12.02.21Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China : NPR

 Media Coverage
March 2012
WildAid
Table of Contents
Date
Headline
Publication
March 2, 2012
Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China.
NPR
March 5, 2012
Deputy: Take shark fin off official menus
China Daily
March 5, 2012
Heated arguments circle proposed shark fin ban
China Organization Online
March 7, 2012
Video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong street to supply soup industry
Daily Mail Online
March 15, 2012
Hotels should lead when it comes to fishy business
Hotelier Middle East
March 15, 2012
In conversation with the Shark Fin Godfather
March 16, 2012
Circulation*
Page
3,100,000
1
300,000
4
-­‐
5
91,600,000
7
7,500
12
Frank Pope Blog
-­‐
13
Maggie Q on Mikita, Season 3 and the Amanda showdown
Zap 2 It
-­‐
15
March 21, 2012
Shark Finning: The Big Picture of a Big Problem
Animal Planet
1,400,000
17
March 22, 2012
Pierce Brosnan And Larry King To Attend A Wild Night For Charity
Look to the Stars
50,000
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March 23, 2012
Athletes and Celebrities to Enjoy ‘A Wild Night’ for WildAid
Athlebrities News
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20
March 24, 2012
Then & Now
The Irish Times
100,000
22
March 26, 2012
Not a Normal Killing
Scientific American
840,000
23
* Circulation statistics are based on a per month calculation
Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China : NPR
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/02/147756651/looking-for-elephant...
Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China
by FRANK LANGFITT
March 2, 2012
text size A
A A
Armed with tips from animal welfare activists, I
recently went on an ivory hunt with my Chinese
assistant, Yang, in an antiques market in Beijing.
Activists say China's growing purchasing power is
driving global demand for products from
vulnerable animals, everything from elephant ivory
to rhino horn.
Two huge stone lions stood sentinel outside the
four-story market nestled among a forest of
buildings off one of Beijing's beltways. In China,
vendors usually accost shoppers and try to lure
them into stores.
Not here.
Enlarge
Frank Langfitt/NPR
The price for raw elephant tusks in China has tripled in the
past year because of growing demand, according to Grace
Gabriel, the Asia regional director for the International Fund
for Animal Welfare.
I was the only foreign face in the market. Shop
clerks suspected I was there to investigate, which
in a sense I was.
Yang fared better. Four out of the nine shops he
visited showed him illegal ivory, including
bracelets and a necklace that cost more than
$300.
"The ivory was hidden in a box, and the box was under the counter," Yang said afterward, describing
the ivory necklace.
Despite occasional crackdowns and even prison sentences, scores of shops in China continue to sell
illegal ivory, according to outside investigators.
Last November, the International Fund for Animal Welfare cased the same mall that Yang and I did, and
the group found more than 20 shops selling illegal ivory.
A separate survey last year by Esmond Martin, a renowned analyst of the ivory trade, found nearly
4,000 illegal ivory pieces for sale in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
Martin said he found twice as much ivory for sale in Guangzhou than he did during a similar survey in
2004.
Pushing Up Prices
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Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China : NPR
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/02/147756651/looking-for-elephant...
Grace Gabriel, Asia regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, says Chinese aren't
just buying more ivory these days; they're also pushing up prices.
She says the price for raw elephant tusk has more than tripled in the past year from as low as $270 a
pound to more than $900 a pound.
Ivory has long been a status symbol in China, but Gabriel,
who grew up in Beijing, says rising incomes are driving
even greater demand.
China's housing and stock markets have both taken hits,
and the nation's super rich are looking for other places to
invest their cash.
"A lot of [wealthy Chinese] now are looking at collectibles
and artifacts, particularly things they see as holding value,"
she says.
Gabriel says illegal ivory sales are rampant online. Sitting
in her office in the Chinese capital, she taps her computer
keyboard and goes to Baidu, China's giant search engine.
A lot of [wealthy Chinese]
are looking at collectibles
and artifacts, particularly
things they see as
holding value.
- Grace Gabriel of the International
Fund for Animal Welfare
She punches in "xiang ya," which means "elephant ivory" in Chinese, and a list of ivory for sale
appears.
"This whole forum, every listing — it has hundreds of pages, and every single one has ivory on them,"
Gabriel says.
From Africa To China
Most ivory here comes from Africa. Authorities around the world seized more than 5,000 smuggled
tusks last year. Among the seizures was one in August in Hong Kong where customs officials found
nearly 800 pieces of elephant tusk.
