;)
Officers stopped the white truck and its driver at 3 a.m in the town of Pranburi. The Thai national who was arrested is believed to have transported the cargo from the Southern Thai town of Had Yai to Songkla and was headed to Bangkok.
Prachuap Khiri Khan, where the items were seized, is a bottleneck for transportation and an ideal location for authorities to focus their enforcement attention. It is a transit point through which all traffic from Indonesia and Malaysia must pass to access central and northern Thailand, as well as the rest of Indochina.
Thai Press reports say the truck driver was held for violations under Thailand’s Customs regulations and for flouting laws that govern international trade in wildlife under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna.
The endangered Pangolin commonly turns up in seizures around the region and is trafficked in large volumes for the illegal meat and medicine markets.
The suspect and the wildlife seized have been handed over to the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department for further investigation and action.
This recent seizure follows close on the heels of the Customs Department’s recent find of 1,800 monitor lizards which smugglers were attempting to traffic across the border from Malaysia in several pickup trucks.
“Thailand’s Customs authorities should be congratulated for catching this shipment,” said TRAFFIC Regional Director Dr. William Schaedla.
“Pangolin trafficking up the Malay Peninsula and along this roadway are regular tragic occurrences. TRAFFIC is hopeful that interdictions like this will become a deterrent that breaks the trade chain that is robbing Southeast Asia of its wildlife,” he said.
In early April, a team of Malaysian wildlife officers in the northern state of Kelantan seized 40 pangolins, weighing a total of 200 kilograms, from a car believed to be heading for China via Thailand.
суббота, 23 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Live pangolins and dried snake skins seized in Thailand
четверг, 21 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Major ivory seizures in Thailand, China and Viet Nam
Chinese media yesterday reported one of the largest ivory seizures in recent years—a staggering 707 tusks, 32 ivory bracelets and a rhino horn—found during a during a routine inspection of a large truck at a toll station on a highway in Guangxi, China, just a few kilometers from the border with Viet Nam.
The seizure comes hot on the heels of 247 tusks seized by Customs in Thailand concealed in a consignment of frozen fish from Kenya on 1st April, while yesterday, media in Viet Nam reported police had confiscated another 122 ivory tusks from a warehouse in Mong Cai, a port in north-east Viet Nam, right on the border with China.
“The enforcement authorities in all these cases are to be congratulated for making these interdictions, but these tusks attest to the poaching of more than 500 elephants, which is a major conservation concern,” said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC’s expert on the illicit ivory trade.
“While we still await official confirmation, this pattern of seizures helps corroborate our suspicions that Thailand and China remain the primary end-use destinations for large quantities of ivory being smuggled out of Africa, with Viet Nam now serving as the leading conduit for trade into China,” Milliken added.
Milliken leads work on elephant and rhino trade and manages the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) to track illegal trade in ivory on behalf of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
ETIS is the world’s largest database of elephant product seizure records. The most recent analysis listed Thailand, together with Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo as the three countries most heavily implicated in the global illicit ivory trade, while Viet Nam was identified as one of the major transit countries for illicit consignments of ivory believed to be destined for China.
TRAFFIC sounded an alarm call when the last ETIS analysis showed a seriously escalating illegal ivory trade from 2004 to 2009. Since 2009, however, there has been almost no respite as China, Thailand and Viet Nam alone have seized nearly 20 tonnes of elephant ivory, not counting these latest hauls.
“Sophisticated criminal networks are utilizing every means available—road, sea and air—to smuggle their contraband from African source countries to lucrative markets in Asia, often via circuitous routes to avoid detection,” said Milliken.
“While major seizures, arrests and prosecutions are certainly deterrents to these smuggling operations, the only long-term solution to curtail elephant poaching has to be to reduce the demand for illegally sourced ivory to negligible levels.”
среда, 20 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News -“Where’s My Mama?”
Body Shop and TRAFFIC launch awareness campaign on illegal wildlife trade;)
Now, The Body Shop with the help of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia are calling attention to this problem with the“Where’s My Mama?” campaign, that urges the public to consider the impact of their purchases and choice of pets.
The campaign features the orang-utan, tiger and bear, all of which are affected by the illegal pet trade.
“The illegal pet trade in Southeast Asia is an enormous underground industry,” noted TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Regional Director, Dr William Schaedla.
“Orang-utans, tigers and bears are all victims of this trade, as are many other species from the region. A significant proportion of the turtles, snakes, birds, fish and small mammals available in Malaysian pet shops are sourced illegally and many die in the collection and shipping process.”
To raise awareness on the issue, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia is running an online awareness campaign from itsFacebook page, featuring photos, factsheets, news and articles by experts in the field on the three species.
TheBody Shopwill feature the campaign posters in its 58 stores in Peninsular Malaysia.
An estimated half a million people walk into these stores every month.;)
“At The Body Shop we place great importance in ensuring that all our products come from a natural a source and is obtained without causing any harm to our planet,” Datin Mina Cheah-Foong, Managing Director of The Body Shop West Malaysia.
“We are working to create this awareness with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, as a continuation from our‘Save Belum-Temengor’ campaign in the hopes that people become aware of the importance of saving our wildlife.
