his feature on the Zainesville zoo escape. But even then, a recent bust in Bangkok is nearly incomparable in scope: More than 1,000 animals, including 14 rare white lions, were seized by Thai authorities from a farm whose attendants argue they did nothing wrong.According to the Al Jazeera report above, Thai officials thing that many of the animals originated from South Africa. The white lions did at some point, because the only subpecies that displays the rare genetic trait that gave them their light coloring is endemic to South Africa. On the other hand, most white lions are born in captivity, so the ones seized could have really come from anywhere. (By the way, the AP is incorrect in calling them albino, as they simply have very light colored coats.) White lions are exceedingly rare, but because they are not considered their own subspecies as of yet, they have not received their own international legal protection.Regardless, the bust highlights one of the most confounding aspects of the wildlife trade: while a lot of the trade is illegal, a whole lot more is legal in some way or another. Internationally, the trade in wildlife is regulated by the CITES treaty, which stipulates which animals are legal to trade and how.But even if animals are legal to trade and keep, they still likely require international and local permits, which adds a whole lot of regulatory confusion for owners and enforcers alike. In this case, it appears permits were lacking, but with 1000 animals on site, it's going to take a lot of adminstrative wrangling to figure out what, if any, laws were actually broken.@derektmead