Some recent media coverage of TRAFFIC
Malaysia seizes lizards, owls destined for pots
The Associated Press, November 13, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysian authorities have seized thousands of protected lizards, owls and other creatures, many of them dead and destined for restaurant kitchens abroad, a wildlife official said Thursday.
Authorities saved some 7,000 live clouded monitor lizards and seized meat of some 1,000 owls, some sun bears, pangolins and other protected animals during the raids last week, said Misliah Mohamed Basir, deputy director of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
Chris Shepherd, an officer with wildlife protection group Traffic, warned in a statement that the Nov. 4 seizure of "ready-prepared owls... may mark the beginning of a new trend in wild meat from the region."
He said the meat of the owls and other animals — eagles, pigs, porcupine, python and deer — were found in a freezer and a storage room in a house in Muar town in Johor state.
He said information obtained during the raid led to the second raid on Nov. 7 on a storage facility in Segamat town in Johor where the live clouded monitor lizards were found.
More at: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/13/asia/AS-Malaysia-Smuggled-Wildlife.php
Eating Wildlife Again Popular in China
Envrionmental News Service, 13 November 2008
BEIJING, China, November 13, 2008 (ENS) - China's consumption of wildlife for food and medicine is rising, while China's traditional medicine trade also is rapidly growing, finds a review of wildlife trade in China in 2007, released today by Traffic, the international wildlife trade monitoring network.
Chinese traditional medicine is growing at any annual rate of 10 percent. This, together with habitat loss, has impacted medicinal plant and animal populations, which have shrunk rapidly, with 15 percent to 20 percent of medicinal plants and animals now considered endangered, the report finds.
"'The State of Wildlife Trade in China' examines the impact China's consumption is having on biodiversity and what emerging trends there are in wildlife trade," said Professor Xu Hongfa, co-ordinator of Traffic's China program.
The report found that a key "emotional motivator" for consuming wildlife was that it was from the wild, which respondents believed had the connotation of being unpolluted, precious, and special. A "functional motivator" was the belief that wildlife was nourishing and had curative value.
Eating wild animals has long been a tradition in southern China, and while general consumption of wild animals slowed with SARS in 2003, a recent survey of wild animals sold in five cities in southern China shows that the tradition has once again gained in popularity.
The online survey found 142 published cases involving the trade of wild animals for food in China. Of these, 61 involved species on the Chinese or international lists of protected animals.
More at: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-13-01.asp
Rare animal trade thrives in Thailand from lax laws
BANGKOK (AFP), 7 November 2008 — Thousands of tourists and locals throng the congested aisles of Bangkok's popular Chatuchak market every weekend, hunting for everything from a new pair of shiny leather shoes to a puppy.
But among the racks of caged creatures is an illegal trade in endangered animals that wildlife police say they are powerless to stop as sellers take advantage of lax Thai laws and punishments.
The illicit international trade in rare species is worth an estimated six billion dollars per year, academics estimate, and wildlife campaigners say much of that money now changes hands in the Thai capital.
"It's difficult to arrest these smugglers," Lieutenant Colonel Thanayod Kengkasikij of Thailand's anti-wildlife trafficking taskforce told AFP.
His problem is practical and legal as keeping an eye on smugglers as they move about the market is tough enough, but once arrests are made getting the courts to punish them is even tougher.
"If the court handed down harsher verdicts to traffickers I think they would be more afraid of us," Thanayod said.
Months of police surveillance at Chatuchak, also known as JJ market, preceded a raid last March, organised with the help of wildlife charities TRAFFIC and PeunPa.
During the operation, 40 undercover Thai officers arrested two traffickers attempting to sell three Madagascan Ploughshare tortoises, so rare that conservationists say only 300 remain in the world.
In another section of the market a dealer was caught secretly selling slow lorises, endangered primates that live Southeast Asian forests.
"Dealers stated openly that many specimens were smuggled into and out of Thailand," said Chris Shepherd, a senior programme officer for TRAFFIC.
"They even offered potential buyers advice on how to smuggle reptiles through customs and onto aeroplanes."
The surveillance and raid cost campaigners thousands of dollars. Of the three men arrested, none went to prison -- two were not punished at all and one received a 20,000-baht fine, half the maximum financial penalty.