“We don’t do this because it’s fashionable; we do it because it has to be done,” she said.
вторник, 19 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Lid lifted on Vietnamese rhino horn trade
Rhino horn openly on sale in Ha Noi markets
April 2011—A hard-hitting documentary hosted by Dan Rather to be screened next Tuesday on HDNet television in the USA and Canada reveals the extent of the rhino horn trade to Viet Nam and how it is fuelling a rhino poaching crisis in southern Africa.
In the above advance clip of the broadcast, Tom Milliken, Director of TRAFFIC’s East and Southern Africa programme explains how a widely circulating“urban myth” about a senior politician supposedly cured of cancer using rhino horn stands behind an escalating slaughter of the species in Africa.
“There is a story in Viet Nam—it’s widely told that a former prime minister was dying of liver cancer, he took rhino horn and was cured,” says Milliken.
“Now, we are trying to put a face and a name to the story, but no matter where we query—government, individuals—we're not able to get to the bottom of it.”
Despite the lack of substance to the story, untold numbers of Vietnamese have been misled into buying rhino horn, spending huge sums of money on the powdered horn in the mistaken belief it has the ability to cure cancer.
As Milliken points out:“in the traditional literature going back centuries in Asia, rhino horn was used to reduce fever. It’s not going to cure you of lung cancer.”
In one sequence, the film crew enters a traditional medicine shop in Viet Nam where they ask about the availability of rhino horn, whereupon the attendant produces a horn from under the counter and explains“that the people who buy it will grind it and drink it.”
“Rhinoceros horn is a type of medicine that is valuable. Sometimes I offer it but only wealthy can use it,” the vendor adds.
“To willingly show banned wildlife goods to a camera crew indicates a serious disregard for the law and a total lack of law enforcement pressure on Viet Nam’s retail markets,” says Milliken.
In another clip, Milliken explains how abuse of rhino trophy hunting quotas in South Africa by Vietnamese visitors led to strict revisions in the country’s law.
Between 2000 and 2007, South Africa averaged about 12 rhino poached each year. In 2008, the figure reached 78, and by 2010 it was an unprecedented 333. Already this year, more than 80 rhino have been poached.
In October 2010, TRAFFIC facilitated amission of South African law enforcement officers to Viet Namfor high-level discussions on growing rhino crime issues.
“Collaborative law enforcement action is needed in both source and consumer countries,” says Milliken.
“The fact that rhino horn remains readily available in Ha Noi markets means that the Vietnamese authorities are not doing their part to stop the trafficking in endangered species products.”
TRAFFIC’s work on rhino poaching has been funded by the Mackenzie Foundation, the US Government and WWF.
The Dan Rather Reports“Horn of Africa” airs onTuesday 19th April at 8 pm and 11 pm Eastern Standard Timein the USA and Canada on HDNet.
суббота, 16 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Vacancy Announcement: TRAFFIC Development and Evaluation Officer
TRAFFIC is seeking an experiencedDevelopment and Evaluation Officerto assist with network programme and funding development. The Development and Evaluation Officer is based in TRAFFIC International in Cambridge, UK, and is a fixed-term position for a period of 18 months, with the possibility to extend. Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK. Applicants are asked to submit their CV and a covering letter in Englishon or before 9 May 2011. Clickherefor more information.
среда, 13 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Future of Asian snakes at stake
;)
Some 60 experts representing close to 20 governments and international and national organizations are meeting to consider conservation priorities and management and enforcement needs related to the trade of snakes.
They will focus on the markets and commercial trade in snakes originating in East, South, and South-east Asia.
Asian snakes are consumed locally and in neighbouring countries for food, traditional medicines and for their skins. They are also sold as pets and found in expensive luxury leather goods and accessories in the boutiques of Europe and North America. Their skins are often processed in various countries of re-export along the way.
According to a wildlife trade policy review conducted in Viet Nam, the income from snake breeding is three to five times higher than the income generated by vegetable and crop cultivation, and dozens of times higher than the income from pig and cattle breeding.
TRAFFIC has previously raised concern over the international exports of Oriental Rat SnakesPtyas mucosusfrom Indonesia, after investigations revealed large numbers were harvested and traded outside of existing government regulations.
TRAFFIC found government-set quotas were being widely-flouted, leading to over-harvesting and illegal trade; and with no marking of skins taking place, it was impossible to track them through the trade chain to point of export.
“TRAFFIC welcomes the current spotlight on the international trade in Asian snakes, which is placing many species on the conservation danger list,” said Dr William Schaedla, Director of TRAFFIC South-east Asia.
“Snakes are clearly vital to natural ecosystems and to the economy of the region—it is in Asia’s interests to ensure snakes have a sustainable future.”
The global trade in snakes involves snake species from many different countries, with specimens taken from the wild or bred in captivity.
However, populations of some snakes have declined significantly through a combination of unsustainable use and habitat loss.
Of the 3,315 snake species globally recognized, one third occur in Asia, many of them endemic to particular countries: Indonesia has 128 endemic snake species, India 112, China 54, Papua New Guinea 42, Sri Lanka 41, and the Philippines 32.
