By Marwaan Macan-Markar
IPS
BANGKOK, Jul. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Authorities in Southeast Asia have recently broken up three attempts to smuggle out rare reptiles and mammals intended for East Asian diners who hunger for exotic dishes.
In Singapore, a well-known hub of the Asian illegal wildlife trade, authorities busted two attempts to smuggle turtles destined for the kitchens of the rich. This week, authorities in the affluent city-state arrested a 35-year-old Singaporean for importing 630 Asian soft-shell turtles from Indonesia.
The arrest comes less than a month after officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), acting on a tip, boarded a ship that had arrived from Indonesia and discovered an illegal consignment of 2,520 Southeast Asian box turtles packed in 72 crates.
Between these two rescue attempts was a bust by airport authorities in Bangkok, who found 250 pangolins (scaly anteaters) and 64 black-swamp turtles crammed into 60 large boxes on board a Thai Airways flight from the Malaysian city of Penang and en route to neighboring Laos.
"From Laos, the animals were likely to have been destined for China, where diners would have paid about 2 million baht (50,000 U.S. dollars) for them," Lt. Col. Thanayod Kengkasikij, of Thailand's forestry police division, was quoted as having told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
These crackdowns are a cause for celebration among environmentalists, since they suggest early success of a collective effort by governments in Southeast Asian to tighten the noose around a thriving -- and some say still rising -- illegal trade in wildlife. It stems from a regional network created last December by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the 10-member regional grouping.
"What you are seeing is related to the setting up of the ASEAN Wildlife Law Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN)," Bill Schaedla of the environmental lobby WildAid told IPS. "We have seen a huge increase in the numbers of interdictions against wildlife crime since ASEAN- WEN was initiated. In the six months since the network's inception, we have already seen twice as many actions against wildlife traders (in Thailand) as there were in the whole previous year."
In 2004, for instance, there were only five "major wildlife busts," and in 2005, there were only four arrests in Thailand. But the first six months since the network was created has seen nine major wildlife rescue attempts by local authorities.
At the same time, adds Schaedla, a leading player in the ASEAN- WEN initiative for WildAid, "We have seen the first steps toward international cooperation on these issues. For the first time, Thai police contacted their counterparts in Malaysia and Laos following a bust -- this happened after the pangolins were intercepted on June 26th."
This ASEAN network to crackdown illegal wildlife trade brings together national police teams that investigate wildlife crimes, customs officials and airport authorities to work in tandem, in ways not seen before December.
"Previously, the busts were based largely on luck," James Compton, regional director for the Southeast Asia office of TRAFFIC, the global wildlife trade monitoring network, said in an interview. "But now, the right people are acting efficiently and are trying to work faster than the smugglers."
ASEAN-WEN, in fact, is the largest of its kind in the world. Much older regional initiatives include the network to crackdown cross- border crime between Mexico, Canada and the United States and the Lusaka Agreement, which brings together six Central African countries to arrest the illegal ivory trade.
The coming together of ASEAN's members (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) stemmed from cries by environmentalists for stronger government intervention to arrest a cross-border illegal trade running into the billions of dollars.
The growing list of mammals, birds and reptiles that are shipped by well-organized criminal networks include tigers, leopards, pythons, cockatoos, monitor lizards, freshwater tortoises and bears.
"In East Asia, meat from freshwater turtles is consumed in huge volumes despite the fact that three-quarters of the 90 species found in Asia are considered threatened," states the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the global environmental body.
"Many traditional medicines use wildlife as ingredients, for example traditional East Asian medicines use parts and derivatives from more than 1,000 plant and animal species including tiger bone, bear gall bladder, pangolin scales (and) rhinoceros horn," adds the WWF in an note on the wildlife trade in Southeast Asia.
Even the World Bank sounded the alarm last year in a study that revealed in Vietnam, for instance, the wildlife trade in 2002 was estimated to be $66.5 million. In Indonesia, more than 50 tigers have been killed on average every year from 1998 to 2002, added the study, "Going, Going Gone: The Illegal Trade in Wildlife in East and Southeast Asia."
According to Compton, China tops the list of countries driving the demand up for the illegal wildlife trade. Niche markets in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are keeping pace. But neither are the European Union or the U.S. innocent, he adds. "The U.S. is the largest importer of wildlife, particularly reptiles, and this is a huge draw for the illegal traffickers."
