(THAILAND) Merit scam; heavily hunted-pangolins

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The Star

 

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

 

Thai monk hits out at merit 'scam'

 

BANGKOK: A senior Buddhist monk has denounced the widespread practice of buying

birds, fish and other animals and then freeing them in order to " make merit " ,

saying the practice was a sin.

 

Visitors to Thailand's main tourist attractions, including Buddhist temples and

shrines, are often approached by vendors carrying tiny cages containing

trapped birds, encouraging the visitors to pay for the birds' freedom in order

to earn merit for themselves. The vendors also sell fish in plastic bags and

encourage tourists to let them go.

 

Phra Pipatwaraporn, deputy abbot of Wat Phananchoeng in Ayutthaya, was quoted

by the Bangkok Post yesterday as saying the age-old practice was cruel

to the animals, and a sin committed by the vendors and their customers.

 

He said the vendors generally catch the animals after they are freed and sell

them again and again.

 

Another perspective from The Nation, a partner of Asia News Network.

 

 

 

The Star - Tuesday, September 24, 2002

 

Heavily hunted

 

By TRIRAT PUTTAJANYAWONG

 

THAILAND has long been notorious as a transit point for the trafficking of

drugs, weapons and people. Now, a new commodity is being smuggled - the scaly,

ant-eating pangolin.

 

Thailand has emerged as a hub for smugglers bringing pangolins from Cambodia,

Malaysia, and Indonesia and sending them to China, where they end up in cooking

pots and traditional medicine shops.

 

The number of pangolins confiscated by Thai officials has risen from 1,944 in

2001 to 10,763 in the first seven months of 2002, according to a report by the

Thai forestry department.

 

Conservationists say if the trade continues at the current rate the animals,

whose name derives from a French word describing their ability to curl up into a

ball to defend themselves, will disappear from the region's forests.

 

Found in South and South-East Asia, pangolins have been used for centuries as a

medicine and charm by people across the continent.

 

But increasing wealth in China has led to a surge in the hunting and smuggling

of pangolins and a sharp increase in the price of the animal and its scales.

 

A live pangolin costs 200 baht (RM18) per kilogram locally in Thailand - three

times more expensive than boneless chicken breast - but the price would triple

when sold to exporters, the forestry deparment report said.

 

The animals' scales are sold at 500 baht (RM45) per kilogram locally, but

exporters will pay double that.

 

" In China, its meat is very popular, while its scales and blood are mixed with

herbs. The formula is believed to prolong life and strengthen the sex drive, "

says Thanit Palasuwan, head of the anti-wildlife poaching unit at the forestry

department.

 

Some Chinese medicine recipes also use pangolin scales to cure lymph node

malfunctions, kill pain, or increase milk in breastfeeding mothers, said Suda

Loh, a herb-shop owner in Bangkok.

 

In Nepal, some people consider the animal's meat a delicacy and make its scales

into rings as charms against rheumatic fever. They also believe its flesh has

aphrodisiacal value and that an extract of its uterus can safeguard against

miscarriages.

 

But experts say the scales are made of the same substance as hair and have no

medicinal value.

 

" The scales can neither melt in boiling water nor in acid, and protein from the

pangolin meat is no different from pork, " said Chisanu Tiyacharoensri,

vice-president of the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand.

 

The animals are hunted and smuggled throughout Asia.

 

In April, some 1,200 frozen pangolins hidden in fish containers bound for

Vietnam were seized by Malaysian customs officials.

 

Last October Customs officials in Hong Kong seized some 2,700kg of pangolin

scales hidden in 45 bags in a container that was believed to be bound for

mainland China. The cargo, from Surabaya in Indonesia, was valued at US$173,000

(RM657,400).

 

The smuggling is expected to continue as long as Chinese consumers maintain

their demand for exotic food and medicines and laws remain lax.

 

Pangolins are protected under Thai law but the penalty for possession is

relatively light - a maximum jail term of four years and fine of 40,000 baht

(RM3,600).

 

" Considering the profit they make from each shipment - about a million baht

(RM89,900) - it is worth a risk for smugglers since most of them were fined

10,000 baht (RM900) and did not have to go to jail, " said Thanit.

 

" The truck drivers, who are arrested, never say who the animals belong to. "

 

While pangolins are still fairly abundant, they could soon disappear if they

continue to be hunted at present rates.

 

" If the popularity continues at the current rate, we won't be able to find them

in nature, " Chisanu said. - Reuters