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"   Alberto Gonz\u00E1lez Location: Miami Age: 33 Years on Job: 6     Alberto Gonz\u00E1lez has a checklist 100 lines long of all the animals he&amp;#039;d like to see. As a wildlife inspector at the Port of Miami, he&amp;#039;s already more than halfway through it: He has set eyes on everything from the world&amp;#039;s most toxic snake, the taipan, to its biggest shark, the whale shark. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hires inspectors to stop the illegal wildlife trade\u2014at $10 billion to $20 billion per year, it&amp;#039;s second only to arms and drug smuggling in the black market. &amp;quot;We have to understand and enforce a range of U.S. and international laws, regulations, and treaties that limit the commercial traffic of endangered wildlife. We must be able to identify thousands of different species. And we verify that live animals are transported humanely,&amp;quot; Gonz\u00E1lez says. &amp;quot;Every day is a new challenge.&amp;quot;  1. LIVE ANIMALS During PM&amp;#039;s visit, Gonz\u00E1lez inspected shipments of green anacondas, Goliath bird-eater tarantulas, smooth-fronted caimans, and yellow-footed tortoises. &amp;quot;With the exception of the tarantula, all the animals are protected by CITES\u2014the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;Not all the animals are endangered, but CITES regulates their trade to prevent them from going extinct.&amp;quot; The biggest challenge is identification: &amp;quot;Species from the same genus can look alike except for one detail. One is protected, the other is not.&amp;quot; 2. FLASHLIGHT Wildlife is shipped in bags or containers placed in crates. Gonz\u00E1lez dons a pair of Kevlar-lined gloves, then shines a flashlight inside the box to check for loose animals\u2014like the monitor lizards he recently found at large. &amp;quot;If we can handle the animal, then we&amp;#039;ll try to catch it,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;If not, we close the box, contact the importer, and let them do it.&amp;quot; 3. SNAKE HOOK In 2011 more than 36.8 million animals were imported and exported through Miami, which receives more venomous animals than any other port in the U.S.\u2014at least 16,000 last year\u2014so snake hooks are essential. The inspectors relocate such shipments to a large room. &amp;quot;We don&amp;#039;t want to be in a confined space in case the animals get loose,&amp;quot; Gonz\u00E1lez says. &amp;quot;We want to have an open area where we can handle them with the hooks if necessary.&amp;quot;  4. VIEWING TUBE After a bag has been placed on the floor, inspectors insert a plexiglass viewing tube to see what&amp;#039;s inside. Sometimes bags are mislabeled (by accident or on purpose), such as the one Gonz\u00E1lez peeked into that should have held frogs. The viewing tube showed its actual contents\u2014scorpions\u2014from a safe distance. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/a11880/wildlife-inspector-this-is-my-job-7588644/>