These sort of meagre penalties frustrate wildlife campaigners.
More at: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxQzNVMMIcLJC95rXUkNPPcwXWAA
Rising Asian shark fin demand hits stocks: report
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent, 3 November 2008
OSLO (Reuters) - Rising demand for shark fin soup in Asia is spurring illegal fishing and contributing to a plunge in stocks, a report said on Monday.
The study, by the Australian government and the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, urged governments to crack down on illegal catches. Registered legal shark exports totaled $310 million worldwide in 2005, up from $237 million in 2002.
"As the world's demand for sharks continues to grow, shark populations are plummeting," said a statement accompanying the 57-page report. One in five shark species is considered threatened with extinction.
"The Asian market for shark fin is the key driver of shark fishing globally and is fuelling illegal fishing and high levels of legitimate shark fishing of questionable sustainability," it said.
Rising affluence in Asia was stoking demand for shark fin, widely viewed as a delicacy when shredded in soup. Main fin importers are China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan.
More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4A231A20081103
Ivory auction opens amid concerns
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News website 28 October 2008
The first officially sanctioned sale of ivory in southern Africa for almost a decade opened on Tuesday.
Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe will auction more than 100 tonnes of ivory from stockpiles to buyers from China and Japan.
The money raised will go into elephant conservation projects.
Some environment groups say the sales encourage poachers elsewhere in Africa to kill elephants for ivory that can be fed into the illegal trade.
However, data collected by the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic shows that seizures of illegal ivory fell in the years following the last legal sale in 1999.
The secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the UN body that sanctioned the sale, says it will monitor trade in China and Japan to make sure companies are not mixing illegally sourced ivory with these legal shipments.
The tusks being sold come mainly from animals that died naturally. China and Japan are not permitted to export the material.
More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7693816.stm
Reconoce Gran Bretaña labor de México en medio ambiente
México, (Notimex) - 22 de septiembre de 2008
La oficial de Proyectos en Cambio Climático y Energía de la embajada de la Gran Bretaña en México, Liliana Dávila, aseveró que gracias al convenio de cooperación entre la Profepa y WWF-Traffic se obtuvo apoyo del Fondo de Oportunidades Globales, que depende de la cancillería inglesa.
Lo anterior durante la firma del convenio entre la Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (Profepa) y la WWF-Traffic con el que la organización internacional donó dos mil 294 herramientas técnicas, que serán distribuidas entre los inspectores asignados a los 72 puertos, aeropuertos y fronteras del país.
More at: http://espanol.news.yahoo.com/s/22092008/4/n-latam-reconoce-gran-breta-labor-m-xico-medio-ambiente.html
Elephants Decimated in Congo Park; China Demand Blamed
Zoe Alsop in Nairobi, Kenya, for National Geographic News, 29 August 2008
Since the beginning of this year, armed groups, soldiers, and poachers have killed 10 percent of the elephants in Congo's troubled Virunga National Park—allegedly driven by rising Chinese demand for ivory—park officials say.
The announcement raises fears that elephants could disappear forever from Africa's oldest and largest national park, which has recently made headlines for its gorilla murders.
Rangers plying the lawless central sector of Virunga have discovered the bodies of seven elephants in the past two weeks alone.
In one case they came upon Rwandan militia members hovering over the bodies of two elephants. The rangers managed to drive the men away before they could remove the animals' tusks.
In all, 24 elephants are known to have been killed in Virunga so far this year.
"We believe that less than ten were killed last year," said Samantha Newport, spokesperson for Virunga National Park. "Undoubtedly this year is a lot, lot worse. It's catastrophic."
(Earlier coverage: "17 Elephants Butchered for Ivory in African Park" [May 5, 2008].)
Chinese to Blame?
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the primary sources of illegally trafficked ivory in the world, according to TRAFFIC, a group that monitors the wildlife trade.
Recently, the tiny elephant population of Virunga in the conflict-riven east of the country has become the target of gunmen hoping to unload the illegal ivory into a thriving international black market, park officials say.
Virunga's elephant population is small—thought to number between 200 and 300 animals—and isolated. It will not be able to sustain itself if killings continue at this rate, said Noelle Kumpel, program manager at the Zoological Society of London, which is working to support the rehabilitation and management of Virunga.