In November, a similar bust in Kenya yielded 87 pieces of smuggled ivory, which was on its way to a
Chinese metals company in Hong Kong.
Martin, the ivory trade expert, says Chinese
workers living in Africa are also driving demand
there.
Many go to Africa to build roads and help China
extract oil and minerals. As far back as 2005,
Martin found them buying ivory chopsticks and
animal figurines from shops in Khartoum, the
capital of Sudan.
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Looking For Elephant Ivory? Try China : NPR
Enlarge
http://www.npr.org/2012/03/02/147756651/looking-for-elephant...
Frank Langfitt/NPR
An investigation of this Beijing antique mall in November
found more than 20 shops selling illegal ivory.
"Seventy-five percent of the buyers were
Chinese," Martin recalls. "Actually, I photographed
them buying some of these items."
Steve Trent, co-founder of WildAid, a global
conservation group, says China knows there's a problem and is trying to do something about it.
"They are making seizures at airports like Beijing and Shanghai, where much of the ivory is entering the
marketplace," Trent says.
But he adds that China's government — which refused to talk to NPR for this story — needs to do
more.
Trent says groups like his also have to convince Chinese people to stop buying ivory.
Raising Awareness
WildAid has filled headrest video screens in thousands of Shanghai and Beijing taxis with ads featuring
big Chinese stars, such as Yao Ming, the former center for the NBA's Houston Rockets. In one ad, Yao
leaps up and blocks a bullet fired at an elephant.
"When the buying stops, then the killing will, too," Yao says in Chinese.
These sorts of awareness efforts seem to be having some impact.
At another Beijing antiques market — where smuggled ivory is also sold — Huang Xiaofei browses for
furniture with a friend on a chilly weekday morning. Huang, 26, is from rural Central China and works as
a massage therapist.
"When I was young, I didn't know anything of elephant ivory," Huang says as he wanders past vendors
who have laid out their wares on blankets, everything from Mao's Little Red Book to Chinese scrolls.
But as Huang grew up, he saw things that got him thinking.
"From documentaries and Discovery Channel, I learned about elephants," he continues. "They are
beautiful, graceful and very protective of their families. Seeing elephants killed really hurts me
emotionally."
Huang has seen the Yao Ming ads and finds them affecting as well. He says it seems such a waste to
kill these extraordinary creatures for their tusks. Now, a key to protecting elephants is to get more
people in China to start thinking the same way.
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Deputy: Take shark fin off official menus|2012 NPC and CPPC...
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-03/05/content_14752...
Home / China Daily / 2012 NPC and CPPCC
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Deputy: Take shark fin off official menus
Updated: 2012-03-05 08:09
By Jin Zhu and Gao Changxin (China Daily)
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A restaurant owner shows raw shark fin served in his restaurant in
Taiyuan, Shanxi province, on Dec 29, 2011. He declared on Dec 27 on
his micro blog that he would cease serving shark fin in his restaurant.
And due to his huge stock of shark fin, he is inviting customers to try
it for free. Zhang Yun / China News Service
Ban would help save species from extinction
BEIJING - A National People's Congress deputy has called on the central government to take
shark fin off the menu at official banquets to help save the lives of up to 100 millions sharks
slaughtered every year.
"I suggest the central government bans the consumption of shark fin at banquets at all levels, as
part of efforts to save the species from extinction," said Guo Guangchang, an NPC deputy from
Shanghai and chairman of Fosun International Ltd, one of China's largest conglomerates.
The campaign was initiated last year by basketball legend Yao Ming, who said "there is no
reasonable explanation for the cruelty".
Specials
Many restaurants and hotels have already followed suit and taken shark fin off their menus.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, which owns The Peninsula Hotels, has stopped serving the
dish since Jan 1, saying its decision was made "in recognition of the threat facing the global
shark population".
Swissotel Beijing, a five-star hotel, stopped serving shark fin last November.
Vice-Premier visits
Russia, Europe
China's obsession over
giant statues
more
Guo proposed that State Council draft the world's first national regulation on consumption of
shark fin.
Shark fin soup, considered a delicacy, is widely served at top-class restaurants throughout
China.
To meet this demand, between 70 and 100 million sharks are slaughtered annually for their fins,
putting the species at grave risk of extinction, Guo said.
