Wildlife Smuggling
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OCTOBER 2010 VOLUME 4, NUMBER 10 PAGES 235-262 WWW.GLOBALRESEARCHER.COM Wildlife Smuggling CAN DISAPPEARING SPECIES BE SAVED FROM POACHERS? raffickers are slaughtering some of the world’s most beloved endangered or threatened animals for their body parts — including elephant tusks, tiger penises and bear gall bladders — to supply the booming black market in souvenirs, trophies and traditional Chinese medicine. Other animals are shot by African T hunters to meet the burgeoning demand for “bushmeat,” both to feed the hungry in refugee camps and to satisfy the tastes of city dwellers. Thousands of other animals, including exotic birds and rare monkeys, are trapped to meet the growing demand for exotic pets. Using satellite phones, helicopters and the Internet, the in- creasingly sophisticated smugglers — often part of organized crime syndicates — generate up to $20 billion annually, making wildlife trafficking the world’s third-most-lucrative illegal trade. Experts suggest two controversial solutions: ban- ning all ivory trade and “farming” tigers and other exotic species to supply the seemingly insatiable demand for their body parts. While international conserva- tion treaties have slowed the carnage, ex- perts say tougher enforcement is needed before some of the Earth’s last wild crea- tures disappear forever. Officials examine the body of a rhinoceros killed by poachers in Kaziranga National Park in India’s northeastern Assam state on Feb. 24, 2010. Rhinos are killed for their horns, which some cultures believe have medicinal or magical properties. PUBLISHED BY CQ PRESS, A DIVISION OF SAGE WWW.CQPRESS.COM WILDLIFE SMUGGLING THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS • Is CITES an effective 238 Wildlife Smuggling Spans October 2010 237 tool to combat wildlife the Globe Volume 4, Number 10 trafficking? Trafficking occurs on every • Does animal farming re- continent. MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch [email protected] duce wildlife trafficking? Ivory Seizures Rising Again • Will a total ban on 239 Elephant tusk seizures doubled. CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Thomas J. Colin ivory sales help save en- [email protected] dangered elephants? Internet Facilitates Illegal CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Peter Behr, 241 Wildlife Trafficking Roland Flamini, Sarah Glazer, Robert Kiener, BACKGROUND Most online endangered Barbara Mantel, Jennifer Weeks species trade occurs in the U.S. DESIGN/PRODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis Soaring Demand 246 ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa For centuries, traders killed 242 Is That a Porcupine in animals for fashion, tro- Your Luggage? FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris phies and medicines. Bushmeat smuggling threatens Africa’s wildlife. Early Legislation 248 Exotic Animals Fetch Vast The 1900 Lacey Act was 245 Sums the first major U.S. wildlife A live tiger garners $50,000. protection law. Chronology A Division of SAGE CITES Is Born 247 Key events since 1895. 250 In 1973, 80 countries PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER: adopted an international Traditional Chinese Medi- John A. Jenkins treaty to regulate trade in 248 cine Fuels Wildlife Traffic endangered wildlife. Tigers and other exotic Copyright © 2010 CQ Press, A Division of species are being decimated. SAGE. SAGE reserves all copyright and other rights herein, unless previ ous ly spec i fied in Tiger Habitat Shrinks As writing. No part of this publication may be CURRENT SITUATION 252 Poachers Close In reproduced electronically or otherwise, with- Only 3,200 wild tigers exist. out prior written permission. Unau thorized Organized Smuggling 252 re produc tion or transmis sion of SAGE copy- Wildlife trafficking today is At Issue right ed material is a violation of federal law linked to organized crime. 253 Are trade bans an effective car ry ing civil fines of up to $100,000. deterrent to wildlife trafficking? Poaching by Internet CQ Press is a registered trademark of Con- 254 The Internet has opened a Voices From Abroad gressional Quarterly Inc. vast, global marketplace 262 Headlines and editorials from CQ Global Researcher is pub lished monthly for traffickers. around the world. online in PDF and HTML format by CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publications. Annual full- Success Stories service electronic subscriptions start at $500. 255 Some regional wildlife FOR FURTHER RESEARCH For pricing, call 1-800-834-9020, ext. 1906. To purchase CQ Global Researcher elec- policing units have joined For More Information forces against traffickers. tronic rights, visit www. cqpress.com or call 259 Organizations to contact. 