How SF's Academy of Sciences is providing refuge for illegally imported animals

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Scientists at the California Academy of Sciences travel around the world, performing critical work to keep global environments healthy and climate ready. But in some startling cases, creatures from those environments unexpectedly come to them -- landing right here in the Bay Area. That's when the work begins.

It's dinner time for some hungry young fish about to hit a monster growth spurt.

"We're offering tilapia and earthworms today," says biologist Kelsey Paulling with the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

The specimens, called Arapaima, were plucked out of the Amazon in Peru and illegally imported into the U.S. Paulling is teaching them the aquatic table manners they'll need when they're moved to a bigger tank at the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. That's where they'll grow to roughly the size of a human.

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"They're definitely accustomed to a certain climate, a certain temperature, all of those things," she says.

The Academy got the call after the Arapaima were intercepted by Fish and Wildlife officials in Southern California. Wherever they were heading, it probably wasn't good.

"They are not good pets because they grow up to 6 to 8 feet in length. They live 20 plus years, or they can," Paulling points out.

And they potentially cause environmental havoc if they're released into a non-native environment.

But it's not an isolated incident. For years, the Academy of Sciences has been playing an unsung role, supporting investigators from Fish and Wildlife who patrol SFO and other entry points around the state, combatting everything from deliberate smuggling to bad decision making.

"Oh, for sure. I mean, there are people that are quite naive and with respect to what is a poisonous animal or a plant, for example, or something that's noxious, and there are people that are quite knowledgeable and can tell things apart and still decide that they want to have those kinds of things. So they will bring them into the country or into the state," says Charles Delbeek, director of aquarium projects at the Academy.

He says their biologists routinely identify protected exotic corals, illegally poached for the aquarium trade. A nearby reptile exhibit is also home to an illegally imported Gila Monster.

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"They're venomous and they will bite, and they will not let go. And they slowly pump the venom into you as they do that," explains Delbeek.

In a back office, he collects see the legacy of species already exploited before they even arrived in the U.S. -- everything from snakeskin pool cues to sea horses, to crocodile jewelry.

"So, any products that are made from endangered species are not allowed to be brought into the country either," Delbeek adds.

The Academy takes in many of the confiscated animals and works with zoos and aquariums around the country to help find homes for the rest. The work can be as rewarding as it is unusual -- even in the case of a soon-to-be giant predator like the recently arrived Arapaima.

"And we have the expertise to figure out what they need, and we also really try to focus on not only animals surviving but also thriving because they can't go back into their native habitat," Kelsey Paulling points out.

Researchers say occasionally an animal will be too large for them to handle in their current exhibits and will need to go another facility, including a live crocodile seized from a car in a parking lot.