His proposed regulation would ban government and military agencies from consuming shark fin
at official banquets. And the government should do more to let the public know that shark fins
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Heated arguments circle proposed shark fin ban - China.org.cn
http://www.china.org.cn/china/NPC_CPPCC_2012/2012-03/05...
Heated arguments circle proposed shark fin ban
Is it a sin to eat shark fin? The question has become an improbable issue after China's top political advisory body
opened its annual session on Saturday.
Before the session, Yu Minhong, a national political advisor and chairman of private education firm New Oriental,
endorsed a proposal by his fellow political advisor and entrepreneur Wan Jie to ban shark fin in government
banquets.
Yet his endorsement was not well-received on the Internet. He told Xinhua, "Criticism on the Web nearly killed me.
People are saying political advisors are ignoring the life and death of the people, while concerning themselves with
that of sharks.
"But I don't see a problem here. Besides caring about people's livelihoods, we should also pay attention to the issues
of environmental protection, the world and climate," he said.
Joining Yu's ranks is another political advisor, Han Meilin, the celebrated artist who acted as chief designer of the
Beijing Olympics mascots.
"Just like eating bear bile powder, eating shark fin is no good for the body. Besides, the act itself disrupts the
balance of nature," he said.
Shark fin soup, considered a delicacy and a symbol of social status, is served at mostly exclusive restaurants
throughout China. Moveover, a widespread belief that shark fin is of great nutritional value has only helped with its
fame.
Yu said he has not eaten shark fin for years and, contrary to popular belief, the substance is low in nutrition.
According to WildAid, a wild animal conservation organization, up to 70 million sharks are slain annually for their
fins, which has put at least 17 percent of known species of shark and manta on the verge of extinction.
It said the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong have been among the biggest importers of shark fin for years. So far,
no legislation has been introduced in China to ban the practice.
Some think legislation should start with banning the product's use in government banquets. Wan Jie and Ding
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Heated arguments circle proposed shark fin ban - China.org.cn
http://www.china.org.cn/china/NPC_CPPCC_2012/2012-03/05...
Liguo, a national legislator, are proposing such a ban this year.
It is thought that the government's prohibiting the consumption of shark fin would promote an environmentally
friendly lifestyle and encourage businesses to follow similar lines.
National political advisors and legislators are in Beijing to attend the annual full sessions of the country's political
advisory and legislative bodies.
During last year's sessions, Wan Jie submitted a proposal that the trade in shark fin be banned. He said his new
proposal is more specific, pinpointing a ban on shark fin in government banquets at a time when the government is
working to trim its expenses on government receptions, official vehicles and travels abroad.
Some hotels and restaurants in China have already stopped serving shark-fin soups, one of the latest being the
Jinling Hotel in Nanjing, which announced the move on its official microblog.
Back Print
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6
Video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong stre...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111690/Video-shows-...
Shocking video shows thousands of shark
fins dumped on Hong Kong street to supply
dubious soup industry
By Emma Reynolds
UPDATED: 17:29 EST, 7 March 2012
Shark fin soup is a popular delicacy served as a status symbol by many of the rich in Asia, especially
urban China.
But the broth is made through the cruel practice of hacking off a live shark's fin and then tossing the
animal back overboard to drown.
This eye-opening video shows what happens next in the dubious industry - which is illegal in many
countries - as thousands of fins are dumped on a street in Hong Kong.
Scroll down for video
Hacked off: Fins cut from live sharks litter a street in Hong Kong ahead of being made
into the sought-after broth
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7
Video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong stre...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111690/Video-shows-...
Lucrative: This eye-opening video shows men collecting the thousands of fins from the
pavement to sell for up to $600 a pound
High demand: Shark finning is becoming more common with the increase in China's
wealthy citizens, who serve the special soup at celebrations.
They were left on the pavement in Sheung Wan for airing and sorting, according to filmmaker Gary
Stokes, who posted the 'disgraceful' footage on Vimeo.
Men and women then hastily stuff the fins into baskets, laughing and shaking their heads at the
2 of 9
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8
Video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong stre...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111690/Video-shows-...
questions put to them in English about their lucrative industry.
Shark finning is becoming more common with the increase in China's wealthy citizens, who believe the
soup has medicinal benefits and serve it at celebrations.
The fins can fetch up to $600 (£380) a pound, with a bowl of soup having been priced at as much as
£108. The business is causing the death of up to 100million sharks every year.
