Amnesty for animal smugglers proposed

We are concerned that this amnesty if pushed through without proper debate and consideration, will have an adverse effect upon Thailand's endangered wildlife. Let the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WARF) have your comments on the government's proposed plan! Send your comments to war@warthai.org.

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Wildlife smuggling in Asia still a roaring trade (AFP)

3 June 2007

HONG KONG - Carved up for the dinner table, ground up for medicine or simply sold off as exotic pets, Asia's endangered species are at the core of a lucrative smuggling trade that shows little sign of easing off.

An abandoned wreck of a boat off China's southern coast last month exposed its breadth: on board, dying in the baking sun, were more than 5,000 lizards, tortoises and pangolins, not to mention 21 bear paws.

Once ashore they would likely have ended up as food or used in traditional medicines.

It is not just small animals. Tigers are dying out in India and Nepal. At least 1,000 orangutans are trafficked out of Indonesia's Kalimantan province alone every year. Bears are hunted for their bile, rhinos for their horn.

"People see it as quick cash with low risk," said Petch Manopawitr, deputy director of Thailand's Wildlife Conservation Society.

Smuggling is at the centre of a three-yearly conference starting Sunday in The Hague under the auspices of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

China has long been seen as a magnet for wildlife smuggling because of its traditional medicines and taste for exotic animals.

"Wildlife is basically defenceless as there's no animal protection law in China," said Qin Xiaona, head of the Capital Animal Care Association group.

"Some nouveau riche want to eat what ordinary people can't eat in order to show off their wealth."

Experts reckon up to a tonne of pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are smuggled over the Thai-Laos border every month, many for use in medicines.

"The biggest demand comes from China," said Chairul Saleh of welfare group WWF. "They don't only want the scales but also the meat for consumption."

Tiger bones have been used to treat rheumatism and arthritis and the penis is said to increase male potency.

Bear bile is used for liver complaints and fatigue, deer musk for treatment of strokes, rhino horn against inflammation. Pangolins have reputed medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities.

Animal pelts - bears, tigers, Tibetan antelopes - are also prized, while the rhino horn is used to make dagger handles in Arab nations, fetching up to 14,000 dollars on the black market.

Thai police commander Thanayod Kengkasikij said a crackdown simply ups the allure, noting that "the increasing value (of the animals) is attracting more criminals."

Asep Rahmat Purnama, the executive director of wildlife watchdog ProFauna, estimated the trade in Indonesia as worth a billion dollars a year.

In India, which has 60 percent of the world's remaining tiger population, conservation efforts have been hampered by poachers seeking the pelt - which can sell for up to 16,000 dollars - claws and bones.

Officials surveying rare Royal Bengal tigers say their population may have declined as much as 50 percent from the 3,700 estimated in 2002.

In Taiwan, a poacher can hope to sell a bear for 4,500 dollars.

In Malaysia, said Chris Shepherd of the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, the most sought-after creatures are water turtles, tortoises, many species of snake, pangolins, the Sumatran rhino, tiger and samba deer.

He said crime syndicates were becoming increasingly involved.

The effect is to strip some countries of native wildlife - only 50 to 150 tigers survive in the wild in Vietnam, according to official and environmental agencies.

In Thailand, the focus is shifting to exotic pets such as wild birds and rare reptiles because species such as tigers and pangolins are disappearing, said Tassanee Vejpongsa, of US-based group WildAid.

"We do believe that the number of animal species in Thailand has gone down to the point it can't really be a supplier any more," Tassanee told AFP.

Similarly in Cambodia. "We are not seeing tigers and leopards in the tradebecause they have been almost wiped out," said Nick Marx, also of WildAid.

But it remains a lucrative business. "If they weren't making a lot of money they wouldn't be doing it."

Another problem cited by officials and groups in nations such as Cambodia, India, Indonesia and Thailand is that legislation is often undermined by weak enforcement or local corruption.

"There is an indication of the involvement of customs or other officials in wildlife trafficking, especially for bigger animals such as orangutans," said Indonesia's Purnama.

