Source : Bangkok Post, Thailand, 07 Oct 2008
By : David Canavan
  

This is perfectly fine, and actually inevitable, but if our activities are not closely monitored and controlled, their impact on nature could be devastating. Using natural resources is what we have to do in order to survive as a species, but our species population is creeping towards the seven billion mark, and our planet is starting to show that it is straining under the pressure.

	Wildlife customs officials bring 288 pangolins out of wooden boxes seized at Don Mueang Airport. They were believed to be destined for shipment to Laos. SOMCHAI LAOPAISARNTAKSIN

Exploitation

The main problem with our using the natural world comes when we exploit it. When the manufacture of products like wood, leather, certain foods and medicines is correctly monitored, there are few problems. Aside from such monitoring, we can also use synthetic materials to substitute for natural materials, such as using plastics instead of ivory and producing synthetic drugs as opposed to extracting medical ingredients from rare animals and plants.

But when monitoring and correct usage are ignored, you enter the world of illegal natural products. The illegal wildlife trade is among the largest illegal trades in the world, rivalling the illegal drugs and arms trades. Accurate assessment is difficult, but figures suggest the trade is worth about $10 billion (339 billion baht) per year. A staggering and frightening figure indeed.

Famous cases of illegal trade include my favourite animal: the black rhinoceros. In the 1970s, there were well over 60,000 of these magnificent creatures roaming the African plains. Now there are less than 2,500 living in isolated pockets in various eastern and southern African reserves.

The reason for their catastrophic decline in number has all to do with their horn. It is used for dagger handles as a symbol of masculinity in Yemen, despite it being banned. It is also used as an aphrodisiac in China, which is also illegal.

The sad fact is that rhino horn has no medicinal benefits whatsoever, yet weight for weight it is worth more than gold on the black market. And what is even more disturbing is that rhino horn is made from keratin, essentially the same thing as your fingernails! Yet the poaching and illegal trade still go on.

In a similar position is the elephant, although it has faired better. The ivory industry has thankfully declined but, for a while, the elephant was in real trouble. Having said that, though, it still isn't out of the extinction race.

Other large mammals in trouble include the African wild dog and the great apes, the numbers of both of which are in serious decline. The wild dog has been hunted mercilessly for centuries, leaving less than 5,000, and the great apes fare little better. They are hunted for the pet trade, for gorilla hand ashtrays and mainly for the bush meat trade, where their meat is sought after in towns and villages surrounding the forests.

Southeast Asian problem

It may be sad to learn that the worst culprits of the illegal wildlife trade are some of the countries in Southeast Asia. A trip to Chatuchak market may open your eyes to how easily wildlife, often rare and endangered, is traded. I went there, and was I shocked. I couldn't even identify some of the animals, which is unusual for me! This is worrying.

Among the worst loot of the wildlife trade are skins. Tiger skins, clouded leopard skins, leopard skins, civet skins and anything else with an interesting coat can be obtained in Thailand and the surrounding countries. Although illegal, due to lack of policing this trade is rife.

Not only are there skins, but coral, shells, turtle carapace (shells) and other animal products are too freely available. Included in the latter category are turtle eggs and fish illegally acquired for food.

Medicinal nightmares

China's reputation is among the worst when it comes to the illegal trade in wildlife. Traditional Chinese medicines include rhino horns, tiger bones and tiger penises. All three are unproven aphrodisiacs and are extremely costly to buyers.

Other animals used for medicines include bears (for their bile). Catheters are permanently inserted into the bear's gall bladder to extract the bile. Musk deer are killed for the musk gland, which is used to treat skin infections and abdominal pains. Seahorses, among other creatures, are used as an aphrodisiac.

How these animals are treated is appalling. Tigers and bears are killed in the wild, or are farmed in dreadful conditions. These are also endangered animals, and their use in the illegal trade threatens their already fragile existence in the wild.

What can be done?

Thankfully, there are organisations out there that are acting to stop the endangered species trade. One is Cites: the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.

Founded in the 1970s, Cites has brokered an international agreement to ensure that the trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Although regulation is difficult due to varying governmental constraints, Cites, hopefully, protects more than 30,000 species from extinction.

It is structured into three appendices. Appendix 1 of the agreement includes species threatened with extinction, which basically cover every famous animal you can name, such as the great apes, cheetahs, jaguars, rhinoceroses and manatees, among many others. Trading in the species on this list is allowed only in exceptional circumstances.

From a Thai point of view, Appendix 1 includes most, if not all, of the well-known Thai mammals and many of the country's reptiles and amphibians. Basically, all of the exotic animals in Thailand are not permitted to be traded in, so please don't buy anything here or you may face serious consequences.

Appendix 2 is concerned with controlling the trade in species before they are threatened with extinction. In this list are the hippo, bison, wolf and the great white shark. Appendix 3 embraces species that are protected in at least one country, and the other Cites parties are asked to cooperate in protecting against their trade.

Traffic International is another great organisation in this field. It works in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and it also aims to protect wild animal and plant species. All these bodies work closely with Cites to act together as the guardians of the natural world.

As stated on Discovery Channel's Animal Planet: "When the buying stops, the killing can, too." How true. Without the demand, there will be no supply. So, the next time you are offered shells for decoration, or a photo with a monkey, or sharks' fin soup, think about the adverse impacts on wildlife populations.

David Canavan has an MSc in Behavioural Ecology and teaches science, maths and ICT at Garden International School. David is fascinated by science and loves animals, especially the dangerous kind; the more dangerous the better.