Mark Leong's Image

Wild birds (here a spotted wood owl and a wreathed hornbill), primates such as these long-tailed macaques, leopard cats, snakes and other animals, many of them banned from trade, are sold openly in the middle of urban Jakarta, West Java, Indonesia.

For the traders, it's day-to-day business. Unlike Jakarta's bigger, more central wildlife trade centre, the Pramuka Market, this one is much less covert and much easier to photograph. No one challenges the pet-sellers, and the authorities are nowhere to be seen. The market is popular and gets very busy after work or school and at the weekend. 'For many people, it's just another kind of recreation, somewhere to go, something to do, like browsing for shoes or clothes,' says Mark. 'The hardest challenge conservation bodies face is the widespread "it's only an animal" mindset that so many people have.'