Singapore Hub of Rising Asia Illegal Wildlife Trade

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Singapore Hub of Rising Asia Illegal Wildlife Trade

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SINGAPORE: November 7, 2003

 

 

SINGAPORE - 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.

 

 

 

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 non-government 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 ($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. "

 

FROM TORTOISES TO COCKATOOS

 

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, Florida.

 

Cockatoos are commonly smuggled in from Indonesia. Rattlesnakes and

scorpions come from the United States, while tortoises 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.

 

CRUEL TRADE

 

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.

Small animals may be rolled up in socks and laundry, " said Clifford Warwick,

director of the BioVeterinary Group, an independent consultancy in reptile

welfare and conservation.

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

 

Story by Geraldine Chua

 

 

 

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE