- "...the wildlife trade business... is the second-largest
illegal trade in the world after drugs."
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- SINGAPORE (Reuters) -- In
gritty cardboard boxes, exotic tortoises are stacked like saucers, their
heads taped back into their shells. In rolled up socks, rare lizards are
holed up in suitcases stored in an overhead flight compartment.
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- Wildlife smuggling is on the rise, say authorities in
Singapore, whose ports are increasingly used as transit points in the shuttling
of endangered animals between the United States and tropical Asian countries
such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
-
- "It is at a dangerously high level," said Chris
Shepherd, regional program manager at Traffic Southeast Asia, a Malaysia-based
nongovernment body that monitors wildlife trade.
-
- Precise data on how many endangered animals are shipped
around the world is extremely difficult to obtain, said Elizabeth Bennett,
director of hunting and wildlife trade at the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation
Society.
-
- "The very fact that it is illegal in most countries
means that official numbers are unobtainable," she said. "And
data collected by researchers tend to be guesses at best."
-
- But evidence in Singapore points to a rising Asian trade.
Four wildlife smuggling syndicates have been identified in Singapore, and
authorities have confiscated animals worth S$300,000 (US$174,200) in the
first five months of the year, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of
Singapore (AVA) said. That compares with S$65,000 for the whole of last
year.
-
- "Most conservationists working on wildlife trade
issues will recognize Singapore as a center for wildlife trade in Asia,"
said Vadivu Govind, president of Animal Watch, an animal rights group based
in Singapore. "It's geological location makes it a good transshipment
point."
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- From Tortoises to Cockatoos
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- Singapore, where trade in endangered species is strictly
regulated, has reported 21 cases of illegal wildlife trade so far this
year, said the AVA. Many involve star-patterned tortoises, a popular pet
often smuggled from Madras in southern India and fed in Singapore before
being shipped out again, often to America.
-
- In September, an Indian national was caught with 499
star tortoises in his luggage. In July, a Singaporean was indicted in the
United States for shipping 198 turtles, 25 tortoises, and three monitor
lizards from Singapore to Orlando, Fla.
-
- Cockatoos are commonly smuggled in from Indonesia. Rattlesnakes
and scorpions come from the United States, while tortoises are often from
India.
-
- "The animals mainly come from the U.S., India, and
Indonesia. It's got to do with availability of these animals in these countries,"
said Govind.
-
- The U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said
more than half of the protected areas in Asia have lost at least one species
of large mammal due to hunting, usually to supply illegal wildlife trade.
-
- Animals facing extinction include the Sumatran rhinoceros
and the Siamese crocodile, said the WCS, which estimates that illegal global
wildlife trafficking is worth about $8 billion annually.
-
- Much of the problem is concentrated around Asia's tropical
forests, said the WCS's Bennett. "The scale and impact of the illegal
wildlife trade is greater overall in Asia than in other parts of the world,"
she said.
-
- In Vietnam, 12 species - including the Asian elephant
and the wild water buffalo - have become virtually extinct in the last
40 years due to hunting and wildlife trade, the WCS said.
-
- In northern Myanmar, tigers have been systematically
hunted to near-extinction, it said. Tiger body parts, particularly tiger
bones, are prized ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine to cure ailments
such as epilepsy.
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- Cruel Trade
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- Smuggled animals are often stuffed into boxes and suffer
from stress, dehydration, or starvation. Some are crushed to death.
-
- "The traffickers use covert means like hidden compartments
in suitcases," said Clifford Warwick, director of the BioVeterinary
Group, an independent consultancy in reptile welfare and conservation.
"Small animals may be rolled up in socks and laundry."
-
- In April, a Singaporean was found smuggling baby pythons
hidden in his pockets from neighboring Malaysia. The 23-year-old man was
in a taxi when custom officials arrested him.
-
- "Customs inspectors in other countries have witnessed
horror cases of turtles with heads and legs taped inside their shells and
stacked like saucers so that more of them can go into the cartons,"
said Animal Watch's Govind.
-
- Between January 2002 and September this year, a total
of 2,938 star tortoises were seized in Singapore, the AVA said. Animal
enthusiasts are willing to pay up to S$1,000 for a cockatoo, S$150 for
each star tortoise, and S$100 for a scorpion.
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- Conservation groups say Singapore's laws are too weak
to prevent smuggling. "For first time offenders, you get away with
a maximum of S$5,000. This is a paltry sum if you are involved in the wildlife
trade business which is the second-largest illegal trade in the world after
drugs," said Govind.
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- Copyright © 2003 Environmental News Network Inc.
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- http://www.enn.com/news/2003-11-07/s_10205.asp
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