After all, he said, when creatures like that are being smuggled out "it is impossible not to detect them before air transport."

WILDLIFE SMUGGLED ORANGUTANS

Apes to be returned to Indonesia this week

Forty-eight orangutans smuggled into the country from Indonesia are set to be returned on Wednesday, officials said yesterday. The endangered apes have been waiting for months to return home since veterinarians confirmed they were captured in the wild in Indonesia and not born in captivity as their Thai owners had claimed.

The apes were seized from Safari World Zoo in Bangkok in a raid after forestry police and environmental groups suspected the orangutans had been smuggled into Thailand from northern Sumatra.

All of the animals have had medical check-ups and are in good health and ready to be sent back, said Pornchai Pratumratnatan, chief of Khao Pratap Chang Wildlife Rescue Centre in Ratchaburi province.

Thai wildlife officials are waiting for their Indonesian counterparts to send more cages for the apes, he said, warning that the transfer had to be carried out with great care to avoid causing the animals too much stress.

The wildlife rescue centre has served as temporary shelter for the apes since 2005 while a team of Indonesian veterinarians conducted DNA tests on the animals to identify their origins.

The test results contradicted the zoo's earlier claim that many of the orangutans were born in captivity.

Forestry police have already charged the zoo owner for illegally possessing the orangutans.

The zoo once had 101 orangutans in its possession. However, in 2004 nearly half of them died under suspicious circumstances.

The zoo owner claimed they died from pneumonia but police suspected they may have been moved or killed ahead of a police inspection at the zoo. Meanwhile, four koalas given to Thailand by Australia are set to arrive at Chiang Mai airport on Wednesday and be taken to Chiang Mai Zoo, said Sophon Damnui, director-general of the Zoological Park Organisation. Zoo officials are preparing eucalyptus varieties and a new shelter for the cuddly marsupials to make them feel at home, he said. The shelter, which will be open to the public from early next month, has been designed to imitate their native environment

Big Apes

LOS ANGELES* - When the rare birds of paradise escaped fro m his suitcase and flew over the heads of U.S. Customs Agents at Los Angeles International Airport, Robert Cusack decided it was best to confess that, yes, he did have more to declare.

"I have monkeys in my pants," Cusack told the agents. Cusack, 49, had just gotten off a plane from Thailand and was immediately taken into custody. Two endangered slow loris pygmy monkeys were rescued from Cusack's underwear.

For attempting to smuggle four birds of paradise, two lorises and 50 rare orchids into the United States on June 13, 2002, Cusack served five and a half months in prison and paid $1,100 in fines.

But Cusack wasn't alone. His traveling companion, Chris Edward Mulloy, allegedly sneaked two newborn Asian leopard cats past the customs agents.

Authorities believe Mulloy, 45, hid the felines in hand-carried luggage, checked into a nearby hotel, and called his sister Darlah Kaye Mulloy to ask for her help in getting rid of the contraband cats.

On Monday, Chris Mulloy was arrested by federal authorities in Palm Springs on four counts of illegally importing wildlife, receiving, concealing and transporting wildlife, and making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He will be arraigned next week and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all charges. Darlah Mulloy, 48, has not been arrested, but was named along with her brother in a February grand jury indictment on two counts of illegally receiving, concealing, and transporting wildlife, and attempting to obstruct justice and tamper with a witness. Authorities said they were aided by a tipster in their four-year investigation.

A spokesman from the U.S. Attorney's office, Thom Mrozek, says Darlah Mulloy's son gave one of the leopards to a former girlfriend, who lives in Foothill Ranch, Orange County. "She still has it. It's kind of skittish. She's been caring for it for three years now so we don't want to disturb it more than necessary," Mrozek said, adding that they are currently searching for a suitable - and legal - home for the wildcat. The other leopard cat journeyed from Mulloy's luggage to a friend who was unable to care for it, and ultimately on to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Texas, where Mrozek says it is being cared for by a wildlife facility. The lorises, Mrozek says, found a home at the Los Angeles County Zoo. But the four birds of paradise all died. "That is a not uncommon result of wildlife smuggling," Mrozek said. "These animals die all the time because of the stress of being stuffed into a box and smuggled in. The birds, I think it was the stress of the very long travel and who knows what kind of shape they were in." While Cusack's monkey-in-pants method might seem bizarre, it's not so far-fetched.