'Medicinal benefits': Shark fin soup, a delicacy among the rich in China
Finning takes place off every the coast of every continent, in particular in poorer countries that do not
have the resources to monitor and prosecute shark hunters.
Countries with anti shark finning laws include the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Namibia, South Africa and the
European Union, while Hawaii recently outlawed the sale of shark fin soup.
Various celebrities are now making a stand against finning.
Last year, Gordon Ramsey called the shark trade ‘cruel’, ‘sick’, ‘tragic’, ‘barbaric’, ‘wasteful’ and ‘out of
control’.
The celebrity chef’s Channel 4 documentary, Shark Bait followed the sharks dying in horrific
circumstances - ‘surgically separated’ from their fins with a machete, before being tossed back into the
ocean, as the meat on the body is far less valuable.
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7/23/12 1:07 PM
9
Video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong stre...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111690/Video-shows-...
Heavy price: A bowl of soup can cost as much as £108, with the business is causing the
death of up to 100million sharks every year
Unpleasant death: The sharks are killed in horrific circumstances - 'surgically separated'
from their fins with a machete, before being tossed back into the ocean
4 of 9
7/23/12 1:07 PM
10
Video shows thousands of shark fins dumped on Hong Kong stre...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111690/Video-shows-...
Speaking out: Celebrities have taken a stand against the practice and commenters
labelled it 'barbaric and shameful'
But two weeks later the chef was accused of being a hypocrite, as footage emerged that appeared to
show a bronzed Ramsey reeling in a seven-foot bull shark.
U.S. actress Bo Derek wants to ban the selling, trading or possessing of fins and said finning has
created a global environmental crisis in which shark stocks could be wiped out in one generation.
Actress January Jones was recently awarded for her commitment to sharks by Oceana, and NBA star
Yao Ming, the 7ft 6in Chinese mega-celebrity, swore off the expensive delicacy back in 2006.
One commenter wrote under the video: 'To slaughter sharks is genocide for sharks and the eco-system
= all of us. This industry is barbaric and shameful for anyone involved.'
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Hotels should lead when it comes to fishy business
http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/13810-hotels-should-lead-...
Hotels should lead when it comes to fishy business
Charlie Lyon, March 15th, 2012
I wasn’t surprised when a colleague, new to Dubai from
the UK, plumped for the exotic-sounding hamour on
the menu of a restaurant we were visiting recently. I
squirmed and told my conscience to pipe down, before
blurting out facts about dwindling resources and
unsustainable fishing, boring myself as well as him as I
blathered on.
So Shangri-La’s new Sustainable Seafood Policy comes as
welcome relief – somewhere to dine where the menu can
act as ethical police, and I can let colleagues eat in peace.
The new policy includes the ban of shark fin in all its operated restaurants, a cease of shark fin orders in all
new banqueting requests, as well as a commitment to phasing out bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass in all its
operated restaurants within the year.
Great news, but I wonder why it took so long? Back in 2008, Shangri-La Abu Dhabi took shark fin soup off its
menus following a decree limiting shark hunting in Emirates waters, and the group announced it was reviewing
the removal of the soup from its other hotels.
Now, nearly four years on, they’ve finally decided to act. It’s inspiring that such a prominent Asian brand is
implementing corporate responsibility policies, but why does it have to wait for customer demand and culinary
and cultural preferences to change first?
After Yao Ming, Chinese basketball star and WildAid international ambassador, spoke out against shark fin
soup, could serving it have finally become bad for business? Large hotel groups and restaurant chains should
be leading consumer education and changing habits, not waiting for consumers’ habits to change first.
Charlie Lyon
Caterer Middle East editor
[email protected]
©2012 ITP Business Publishing Ltd. | Use of this site content constitutes acceptance of our User Policy, Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.
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In conversation with the Shark Fin Godfather « Frank Pope
http://frankpope.co.uk/2012/03/15/in-conversation-with-the-sha...
March 15, 2012
In conversation with the Shark Fin Godfather
By Frank Pope
Yesterday I had the most extraordinary conversation with a man who’s a guiding influence on
the fate of the remains of our wild planet. Unfortunately it’s not a good influence.
I did a story on him in today’s Times, but the amount of space available really couldn’t do
justice to the wonder that is Dr Giam Choo-Hoo. Dr Giam is a member of the UN committee
that advises nations on whether or not to control – or in some cases ban – the trade in
endangered species. In that role he’s supposed to use his expertise to give scientific guidance,
but Dr Giam’s got a different take on what the job’s about.