866-427-7737. Bibliography OUTLOOK 260 Selected sources used. Funding Gaps The Next Step 256 More funding is needed 261 Additional articles. for enforcement, education. Citing CQ Global Researcher 261 Sample bibliography formats. Cover: AFP/Getty Images/STR 236 CQ Global Researcher Wildlife Smuggling BY ROBERT KIENER 2,000 frozen pangolins from a fishing vessel on Gaoland THE ISSUES Island. The animals are a fa- t was a scene straight out vorite delicacy and their scales of a Hollywood horror are used in traditional Chinese I movie. Call it “Snakes (Al- medicine (TCM) as a cure for most) On a Plane.” On August everything from poor blood 26 at Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur circulation to skin infections. International Airport, a suitcase • Using a helicopter, tranquil- burst open as it trundled down izer guns and a saw, poachers a luggage conveyor belt. As in South Africa hacked off the Malaysian Airlines staffers horn of the last female white picked up the damaged suit- rhinoceros in the Krugersdorp case they were horrified to Game Reserve, leaving the rhino find it packed with 95 wrig- to bleed to death. gling baby boa constrictors, two • Malaysia’s Department of rhinoceros vipers and a mata- Wildlife and National Parks over mata turtle. The notorious a four-day period intercepted “Lizard King,” Anson Wong, 1,050 endangered animals and had struck again. 111 endangered animal parts Once considered “the such as tiger claws, elephant world’s most-wanted smug- tusks and python skins. 3 gler of endangered species,” Due to its clandestine na- Wong had been sentenced ture, no one really knows in 2001 to 71 months in a how much money wildlife U.S. federal prison for ani- trafficking generates, but es- mal trafficking. 1 As his snake- timates range up to more than packed suitcase proved, the $20 billion a year and grow- Malaysian smuggler was back ing. 4 That would make it the © IFAW at his old game. More than 5,000 tigers are being raised on special farms in third most valuable illegal Arrested at the airport for China, such as this one at the Guilin Xiongsen Bear and Tiger trade in the world, after attempting to export snakes Farm. The tigers are killed for their body parts, which are used to drugs and weapons. 5 make traditional Chinese medicine. Proponents say breeding from Malaysia without a per- endangered species like tigers in captivity reduces illegal Much of the increased de- mit, Wong was eventually sen- trafficking. Conservationists say it has just the opposite effect. mand is coming from China, tenced to six months in jail which leads the world in de- and fined the equivalent of mand for smuggled wildlife $61,000. 2 products, followed by the Unit- While the Lizard King’s brazen smug- cobras to pangolins (the nearly blind ed States and the European Union. Ex- gling attempt made headlines around endangered scaly anteaters native to perts attribute the increase to higher dis- the globe, it is just one example of Africa and Asia). posable incomes in booming China and the global problem of wildlife traf- While there are traditional wildlife traf- Southeast Asia, where animal parts are ficking. Not to be confused with the ficking hotspots, today it is a growing used in traditional medicines, and to the legal wildlife trade, trafficking in en- problem across the globe. News reports demand for everything from exotic pets dangered or threatened wildlife was of illegal wildlife trafficking incidents to luxury fashion items in Europe and outlawed by the 1973 Convention on abound. During just one week in July, North America. 6 International Trade in Endangered Scientific American listed 10 major cases “The economics are as easy to un- Species (CITES). Trafficking involves reported in the world’s media, including: derstand as an art auction: the rarer not only well-known endangered or • Thai authorities seized six pallets, the item, the higher the price,” noted threatened animals — such as tigers containing 117 elephant tusks reporter Bryan Christy, author of The or elephants — but also countless less- worth an estimated $1.2 million. Lizard King, an exposé on Asia’s ille- er-known species, ranging from black • Chinese officials seized more than gal wildlife trade. “Around the globe www.globalresearcher.com October 2010 237 WILDLIFE SMUGGLING Wildlife Smuggling Spans the Globe Trafficking in endangered species occurs on every continent, but it is most prevalent in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Amazon and Central America. While many smuggled animals are destined to become luxury goods, food or pets, the explosive growth in demand for Chinese traditional medicines made from exotic animal parts has fueled much of the recent increase in trafficking. For instance, the demand for tiger bones and other animal parts used in traditional Asian medicine has helped reduce the world’s tiger population to 3,200. Asiatic Black Where Commonly Trafficked Wildlife Originate Bear (unknown); bile used in Chinese (With current population of each species) medicines, paws are eaten as a delicacy. ARCTIC OCEAN ARCTIC OCEAN ARCTIC