"We had a guy who did it with snakes about eight or nine years ago coming in from Mexico," Mrozek says. "You name it, it's been done." Smuggling rare animals and plants into the country undermines conservation efforts, and the potential economic and ecological consequences can be devastating, Mrozek says. "In some cases, we're talking about animals that potentially carry diseases like avian flu," Mrozek says. "We did a case a number of years ago in which animals were affected with Exotic Newcastle disease - and that can wipe out an entire industry."

They've also confiscated snakeheads - a type of top-predator fish that can live for short periods on land. "They will eat everything, so they will decimate the ecology of any body of water they're in," Mrozek says. "There are all kinds of potentially extraordinary problems we face with wildlife smuggling."

Call to Turn National Parks into Big Money-Spinners Government Slammed for its Cash-based Priorities

Kultida Samabuddhi
Bangkok Post 24 August 2002

Forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi yesterday urged national park chiefs to be "creative" in introducing income-generating activities for eco-tourism. He has created new projects for national parks including spring and spa complexes, water sport recreation, herb gardens and safari zones to meet eco-tourists' increasing demand.

Pansak Winyarat, chief adviser of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said the government supported tourism promotion plans in protected areas, which were national assets that could generate substantial revenue.

Speaking at the annual meeting of national park officials at Khao Yai National Park, Mr Plodprasop urged the officials to work harder and be more creative to earn money from national parks. The spring and spa complexes, which comprised sauna and massage centres, would be introduced in four national parks in the north, including Mae Fang and Huay Nam Dang in Chiang Mai, he said.

Mr Plodprasop told the park officials to put greater emphasis on water activities, including canoeing, rafting and kayaking. He cited the Khao Yai national park, where a small dam had been built on a creek to offer water activities to tourists. Park officials should also allow tourists to get close to wild animals, such as sambar deer and barking deer. "Whatever the tourists demand, we should provide it for them, but the activities must not contradict park management principles," Mr Plodprasop said. To ensure ecological recovery, the department would implement a rotation system.

"The department will announce a temporary closure of some tourist spots for rehabilitation. However, we need to open new recreational areas to replace the closed ones," he said. The department would also enforce tougher regulations in screening foreign visitors entering the parks to prevent bio-piracy. Mr Pansak also urged officials to take stronger measures to protect the forests. "If deforestation occurs, it means we lose the national assets that could create huge revenue for the government."

Eco-tourism programmes have the government's support because they attract Western tourists. "According to the World Tourism Organisation, revenue from eco-tourism amounts to around 7% of world tourism income. Eco-tourists are also willing to pay 8.5% more than general tourists to buy environmentally friendly tourism products," he said. However, Jittasak Putjorn, of Walailak University's Eco-tourism Management Division, lashed out at the government for focusing heavily on making money from the country's protected forests.

"It is unacceptable that the government and the Forestry Department define the national parks as a source of cash flow," Mr Jittasak said. "Such a perspective is harmful to natural resources and will lead concerned agencies to mismanage the parks." [return]

As far as the commercial breeding of wild animals is concerned (gibbons perhaps?), I find the concept repulsive. To what end? Western laboratories where they will be slowly tortured to death or the pet market so I can spend the rest of my life supporting more animals some idiot here thought would make a nice pet. What price will they pay? Having their infants torn from their mothers? This is something I'd expect to happen here, not Thailand.

To date I have considered Thailand's Wild Animal Rescue Foundation one of the most selfless, positive attempts at saving what little there is left of this planet. I have written thanking the Ford corporation and National Geographic for their support and publicity at every opportunity. I had hoped to volunteer my services to WAR at the first opportunity. This "amnesty" would make it now seem rather pointless.

