Malaysia: Why are permits issued to owners of endangered animals?

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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.

[Guest guest]

I have forwarded this information to two international Animal welfare

organizations, which I hope will be able to help.