We spoke to one owner of a private zoo in Romania which cages over 500 animals, who told us he can sell us lion cubs for 5000 euro each without any documentation, as he had not registered their birth with the authorities. He also offered to sell us servals for 3,000 euro without any papers. He needed the money to feed his other animals and keep his zoo heated during winter.

At the back of a house on the outskirts of Bucharest is a large makeshift menagerie where animals are for sale. These include cranes and raccoon dogs, whose sale is highly restricted. This is run by a long-distance truck driver who uses this business as a side hustle. We also spoke to a driver in Albania who offered to smuggle kangaroos from Romania.

In their profiles on Instagram in Albania, pet sellers use the phrase “We can bring any breed you want” with emojis of a cat and a dog. This is a code for selling exotic animals. One Instagram dog and cat breeder offered us a lion or tiger for around 15,000 euros.

In Romania, a zoo owner told us we could purchase two lions from him using a black market scheme. He could sell us the animals for around 6,000 euros without papers by declaring to the authorities that the animals were dead. This means he would need an extra 300 euro to pay a vet for the autopsy.

In Tirana, one pet shop sold dogs, cats and small reptiles in-store. But a staff member told us they also sold monkeys. Later, we confirmed this with this boss, who offered us a macaque monkey for several thousand euros.

In the last few years, the nouveau riche of Albania often purchase a lion or tiger cub as a symbol of their wealth and power, which they show off on social media alongside their big houses and expensive cars. However when these animals grow up they become sullen and aggressive, as they are not a domesticated species, says Sajmir Shehu, coordinator of Four Paws Albania. He has been contacted by many rich people who want to “offload” their big cats.

Many collectors of animals become breeders and traders themselves. This is especially true of collectors of reptiles. They are often looking for wild-caught rather than captive-bred animals, because the wild variety can be more successful at breeding. They justify buying wild-caught animals by claiming these animals have a longer and easier life if kept in captivity.

In Europe, it is forbidden to use animals in circuses in most countries (although Germany is one big exception). However “travelling zoos” are still allowed, where visitors can pet animals and take selfies with them. We spoke to one travelling zoo in Romania, where the owners were looking to purchase exotic animals.

Endangered and protected species are for sale as food in Europe, or smuggled from Europe to Asia. The most common of these is the European eel, which is used as a food in China and Japan. In Romania, sturgeon is also caught illegally and eaten illegally, especially in the Danube Delta region.

In 2018, Czech customs authorities raided a zoo near Prague, and found a dead tiger, tiger skin, claws, bouillon cubes and broth made from the bones, used to make wine for traditional Chinese medicine. Tiger bone wine retails for $269/litre in Laos, according to the Wildlife Justice Commission. The stocks of wild tiger are low - under 6,000 tigers live in the wild, so it is easier for medical practitioners to use captive-bred animals