In Singapore, a well-known hub of the Asian illegal wildlife trade, authorities busted two attempts to smuggle turtles destined for the kitchens of the rich. This week, authorities in the affluent city-state arrested a 35-year-old Singaporean for importing 630 Asian soft-shell turtles from Indonesia.
The arrest comes less than a month after officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), acting on a tip, boarded a ship that had arrived from Indonesia and discovered an illegal consignment of 2,520 Southeast Asian box turtles packed in 72 crates.
Between these two rescue attempts was a bust by airport authorities in Bangkok, who found 250 pangolins (scaly anteaters) and 64 black-swamp turtles crammed into 60 large boxes on board a Thai Airways flight from the Malaysian city of Penang and en route to neighboring Laos.
"From Laos, the animals were likely to have been destined for China, where diners would have paid about 2 million baht (50,000 U.S. dollars) for them," Lt. Col. Thanayod Kengkasikij, of Thailand's forestry police division, was quoted as having told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
These crackdowns are a cause for celebration among environmentalists, since they suggest early success of a collective effort by governments in Southeast Asian to tighten the noose around a thriving -- and some say still rising -- illegal trade in wildlife. It stems from a regional network created last December by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the 10-member regional grouping.
"What you are seeing is related to the setting up of the ASEAN Wildlife Law Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN)," Bill Schaedla of the environmental lobby WildAid told IPS. "We have seen a huge increase in the numbers of interdictions against wildlife crime since ASEAN- WEN was initiated. In the six months since the network's inception, we have already seen twice as many actions against wildlife traders (in Thailand) as there were in the whole previous year."
In 2004, for instance, there were only five "major wildlife busts," and in 2005, there were only four arrests in Thailand. But the first six months since the network was created has seen nine major wildlife rescue attempts by local authorities.
At the same time, adds Schaedla, a leading player in the ASEAN- WEN initiative for WildAid, "We have seen the first steps toward international cooperation on these issues. For the first time, Thai police contacted their counterparts in Malaysia and Laos following a bust -- this happened after the pangolins were intercepted on June 26th."
This ASEAN network to crackdown illegal wildlife trade brings together national police teams that investigate wildlife crimes, customs officials and airport authorities to work in tandem, in ways not seen before December.
"Previously, the busts were based largely on luck," James Compton, regional director for the Southeast Asia office of TRAFFIC, the global wildlife trade monitoring network, said in an interview. "But now, the right people are acting efficiently and are trying to work faster than the smugglers."
ASEAN-WEN, in fact, is the largest of its kind in the world. Much older regional initiatives include the network to crackdown cross- border crime between Mexico, Canada and the United States and the Lusaka Agreement, which brings together six Central African countries to arrest the illegal ivory trade.
The coming together of ASEAN's members (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) stemmed from cries by environmentalists for stronger government intervention to arrest a cross-border illegal trade running into the billions of dollars.
The growing list of mammals, birds and reptiles that are shipped by well-organized criminal networks include tigers, leopards, pythons, cockatoos, monitor lizards, freshwater tortoises and bears.
"In East Asia, meat from freshwater turtles is consumed in huge volumes despite the fact that three-quarters of the 90 species found in Asia are considered threatened," states the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the global environmental body.
"Many traditional medicines use wildlife as ingredients, for example traditional East Asian medicines use parts and derivatives from more than 1,000 plant and animal species including tiger bone, bear gall bladder, pangolin scales (and) rhinoceros horn," adds the WWF in an note on the wildlife trade in Southeast Asia.
Even the World Bank sounded the alarm last year in a study that revealed in Vietnam, for instance, the wildlife trade in 2002 was estimated to be $66.5 million. In Indonesia, more than 50 tigers have been killed on average every year from 1998 to 2002, added the study, "Going, Going Gone: The Illegal Trade in Wildlife in East and Southeast Asia."
According to Compton, China tops the list of countries driving the demand up for the illegal wildlife trade. Niche markets in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are keeping pace. But neither are the European Union or the U.S. innocent, he adds. "The U.S. is the largest importer of wildlife, particularly reptiles, and this is a huge draw for the illegal traffickers."
2 comments:
The chinese is eating everythings as they can find in order to feed the billions pop..bsae on pop. density...so when talkin' about human nor animals right, just someone business of makin' $$ in millions,, the outcome is nothin'..that's why they need to reform just to rewards the funds..eeyore
Singaporean and the Chinese are notorious on feasting rare wild life and endanger species? I'm surprised they don't have Cambodian people on their menu? Khmer people are phasing out by the Vietnamese.
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