There's been a surge in the volume of illegal ivory since 2004, said Tom Milliken, regional director of TRAFFIC for eastern and southern Africa. Experts attribute the trend to thriving and overt domestic markets in the contraband throughout central Africa, in combination with a newly tapped appetite for ivory among China's rising middle class.
More at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080829-africa-elephants.html
Malaysia's fight to save rare turtle
BBC News, 11 August 2008
The BBC's Robin Brant looks at Malaysia's efforts to save one of the world's most endangered marine animals, the hawksbill turtle, from the humans who eat its eggs.
She is only a few centimetres long and she is covered in specks of sand. Her eyes are barely open. Born in captivity, the next few hours are going to be hectic for this baby hawksbill turtle.
Hatched from ping-pong ball-sized eggs, the turtles break through the sand that covers their nest.
As they scurry around a man from the hatchery plucks them out, counts them, then gently drops them into a white polystyrene box for the short trip to the beach.
He finds a spot, a few metres from where the waves are lapping up on to the sand. Slowly, he turns the box on its side.
Then, with a torch, he uses the light to lure the turtles out towards the waters of the Straits of Melaka off the western Malaysian coast.
The straits and the Indian Ocean beyond await them. But most will die young. The survival rate is atrocious - only 1 in 1,000 will make it from egg to adulthood.
"The outlook...particularly with Malaysia, with regard to the lack of conservation efforts, is not good at all," says Mark Auliya from the illegal trade monitoring group Traffic. "There is a distinct decline to be observed."
More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7529335.stm
Pangolin smugglers arrested in Indonesia
International Herald Tribune, The Associated Press, 6 August 2008
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Police raided the warehouse of a suspected illegal wildlife trader in western Indonesia, seizing 14 tons of endangered pangolin, their carcasses frozen and ready for export to China, conservationists said Wednesday.
Fourteen suspects were arrested, the monitoring network TRAFFIC said, describing the seizure as the largest-ever of the scaly, lizard-like animals in Indonesia.
"This is trans-border syndicate," the group quoted Didid Widjanardi, a senior national police officer, as saying. "The pangolins were packed and ready for export to China via seaports in Sumatra and Java" islands.
Pangolins are prized by some as a delicacy with nutritional and medicinal qualities. Despite legal protection in Indonesia, illegal trade continues to push the species closer to the brink of extinction.
Last week's arrests in the Sumatran city of Palembang were triggered by two seizures earlier this year in Vietnam, involving more than 23 tons of frozen pangolins that were known to have originated from Indonesia.
"The police in Indonesia have done an excellent job and should be applauded," said Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with TRAFFIC. "We hope that these criminals are prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/06/asia/AS-Indonesia-Wildlife-Smuggling.php
Vietnam illegal wildlife trade eats away at biodiversity: experts
Agence France-Presse, 4 August 2008
HANOI - Vietnam's appetite for illegal wildlife meat and demand for traditional medicine is devastating animal and plant species within and beyond its borders, experts warn in two new reports.
<snip>
The other market fuelling the trade is traditional Vietnamese and Chinese medicine, said a report by the wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC.
Surveys found that "many high-profile animals of global conservation concern (such as tigers, bears or rhinos) can still be bought on the market, provided prior notice is given and that the price negotiated is high enough."
Informants had told TRAFFIC that live tiger cubs, tiger skeletons, raw materials and processed medicinal products were brought from Cambodia, Laos and as far as Malaysia to supply the Vietnamese market.
Traders in Ninh Hiep commune near Hanoi had offered to supply investigators with "any type of medicinal animal if ordered sufficiently in advance" -- including a frozen tiger, rhino horn and wild bear gall bladder.
The shop-owners who offered the illicit goods, the TRAFFIC report found, were "well organized, each claiming that they were shielded from investigations through protection by enforcement personnel."