Thank you for allowing me to express my opinions,
- Mark Lakomski

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.... I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man." -Mahatma Gandhi [return]

Excerpt from an article published in Bangkok Post 11 February 2002 - by the Wild Society
Illegal Animal Trader Reveals Tricks of the Trade

Last week, we promised we'd tell you more about the serow oil vendor, we recently met at a gas station. Well, where were we? Oh, we were talking about that document which the guy claimed helps protect his business from being harassed by the authorities.

"What kind of document?" we asked. "Remember," he began, "when they introduced the 1992 Wildlife Conservation Act, and the Forest Department announced that anyone who had wild animals or their carcasses must go register such possessions otherwise they would be considered illegal?"

"Well, at that time I had four serow carcasses and five live barking deer so I had them registered. With the registration paper, policemen and forestry officials cannot arrest me".

"Don't tell me that these serow heads you have here are the same ones you registered 10 years ago!" we exclaimed.

"No way!" he answered. "You're very funny. Those are long gone. But as I told you I always get new ones from the hill tribe hunters."

"And the officials… have they ever questioned you about this?" We were very curious.

"Sometimes. But I showed them the papers - that 1992 one and an older one when Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat was prime minister - and that's it," he said proudly. Thanks to these papers I've even had three rangers sacked."

"No kidding," we said.

"Well I used to do this business in another province and I moved to this location about a year ago. At that time the forestry people in this area didn't know me," he recalled. "Then one day, I was selling the serow oil to my customers and three rangers came out and snatched my motorcycle keys. They said my business was illegal and if I wanted the keys back then I must pay them 500 baht.

"I looked at their faces and said 'how could such a small amount be enough for three?' and I offered them 3,000 baht. "Those fools took the money and left. So I packed up my things and rushed off to see their chief and told him that I had the right papers and that his subordinates took a bribe," he beamed. "They were fired. Served them right! From then on, all the forestry people know me and I never have a problem like that again."

A couple of weeks ago, we visited a park in Kanchanaburi. Oh, boy, we saw so many kinds of wildlife - from serow to barking deer and sambar deer to wild boar and hare! Too bad we didn't see them running around in their entirety - just their meat in the freezer of a restaurant not so far from the park. [return]

Members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) are likely to boycott Thailand because of its apparent inability to plug loopholes in its wildlife conservation laws. Illegal trade is still rampant in many parts of the country and no more obvious than at Bangkok's Chatuchak weekend market, where gibbons, rare birds, tiger and snake skins, marine creatures and wild orchids are on prominent display.

In a recent speech at a Kasetsart University forum the director of Chatuchak, Supol Kaewsa-ard made the point that the law does not allow the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, who oversee the market, to crack down on this illegal activity. This task is the responsibility of the Forestry Department. Chawan Tunhikorn, head of the department's natural resources conservation office said, "the main obstacle was lack of staff to cope with the problem. However, the number of wildlife traders had decreased in the past decade because of strong enforcement of the Wildlife Protection Act. If wildlife traders could breed wild animals legally for commercial purposes, there would be no need to smuggle them from forests or illegally import them from neighboring countries, particularly baby gibbons from Laos and wild orchids from Cambodia."

Robert Mather of World Wildlife Fund Thailand accused Mr. Chawan of trying to distort the facts saying, "the department must accept the facts and try to look for solutions." [return]

The public can only be sceptical about the government's amnesty for animal smugglers, given previous failures. "The Thaksin administration's decision to grant an amnesty to operators of wildlife smuggling businesses and people who have protected endangered species in their possession, and to allow commercial breeding of wild animals was met by scepticism by conservationists and members of the public at large. For most people, it is difficult to reconcile these ideas with the effort by the government to protect the country's fast-dwindling wildlife and suppress the illegal trade in wild species.

