Untold numbers of animals — estimates vary — were shipped, flown or trucked from their habitats for the amusement and/or consumption of humans, both within and outside of Colombia. Traffickers use many of the same techniques and escape routes, including roads, tunnels and byways, created by drug smugglers during Pablo Escobar’s heyday.

For Mr. Valencia, whose mother, a journalist and war photographer, taught him by example to comfort the afflicted, photographing rescued wildlife is his passion project. It began with a haunting experience at a wildlife rescue shelter in Bogotá six years ago. “It was very sad, no doubt,” he said, “but the moment that caught my attention was to see a macaw without a beak who was trying to eat but could not. It is as if my eyes had been removed, so as not to take more photos. The traffickers cut it to avoid being bitten. Animals do not cry like humans, but you can really feel their pain and suffering just by looking at them.”

From that moment, he said, he decided to champion the animals and expose the trafficking. The project is ongoing, and he plans to document all aspects of trafficking, not just the rescues. But for impact, he said, he has focused on documenting rescued wildlife bearing the scars and injuries of their ordeal.