More at: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=127215
越南动植物受传统医药和走私威胁
BBC Chinese.com, 4 August 2008
两项最新报告显示，越南的野生动植物因为传统医药的需求和走私野生肉类而受到威胁。
《环境及发展期刊》的报告估计每年在越南走私的野生动物产品达到四千吨。
野生生物监察网络《TRAFFIC》的报告说，如果有人愿意出高价，在传统医药中使用的一些频危生物也可以买得到。
越南是东南亚地区中生物物种最多样化的国家之一，虽然该国政府承诺打击走私老虎、猴子、蛇和食蚁兽这些野生动物，但它们仍然受到威胁。
《环境及发展期刊》的报告指出，每年在越南的四千吨野生动物产品走私，为黑市带来价值六千七百万美元的利润。研究人员发现在河内的市场可以买到老虎、熊和犀牛的身体部分。
此外，越南九千多家传统医药中心以频危动植物入药的做法，使这些野生生物面对很大的威胁。
负责这两个报告的研究人员发出警告说，由于对传统中药和野生动物肉食品的需求不断增加，越南的动植物正在遭到破坏。
大部分涉及的野生动物均来自越南的国家公园，这些公园的管理员每月工资大概五十美元，每名管理员平均管理一千五百公顷范围。
越南当局上周截获了超过两吨运往中国途中的活蛇。
但这两个报告指出，越南政府在打击猖獗的非法走私活动方面，面对很大的困难。
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7540000/newsid_7540800/7540848.stm
Experts caution against rise in wildlife crime
The Hindu, 27 July 2008
Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI: -- "Wildlife crime is growing to become one of the most serious crimes in India and must be tackled immediately. There is a need to create awareness not only among the top enforcement officials but also among those working in the field. Creating a data bank of information related to wildlife crime and making it available to agencies on the ground at all the time should prove to be one of the strongest tools for curbing illegal wildlife trade," said former Governor of Manipur, Mizoram and Jharkhand, Ved Marwah here on Saturday.
Mr. Marwah was speaking at a conference of senior police and wildlife officers who had gathered in the Capital to share experiences and address issues related to wildlife crime in the country. Organised by Traffic India with support from World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-India, the conference was aimed at integrating the efforts of various enforcement agencies in India to combat wildlife crime.
More at: http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/07/27/stories/2008072750350200.htm
Das ist der neue Artenschutz
Die Welt, 24 July 2008
Jahrelang galten Großwildjäger und Elfenbeinhändler als Unmenschen. Dabei werden sie gebraucht
Es klingt ein bisschen wie Schnaps gegen Alkoholismus. Aber es ist kein Scherz. Das Sekretariat des Washingtoner Artenschutz-Übereinkommens CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) hat genehmigt, dass China tonnenweise Elfenbein kaufen darf. In den 80er-Jahren hätte diese Nachricht wie ein Todesurteil für Elefanten geklungen. Naturschutzverbände sammelten damals Spenden mit Slogans wie "Der letzte Elefant ist schon geboren". Die Nachfrage nach Elfenbein kam größtenteils aus China und Japan. Dann erließ CITES 1989 das globale Handelsverbot. Und jetzt das. Bereits 2007 hatte CITES den Import von Elefantenstoßzähnen in Japan legalisiert. Die Zeiten ändern sich, auch im Artenschutz.
Der Großteil der 110 Tonnen des weißen Goldes, die nun verkauft werden dürfen, lagert in Südafrika (51 Tonnen) und Botswana (44 Tonnen), zwei Ländern, die seit Langem einen guten Ruf bei der Hege ihrer Elefantenherden erworben haben. Auch Namibia (zehn Tonnen) gilt als vorbildlich im Naturschutz und Simbabwe (vier Tonnen) galt es, bevor sich Mugabe zum Tyrannen aufschwang. Alle diese Länder sitzen auf Bergen von Elfenbein, welches bisher unverkäuflich war. Die Stoßzähne stammen aus Beschlagnahmen, von natürlich verendeten Tieren und aus Hegeabschüssen. Bei diesen in der Fachsprache "Culling" genannten Massentötungen werden ganze Herden von Wildhütern erlegt. Das geschieht, wenn sich in einem Gebiet die Dickhäuter so stark vermehrt haben, dass sie alle Bäume zerstören.