The rationale behind the idea, put forward by the Agriculture Ministry, is that the amnesty will encourage operators of wildlife smuggling cartels to come forward to register wild animals in their possession and to turn over a new leaf by engaging in the new, legitimate business of commercial breeding of wildlife. The Agriculture Ministry argues that the Forestry and Fisheries departments have been fighting a losing battle in trying to protect wild animals and suppressing the illegal trade in wildlife. It says the amnesty will not only enable wildlife traders to make a clean start but also improve efficiency in wildlife protection.

Under the amnesty, the authorities will refrain from taking punitive action against illegal possessors of wild animals on condition that they have those animals legally registered and pay a token fee ranging from bt 20 to bt 2,000 per animal. The government also plans to promote the business of wildlife breeding, which it is hoped will eliminate the need for illegal hunting and create business opportunities that could generate foreign currency income. That the government's new approach in wildlife protection is pragmatic and ingenious is one way of looking at it. But if the government's past performance in implementing a similar amnesty programme in 1992 is any indication, there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical.

The last time an amnesty was granted to wildlife traders, government officials did not check the number of wild animals in their possession. That allowed wildlife traders to intensify the hunting and capturing of wild animals during the period leading up to the registration to take advantage of the amnesty. Failure by the authorities to monitor the number of wild animals at so called breeding facilities have allowed wildlife traders to continue their illegal activities by using their "breeding farms" as a front business.

It is also easier said than done for the government to try to promote commercial wildlife breeding. The most serious impediment to the economic viability of such businesses is the dearth of wildlife research in this country and the lack of technical know-how. That doesn't mean the breeding of wildlife cannot be successfully pursued as a business. Examples abound of successful ventures to raise deer, crocodiles and ostriches for commercial purposes. But such ventures call for serious investment in research and a long-term commitment as well as the right market conditions.

Illegal traders in wildlife will always find it cheaper and more convenient to buy wild animals from illegal hunters, who will continue to hunt and capture wildlife in even greater numbers than at present, in violation of the law as long as the financial rewards offered to them appear to outweigh the risk of prosecution. To effectively protect wildlife, the government must find a comprehensive solution to the problem, which has complex social and economic dimensions. Public education campaigns on the need to conserve wildlife and biodiversity as well as preservation of sustainable expanses of forested land must be complemented with development projects aimed at rooting out poverty. In the end, what this country needs to effectively protect its wildlife is simple: unwavering law enforcement by officials who can be trusted to perform their duty without fear or favour." [return]

Wildlife advocates praised an Agriculture Ministry proposal to legalise commercial breeding of some species of protected wildlife but were concerned that farmers might abuse the privilege.

Robert Mather, World Wildlife Fund representative in Thailand, said the breeding of protected species in the buffer zones of protected forests would discourage local encroachment; "but I'm worried that more wild animals will be taken from their natural habitats to be used as breeding stock", Mr Mather said.

Cabinet this week approved an amnesty for owners of protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act to promote commercial breeding; "owners will be allowed to possess about 57 species of wild animals listed under the law", Deputy Agriculture Ministry Prapat Panyachatrak said. Legalisation of commercial breeding of animals would boost the economy. Private owners and breeders must declare their animals within 60 days after regulation takes effect.

Surapol Duangkhae, secretary general of Wildlife Fund Thailand, said the Forestry Department must monitor the situation closely to prevent breeders falsely registering wild animals taken from natural habitats as captive animals. Since the breeding of wild animals was expensive and required expertise, people would continue poaching from the forest if they thought breeding was not worth the investment. Regulations were needed to plug the loopholes, Mr Surapol said.

Forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi said more would be done to prevent wildlife poaching. The Fisheries and the Forestry departments would monitor breeding farms, verifying exact number of animals in private hands, before issuing breeding and possession permits. "the new regulations will wipe out poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife because people will be able to buy animals from breeding farms. Thailand could also gain large income from exporting the animals." Mr Plodprasop said. [return]

We are concerned that this amnesty if pushed through without proper debate and consideration, will have an adverse effect upon Thailand's endangered wildlife. Let the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WARF) have your comments on the government's proposed plan! Send your comments to war@warthai.org