Guest guest Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 New Straits Times Why are permits issued to owners of endangered animals? KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 24: -- The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment wants to know how and why permits are being issued to individuals to own endangered animals. " This is happening at the department level without our knowledge, " said a ministry official. " We are investigating to see if they are doing some- thing wrong. " He was commenting on the display of two tiger cubs at a prominent pet store here last week. Experts on the wildlife trade have also expressed concerns that the tiger cubs on display revealed an increasing demand for such exhibitions of protected animals. " By displaying tigers and other exotic protected wildlife in a pet store, the wrong message is being sent to the public, " said Chris Shepherd of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, a wildlife trade monitoring network. He said tigers were listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). " This means absolutely no commercial trade is allowed where tigers are concerned. If any laws have been broken, we hope action will be taken, " he said. Meanwhile, asked about the prominent wildlife trader who owned the two cubs, Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) Director of Law and Enforcement Misliah Mohamad Basir said she was aware that the trader, a Malaysian, had been arrested in Mexico in 1998 for trafficking in rare and endangered reptiles. " However, as far as I understand, they did not find any evidence on him. I do not understand how the laws overseas work, " she said. " In Malaysia, you can only convict a person of illegal trafficking if you actually find the evidence on him. " A check on the United States Department of Justice and the US Fish and Wildlife Service websites revealed that the Malaysian trader was sentenced in June 2001 to 71 months in prison and fined US$60,000 (RM228,000) by the Federal Court in San Francisco for the illegal trafficking of endangered reptiles. The trader had pleaded guilty to 40 felony charges. Among the rare reptiles he had smuggled was a Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard, now found only on three small Indonesian islands. At the time, US authorities described the trader's conviction as " unprecedented " and said the operation to nab him had given the US Fish and Wildlife Service " new insight into how such international trafficking rings seem to operate " . He was not contactable. _______________ Get an advanced look at the new version of MSN Messenger. http://messenger.msn.com.my/Beta/Default.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I have forwarded this information to two international Animal welfare organizations, which I hope will be able to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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