Bevor CITES das internationale Handelsverbot durchsetzte, hatte sich in einigen afrikanischen Ländern die Wilderei seuchenartig ausgebreitet. Am schlimmsten in Kenia, wo in den 80er-Jahren Tausende Elefanten illegal abgeschossen wurden. Anders als im südlichen Afrika gab - und gibt - es in Kenia keine legale Jagd. Unterstützt von internationalen Tierschutzorganisationen, forderte das Land auf den CITES-Konferenzen der 80er-Jahre ein totales Handelsverbot. Um das zu unterstreichen, zündete der damalige Präsident Daniel Arap Moi 1989 persönlich einen Scheiterhaufen aus zwölf Tonnen Stoßzähnen an. Fotos dieser symbolischen Aktion gingen um die Welt. Doch sie lenkten davon ab, dass gerade in Kenia der Elefantenschutz nicht funktionierte. Dagegen wuchsen die Herden in den Elfenbeinexportländern, weil man sie als wertvolle wirtschaftliche Ressource gut beschützte. Bevor das Handelsverbot in Kraft trat, finanzierten manche Länder des südlichen Afrika den Naturschutz zum Teil mit Einnahmen aus dem Elfenbeinhandel. Diese Möglichkeit wurde ihnen 1989 genommen.
Doch nach fast 20 Jahren gibt es jetzt wieder legalen Handel. Das liegt vor allem daran, dass China nach Einschätzung der Artenschutzexperten seine Hausaufgaben gemacht hat. Das Land galt jahrzehntelang als größter Schwarzmarkt für gewilderte Tierprodukte. "China hat ziemlich erfolgreich seinen heimischen Elfenbein-Schwarzmarkt bekämpft", sagt Tom Milliken von der Organisation Traffic (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce), die den Handel mit illegalen Naturressourcen überwacht.
Der neue ökonomische Ansatz des CITES-Sekretariats wird nicht überall gern gesehen. Die Tierschutzorganisation IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) sagt voraus, dass der offizielle Markt den Schwarzmarkt stimulieren wird. Eugene Lapointe vom World Conservation Trust, ehemaliger CITES-Generalsekretär, hält das für Panikmache, denn auch im Fall Japan habe der legale Handel nicht zu mehr Wilderei in Afrika geführt. Traffic-Direktor Milliken ist überzeugt, dass die legale Ware nicht zur Tarnung dunkler Geschäfte missbraucht werden kann. Denn heute lässt sich durch DNA-Proben die Herkunft jeder Charge Elfenbein genau bestimmen. Im Übrigen, so Milliken, soll auf diese einmalige Genehmigung eine neunjährige Pause folgen. Zeit, um nachzuprüfen, ob die neue ökonomische Politik funktioniert.
Der weltweite Umsatz mit Wildtieren, Wildpflanzen und den Produkten daraus beträgt über 290 Milliarden US-Dollar. Die mit Abstand größten Posten sind Holz und Fisch. Aber auch der Handelswert von Fellen, Fleisch, Heilkräutern und anderen weniger bedeutenden Wirtschaftsgütern aus der Wildnis stieg nach Angaben von Traffic im vergangenen Vierteljahrhundert von fünf Milliarden auf 21 Milliarden Dollar. Auf lokaler Ebene kann die Nutzung der wilden Natur die wichtigste Einkommensquelle sein. So leben in dem Binnenland Ugandas 135 000 Fischer und 700 000 Menschen, die Fische verarbeiten, vom biologischen Reichtum der Seen. Die Exporteinnahmen durch Fisch belaufen sich auf 87,5 Millionen Dollar, das sind 2,2 Prozent des ugandischen Bruttoinlandsproduktes.
http://www.welt.de/welt_print/arti2244227/Das_ist_der_neue_Artenschutz.html
China gets ivory imports go-ahead
BBC Website, 15 July 2008
The UN has given China the green light to bid in a one-off sale of ivory.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) voted in favour of China's request during a meeting being held in Geneva.
China joins Japan as approved buyers of government-owned ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
In 2007, Cites authorised the four nations to sell off stockpiles of legally held elephant ivory.
In order to gain approval, China had to present evidence to members of the Cites standing committee that it had put in place measures to tackle any illegal domestic sales of ivory.
"China has acted rather successfully against its own illegal domestic ivory market," said Tom Milliken, a director for Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
"Now China should help other countries to do the same, especially in central Africa where elephant poaching is rampant."
But Robbie Marsland, UK director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), condemned the decision, saying it could prove disastrous for the world's elephant populations.