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulates international trade in 130 snake species, 45 of them found in range States in the Asian countries attending the workshop.
John Scanlon, Secretary-General of CITES, stated:“the global trade in snakes is an industry of considerable socio-economic importance for rural populations in several Asian countries.
“CITES is the main international tool to regulate effectively international snake trade in many of these species.
“The recommendations coming out of this meeting will be critical in addressing the wildlife conservation, sustainable use and livelihood aspects of such trade, and putting forward expert recommendations to CITES governing bodies for future directions.”
The technical workshop runs until 14th April under the leadership of CITES and brings together government experts, members of the CITES Animals Committee and organizations including IUCN and several of its Species Survival Commission specialist groups, TRAFFIC, WCS, UNCTAD-BioTrade, the China Wildlife Conservation Association and China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
суббота, 9 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - China celebrates 30 years of CITES membership
;)
The important event was celebrated by an event in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, involving representatives of 31 Ministries and Departments.
Speaking about the anniversary, John Scanlon, CITES Secretary-General, said:“Our common goal is to save species at risk of imminent extinction by making them subject to particularly strict regulation, and to ensure that international trade in biodiversity remains legal, sustainable and traceable.
“I would like to congratulate and thank the Chinese CITES authorities for their substantial ongoing efforts to address these universal goals, particularly in the fields of national legislation, law enforcement, scientific research, capacity building and public awareness.”
Representatives from two non-governmental organizations—TRAFFIC and WWF—also attended the anniversary event.
“TRAFFIC was honoured to be invited to the celebrations, which coincide with the tenth anniversary of TRAFFIC’s formal presence in China under the auspices of WWF’s China Programme Office,” said Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC International.
“During that time, we have been working closely with the Chinese government in support of their efforts to ensure that wildlife trade is sustainable and to prevent illegal trade and we have a shared commitment to continue assisting the Chinese authorities in capacity building, trade monitoring and public awareness campaigns.”
The rapid economic development experienced by China in recent years has created new challenges and opportunities for the conservation and sustainable use of wild animals and plants, such as snakes, crocodiles, ginseng, tropical timber species, turtles, seahorses and other marine species.
China has taken significant domestic measures to meet those challenges and the resources it devotes to the implementation of CITES trade regulations are significant. Its 130 full-time staff and 22 branch offices in mainland China, in addition to the offices in the Special Administrative Regions, makes China’s CITES Authority one of the largest in the world.
“The Chinese Government has paid great attention to the conservation of wild fauna and flora. Entering into a new century, we have made a huge investment in ecological development programmes, including the Natural Forest Protection Programme and the Wildlife Protection Programme, which have effectively restored forest ecosystems and recovered protected wild fauna and flora,” said Minister Jia Zhibang, State Forestry Administration.
Recent examples of China’s high-political commitment to CITES include an international workshop on the conservation and sustainable use of the Saiga antelope hosted by China last September, and the attendance of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at the International Tiger Forum last November in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Next week, China will host the first major international workshop on the conservation and management of and trade in Asian snakes.
среда, 6 апреля 2011 г.
TRAFFIC - Wildlife Trade News - Soldiers suspended over hornbill killing
Incident highlights issue of army involvement in illegal hunting;)
The news has raised a storm of national and international protest.
In a recent statement to the press, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zaid Hamidi said his Ministry’s investigations showed that the bird had been shot by other hunters.
“The bird fell to the ground and upon seeing the dying bird, they slaughtered it,” he was quoted as saying by the National Press Agency, Bernama.
Ahmad Zahid told press that although the army personnel were not the ones who shot the hornbill, they should have tried to save it.
The case came to public attention after local media featured stories about the Facebook photo in which four soldiers were seen smiling and holding up the dead hornbill.
Investigations into the case were launched after TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and WWF-Malaysia lodged police reports. The issue was also raised in Parliamentary debates in Malaysia.
The case is under now under investigation by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and WWF-Malaysia commended the Defence Ministry for bringing the soldiers to justice they also urged them to recognize the incident as a symptom of a larger problem.
“This case is just one example of army involvement in illegal hunting,” said Dr William Schaedla, Regional Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
TRAFFIC raised the same issue last July when an army corporal was accidently shot by his colleague while the duo were out hunting deer in the Temengor Forest Reserve—a protected area in the northern state of Perak.
“We look to the Army to ensure security, so it is profoundly disappointing to see this trust abused over and over again,” Schaedla said.
WWF-Malaysia also said it had received many unofficial reports of soldiers hunting in the Royal Belum State Park throughout the course of its work in the Belum-Temengor forest complex where it has had projects since 2007.
Its Executive Director/CEO Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said locals had relayed reports to WWF-Malaysia claiming that soldiers based in the area would hunt totally protected animals such as Malayan gaur and pangolin, Sambar deer and Barking deer.
WWF-Malaysia urged the Defence Ministry to thoroughly investigate these claims and take action to reduce illegal hunting of already threatened wildlife.
Both groups called for the armed forces to raise awareness of conservation issues among their personnel by including it as a subject in training modules and offered assistance in designing course content and carrying out training.