They can get anything. Any animal, any breed, any size. Delivered within days, packaged and ready to be smuggled abroad. "Anything," boasts the small, thin man. "You choose and I'll have it for you within a fortnight."

The market in a Rio back street, miles from the bustling tourist draw of Copacabana, was heaving with its usual Sunday crowd. Most were there to buy puppies or domestic birds but a few were after something a little different; something more exotic.

This market is just one of dozens run by organised crime syndicates who are plundering the Brazilian rain forests for endangered animals to sell on the Internet. The illegal trade is flourishing because of a growing trend among international collectors to buy exotic animals.

For the first time, wealthy businessmen can purchase an endangered bird or snake without leaving their fortified mansions. In days gone by, collectors would either have travelled themselves, or sent emissaries, to meet traffickers.

Now the whole transaction takes place on the web.

The illegal trade - which nets the Brazilian gangs an estimated £25 million sterling a year - is booming because traffickers are going online to sell their wares.

Down the narrow lanes of the market, behind the stalls stacked high with cages of tiny, coloured birds, lurk the Brazilian middle men, used by the traffickers to get rid of bad stock and to make easy money. The small man, dressed in an oversized, dirty grey sweatshirt, does little direct business himself.

He sends an army of bit-part players onto the street with the endangered animals, including monkeys, toucans and parrots, stuffed down their shirts or wrapped in dirty carrier bags.

In a pioneering study, researchers at Brazil's National Network Against the Illegal Wild Animal Trade discovered that 12 million animals had been snatched from the country's rain forests during the past year. At least 50 per cent of these were then sold overseas.

"This is the first time anyone has looked at how the web has made the trafficking of animals easier," said Dener Giovanini, director of the network. "With more Brazilians logging on, the number of animals stolen from the rain forests is on the increase."

The majority of private collectors are from Europe, the US and Asia. They place wanted ads directly onto the Net or use the safety of online chat rooms - on seemingly respectable websites - to talk to traffickers.

Animal research institutes are also regular buyers, particularly those in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. At least 300 spec ialist gangs - often involved in other kinds of illegal trafficking - are regularly stealing endangered species from Brazil's rain forests.

According to Maj Mauricio Padrone of Rio's military police, it is one of the most lucrative areas of criminal activity. "In Brazil, it is the third most profitable form of trafficking after drugs and the arms trade," he said. "However there is a lot less risk is involved. If caught traffickers can expect a two-year maximum sentence. A lot of judges won't jail them at all because they don't view this as a serious crime."

The traffickers themselves rarely set foot in the forests, relying instead on the poor local population to capture the wildlife.

Once caught the majority of the animals are transported from the north of the country to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo - South America's largest city - through a network of truckers and corrupt bus drivers. Some are driven over Brazil's southern borders into Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, where the traffickers buy fake documents falsifying legitimacy.

Animals are sent abroad through the post, by courier companies or smuggled onto ships and aircraft. Often they are hidden under clothes in suitcases and are carried through customs. The Brazilian federal police estimate that dozens of airline and postal officials are bribed by the gangs to turn a blind eye to the trafficking.

Only one in 10 animals survives the journey from the rain forest to their final destination. The other nine die when captured or during transportation. "All trafficked animals suffer," said Giovanini. "If the dealers are trafficking birds they pierce their eyes so they cannot see the sunlight and sing. Others are numbed with drugs so they stay silent during the journey.`

BIRDS - including parrots and macaws - are the most trafficked of all animals followed by snakes, lizards and small turtles. Amphibians and mammals - particularly primates - are also popular along with spiders and scorpions.

"The gangs see that big money can be made out of stealing animals," said Giovanini. "They are determined people but they have to be beaten if the creatures of the rain forest are to survive."

Back in the Rio market place, the small man produces some kind of menu from his pocket. "It's all here," he said. "Read this and choose which animals you want. I know people who can get you a big-bellied monkey within 15 days or perhaps you would like something . . ."

Before he can finish speaking though, someone shouts and panic breaks out among the crowd. Tropical birds fall to the floor as people run, trying to escape from an unexpected police raid.

Armed officers grab the bit-part sellers and bundle them into waiting vans. But before they even notice the Small Man, he has disappeared.

Nicole Veash is at nicoleveash@uol.com.br