"We are deeply disappointed that Cites has backed China as an ivory buyer, a decision that plays Russian roulette with wild elephants.
"Allowing new ivory to be imported into China will stimulate demand and create a smokescreen for illegal ivory to be laundered into the legal market, to be sold in stores or online to Chinese citizens or foreigners."
However, Mr Milliken said Cites monitoring systems would track whether the sale would lead to an increase in illegal ivory.
"Following the last one-off ivory sale under CITES in 1999, it is encouraging to note that the illicit trade in ivory progressively declined over the next five years," he explained.
"We hope a similar result is achieved this time."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7508071.stm
Future of Popular Chinese Herbal Medicine Up in the Air
Demand soars, populations dwindle of caterpillar fungus used to treat everything from cancer to erectile dysfunction
By Mara Hvistendahl, Scientific American, 9 July 2008
DZATO, CHINA—It's a sight to behold on mornings in May and June: Hardy nomads and enterprising villagers from Nepal to western China spread out over the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas, pickaxes in tow, and ascend unforgiving peaks in the thin mountain air. Anyone who can make the journey goes—children, yak herders, pregnant women. By midday, the plateau is dotted with crouched forms combing the grass on their hands and knees.
The trekkers are searching for caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis), an elusive fungus that grows on the caterpillar of the Thitarodes ghost moth, which lives at altitudes over 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). A prized medicine believed to boost immunity and increase stamina, caterpillar fungus is a popular cure for everything from cancer to erectile dysfunction among Han Chinese in the nation's east. (It had been for the Tibetans, too, but now they can't afford it.) Collected and traded east as early as the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618 to 906), the medicine has long been central to the Tibetan economy. But rising incomes in eastern China are now pushing demand for the fungus, sparking a frenzied collection that exacerbates environmental degradation, sometimes erupts into violence, and threatens the fungus's very existence.
The rush also exacerbates erosion on the stressed plateau, Yang says. Many profiteers no longer replace the soil they upturn with the fungus, leaving clumps of dirt dotting the hills. Impromptu picking camps spring up and disband in a matter of weeks, leaving garbage pits and barren land in their wake. Irresponsible collection "is destroying the habitat," agrees Xu Hongfa, China director for TRAFFIC International, a Cambridge, England–based wildlife trade monitoring organization overseen by the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Ecologists say the only way to raise species counts is to restrict access to sensitive and overpicked areas. Local governments have established checkpoints restricting access to the highlands, and the national Chinese government has set up over 50 cordyceps research centers throughout the plateau. But Xu says so far regulation has had little effect. "It's hard to reach the area," he says, "so enforcement is very difficult."
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=future-of-chinese-herbal-med-up-in-the-air
Wildlife groups call for Asian effort to save pangolins
Posted July 3rd, 2008 by Sahil Nagpal
Singapore - Wildlife groups fear the pangolin, once common across Asia, is being systematically wiped out and could become extinct unless governments do more to stop poaching, they said in a published report on Thursday.
Citing China's appetite for exotic meats, Chris Shepherd, senior programme officer with Traffic South-East Asia, said the mammals "could become extinct at any time because captive breeding is impossible."
"They are one of the most heavily traded species in Asia despite a complete ban," The Straits Times quoted Shepherd as saying.
Pangolins are anteaters with small heads and long, broad tails. Scales cover their skins.
Government representatives, educators and scientists gathered in Singapore for a three-day workshop on ways to save the pangolin.
Poachers have expanded their hunt for the mammals to Indonesia. Twenty-three tons of pangolin carcasses and scales were seized in Vietnam in March.
Consumers want their meat for food and medicine, the report said. Some breast-feeding women claim pangolin scales reduce swelling, promote blood circulation and help produce milk.
Researchers have developed a genetic technique to identify all eight pangolin species, which could help track poachers. (dpa)
http://www.topnews.in/wildlife-groups-call-asian-effort-save-pangolins-250724
Caviar Surges to Record as Russia Stalks Snatchers of Sturgeon
By Maria Kolesnikova and Ellen Pinchuk
Bloomberg, 29 May 2008 -- Russian border guards in an Mi-8 helicopter swoop down on a blue fiberglass boat in the gray waters of the Caspian Sea along the frontier with Kazakhstan.
