Six hundred pangolins confiscated in Thailand

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PRESS RELEASE

 

Six hundred pangolins confiscated in Thailand

 

28th September 2004

 

In the early hours of the morning on Tuesday the 28th of September, Thai

Forestry Police intercepted a truck traveling in the south of Thailand and

discovered and confiscated six hundred pangolins being smuggled through

Thailand. It appears that the truck was traveling from Sumatra or Malaysia,

through Thailand to the Laos border, from where the pangolins were destined

to be sent onto China to supply the market for meat and body parts. At the

present time it is not clear which group of traders is behind this most

recently discovered instance of illegal wildlife trafficking, with the

driver of the truck denying any knowledge about those involved.

 

It has been announced by the Department of National Parks that all the

pangolins will soon be released into National Parks and areas of protected

forest within Thailand. Whilst we agree that this decision is best in the

interests of animal welfare as these animals die quickly in captivity due to

their specialized dietary requirements, this action does raise concerns

about the possibility of introducing non-native sub-species into Thailand's

ecosystems with potentially serious ecological consequences and the

associated implications for conservation.

 

Although it is encouraging that this truck of pangolins was intercepted and

the animals saved from their fate, we have grave concerns that the driver

will simply be ordered to pay a small fine, and no further action will be

taken to find those really behind the smuggling operation. Such a course of

action appears to have been the norm in such cases to date. There have been

several reported instances over the past year in which hundreds of pangolins

being transported by road have been discovered and confiscated by Forestry

Police. However these seizures seem to have been ineffective in deterring

these unscrupulous traders, with the illegal trade in wild-caught pangolins

seemingly growing to meet increasing demand from other Asian countries,

particularly China.

 

It is important to remember that these cases that are uncovered almost

certainly represent only the tip of the iceberg and simply confiscating the

relatively few animals that are discovered does not put an end to the

problem of wildlife trafficking. More needs to be done to find the true

perpetrators of these crimes against wildlife, and to crack these

sophisticated wildlife trafficking rings that operate all over South-east

Asia. Law enforcement undoubtedly needs to be much stricter, with tougher

penalties for all those involved in the illegal wildlife trade.

 

ENDS