Japan's love of exotic pets has environmentalists concerned at illegal trade

[Guest guest]

Japan's love of exotic pets has environmentalists

concerned at illegal trade

 

July 18, 2004

Agence France Presse English

Hiroshi Hiyama

 

TOKYO - Demand for rare reptiles as pets has,

according to this story, made Japan one of the top

markets for smuggled exotic animals and

conservationists here are concerned that law

enforcement authorities lack teeth to deal with the

problem.

 

Akiko Ishihara of TRAFFIC East Asia-Japan, a joint

wildlife trade monitoring programme of the World Wide

Fund for Nature and the World Conservation Union, was

quoted as saying, " The big demand for exotic animals

in Japan, particularly reptiles, encourages smugglers

to poach rare foreign species. "

 

The story says that Japanese customs however lacks the

animal experts who could spot violations of the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

 

Masayuki Sakamoto, head of the Japan Wildlife

Conservation Society, was quoted as saying, " I

understand their resources are limited, but the

government should improve that. "

 

The story cited environmentalists as saying that no

official or reliable private estimate of the size of

Japanese rare animal smuggling market is available,

but there is plenty of evidence it is a big problem.

The story adds that a quick search on the Internet

brings up a number of Japanese sites selling protected

species, such as the Indian star tortoise.