Three men in the unmarked vessel peer up then speed off before the chopper intercepts them. Hovering over the boat, officers look for the sturgeon whose eggs are the world's most expensive caviar. This time, their hold is empty and the men go free.
"Poachers drop all their catch into the water when they feel danger, and then you can't do anything about them,'' Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Trostoshenko, 48, who supervises patrols tracking the illicit fishing in the Astrakhan region, says as the helicopter heads farther out to sea.
Russia is stepping up efforts to stop the illegal trade in wild sturgeon caviar, adding anti-poaching patrols and raiding markets after banning exports to save the fish from extinction. That's pushed the price of caviar from other countries to records. The number of sturgeon worldwide has plummeted more than 97 percent in 15 years, the environmental group WWF says.
Sturgeon stocks were decimated as poaching went unchecked after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Dams on the Volga River reduced spawning grounds, and drilling for oil and gas disturbed their habitat in the Caspian Sea.
"Any kind of control was lost on the rivers and at sea,'' says Alexey Vaisman, the senior officer at WWF in Moscow responsible for TRAFFIC, the environmental group's efforts to monitor wildlife trade. "The situation is dramatic.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=acIWTT7L00VE&refer=home
Efforts to protect wild medicinal, aromatic plants
Times of India, 14 May 2008
NEW DELHI: Valuable wild medicinal and aromatic plants which are found in India will be protected for the first time as the government is bringing them under an international standard of sustainability.
"The new International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP) which aims to promote sustainable management and trade of wild medicinal and aromatic plants globally is being implemented in India for the first time," head of 'Traffic' Samir Sinha said.
Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network, along with IUCN, World Conservation Union has already started implementing the project in Western Ghats in Karnataka and Himalayan region in Uttrakhand to standardise collection and utilisation of medicinal and aromatic plants found in wild.
More at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Flora__Fauna/Efforts_to_protect_wild_medicinal_aromatic_plants/articleshow/3039969.cms
Bangkok Black Market in World's Rarest Tortoise Uncovered
BANGKOK, Thailand, April 25, 2008 (ENS) - The Royal Thai Police raided the Chatuchak market in Bangkok earlier this month and seized a wide variety of illegally traded wildlife, including three of the world's rarest tortoises, after the findings of an investigation by a wildlife monitoring network operated by international conservation organizations was shared with them. But the black market in these species continues even after the raid, say conservationists.
The report was published Thursday by the wildlife monitoring network, TRAFFIC, a joint program of the global conservation organizations WWF and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN, which maintains the Red List of Threatened Species.
A variety of rare tortoises for sale at Bangkok's Chatuchak Market (Photo by Chris Shepherd courtesy TRAFFIC)
"We congratulate the Royal Thai Police on their recent raid," said Chris Shepherd, senior programme officer for TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and a co-author of the report. "But recent information indicates the illegal trade continues, and we encourage the authorities to keep the pressure on."
The police siezed wildlife including 18 radiated tortoises and three ploughshare tortoises, prized as pets. The ploughshare tortoise, Astrochelys yniphora, is considered the world’s rarest tortoise, and all international trade in ploughshare tortoises is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES.
Surveys by TRAFFIC investigators of Chatuchak Market, also known as the JJ or Weekend Market, found that 25 out of 27 freshwater turtles and tortoises species for sale were non-native, most of them illegally imported into the country.
During one visit to the Chatuchak Market, a dealer told a TRAFFIC researcher, without any prompting, how to smuggle turtles and tortoises out of Bangkok.
"Dealers stated openly that many specimens were smuggled into and out of Thailand," said Shepherd. "They even offered potential buyers advice on how to smuggle reptiles through customs and onto airplanes."
The most commonly seen species at the Chatuchak Market was the radiated tortoise, Astrochelys radiata, a species found in the wild only on the African island of Madagascar.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-25-01.asp
China Cracks Down on Illegal Online Wildlife Trade
Eliza Barclay for National Geographic News
29 February 2008
Authorities in China recently launched a crackdown on Web sites that openly trade in animal products made from threatened species, experts say.
The move follows pressure from two international wildlife advocacy groups, which found thousands of items made from protected species for sale on major Chinese Internet auction sites in 2007.
As a result of the investigation, Chinese officials have already shut down several online auctions selling banned goods, said Grace Gabriel, Asia regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), who is based in Beijing.
"There has been progress in identifying auctions selling illegal products," she said.
"But Chinese authorities still need a lot of help with enforcement."
Thousands of Ads
IFAW and TRAFFIC, the international wildlife-trade monitoring network, conducted two recent studies of China's Internet auctions that led to this year's crackdown.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080229-china-internet.html
Group: Tiger Parts Sold in Indonesia
By MICHAEL CASEY – Feb 12, 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — The critically endangered Sumatran tiger will become extinct unless Indonesia takes swift action to clamp down on the illegal sale of the big cats' body parts across the Southeast Asian country, conservationists say.
TRAFFIC, a British-based international wildlife trade monitoring network, said it found tiger bones, claws, skins and whiskers being sold openly in eight cities on Indonesia's Sumatra island in 2006, despite tough laws banning such trade.
The group estimated that 23 tigers had been killed to supply the parts found for sale in souvenir, Chinese medicine and jewelry stores. Prices ranged from the equivalent of $14 for a tiger claw to about $52.50 per pound of tiger bones.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j7G_khJGuIiLXDdVGeWy9ulCHmKQD8UP6J8O2
Refugee link to wildlife decline
BBC News
22 January 2008
By Richard Black, environment correspondent, BBC News website
Conservation groups say they have found an unusual threat to East Africa's wildlife - hunting by hungry refugees.
A report from the wildlife trade monitoring body Traffic says wild meat is covertly traded, cooked and consumed in Tanzanian refugee camps.
Traffic suspects species affected may include chimpanzee, buffalo and zebra.
Tanzania hosts more refugees than any other African nation, a legacy of conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN says there are more than half a million refugees in the country, mainly living in camps near the western border.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7201603.stm
SEAsia's illegal pet trade threatens turtles: experts
AFP
8 January 2008
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — A surge in demand for exotic freshwater turtles and tortoises in Southeast Asia is fuelling rampant illegal trade in the animals in Indonesia, wildlife experts warned Tuesday. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia said its investigators discovered that 48 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises were sold in Indonesia's capital Jakarta and the vast majority were illegally obtained. The wildlife trade monitoring group said they included all six of Indonesia's fully protected freshwater turtles and five non-native species listed in the CITES convention, which bans all commercial international trade.
TRAFFIC's senior programme officer Chris R. Shepherd urged Indonesia to step up enforcement to stop the illegal trade and nab the criminals.
"The open trade in protected species indicates a lack of enforcement effort and blatant disregard for the law. Dealers admitted to TRAFFIC that freshwater turtles and tortoises are smuggled in and out of Indonesia with ease," he said...
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i6n0q_M96AFt2ujlR7iFfs6Hg-SQ
China Spurring Illegal Timber Trade in Tanzania
Eliza Barclay in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
for National Geographic News
December 21, 2007
China's growing hunger for timber may wipe out much of Tanzania's commercially valuable forests in two decades, scientists warn...
...China accounted for all indigenous hardwood logs and three-quarters of sawn wood and raw material exported between July 2005 and January 2006, according to a report released in May by TRAFFIC International, a joint program of the conservation nonprofit WWF and the World Conservation Union (IUCN)...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071221-tanzania-logging_2.html
Regulating fishing on the agenda
Camacho: End the destructive fishing practices
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News 03/12/2007
About two dozen countries and several island governments that have stakes in the continued viability of tuna stock across Pacific Ocean are meeting on Guam this week.
...As the session opened, a report by conservationist groups WWF Australia and TRAFFIC International calls attention to the stock status of bigeye tuna.
In the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, bigeye tuna is fully exploited, according to the report "With an Eye to the Future: Addressing Failures in the Global Management of Bigeye Tuna."... http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071204/NEWS01/712040309/1002
Wild Salmon Illegally Caught in Russia and Shipped to the U.S.
Russian salmon export figures don't add up according to TRAFFIC and
World Wildlife Fund
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- East Asian countries are
importing between 50 and 90 percent more Russian Sockeye salmon than Russia
is reporting as caught and much of it is destined for the U.S. according to
a new report from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, and WWF.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/11-13-2007/0004703990&EDATE=