“I’m elected by the Asian region I will tend to want to help them out where I can,” he told me.
And he went on to say that because Shark fin Soup is the number one most prestigious thing to
serve at a big event in China, Chinese people do not want it banned, and therefore he
campaigns for that result.
The UN’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is pretty clear that
members of the Animals Committee do not represent their region but should be selected as
individual experts, but that doesn’t bother Dr Giam. Why not? Because CITES, unlike any
other multilateral environmental convention like the WHO or FAO, does not have any rules
against conflicts of interest.
When I put this oddity to Dr Giam he scoffed. “There is no such thing as a person without an
agenda. We’ve all got an agenda.”
True enough. But you need to be sure that everyone has declared those agendas, right? Not
according to Dr Giam. I asked him about his links to the Shark Fin & Marine Products
Association (recently rebranded the Marine Products Association) and curiously he didn’t
want to either confirm or deny. He wouldn’t even talk about the crocodile skin trading outfit
he’s on the board of (Heng Long International). He likened it to my asking him if he was
divorced, or how many children he had.
As a result, the good doctor did not dispute it when I asked if his long-running campaign
of technicalities, procedural complaints and stalling for time had been designed to keep sharks
off the CITES listings. (Bear in mind that at the most recent Conference of Parties in 2010, the
proposal was to monitor the trade in four new types of shark not ban it.) It’s par for the course,
according to him.
“You’re going round and round,” Dr Giam complains as I circle back once more to discover if
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In conversation with the Shark Fin Godfather « Frank Pope
http://frankpope.co.uk/2012/03/15/in-conversation-with-the-sha...
he’s really serious, that we should accept his ‘scientific advice’ without being told of his
professional interests and affiliations.
But the prize for circular thinking goes to the vet from Singapore.
“Based on CITES itself only one shark is endangered and that is the sawfish,” Dr Giam tells
me. ” The rest are not endangered so of the rest anybody can eat anything they want of any
species they want. “
IUCN and its Red List, probably the world’s most respected inventory of wildlife endangered
by man, is not to be trusted he says, because it is at heart an NGO. They list 68 species that are
endangered or critically endangered, fourteen of which are regularly found in shark fin soup.
But Dr Giam prefers to trust in the decisions of CITES, the very body whose decisions he has
campaigned to pervert.
Neither the CITES secretariat or any other sane marine scientist will pretend that the CITES
appendices are a definitive listing of which species are endangered, but apparently it suits Dr
Giam’s agenda (private though that may be).
I could go on – in fact I might even post the whole interview if anyone’s interested – but I think
the staggering point here is not that Dr Giam is trying to keep shark fin trading entirely
unrestricted in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that it is on the verge of causing
the extinctions of several species. After all, though he might not confirm (or indeed deny) it to
me, Dr Giam has on occasion introduced himself as a representative of the shark fin industry
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/is-the-shark-fin-ban-culturallybiased/2012/02/21/gIQAbIj9SR_blog.html).
No, the bit that takes my breath away is UN representatives to CITES from around the world –
including the EU and the US – recently agreed not to implement even the slightest of rules
about declaring conflicts of interest. The secretary-general of CITES John Scanlon sounded
genuinely concerned when he told me how his secretariat had suggested that such rules be put
in place (rightly worried about the credibility of the convention, presumably). But the Standing
Committee had thought it unnecessary.
“It was a consensus decision. No-one expressed a contrary view,” he said.
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‘Nikita’: Maggie Q on Mikita, Season 3 and the Amanda show...
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'Nikita': Maggie Q on Mikita, Season 3 and the Amanda
showdown
By Jenna Busch
March 16, 2012 6:15 PM ET
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"Nikita" is back with an all new
episode on Friday (Mar. 16) and we got
a chance to chat with the wonderful
Maggie Q. This lady does it all. She
fights, she acts and she donates a ton
of her time to saving animals. (Right
now she's working with WildAid.org to
help save tigers, polar bears, sharks,
elephants and whales!) Maggie gave
us a sneak peek at what's coming for
Mikita, the possibility of Season 3 and
the big showdown with Amanda
(Melinda Clarke).
Q gave us a tease of what's coming in
the new episode, saying, "Nikita finds
out that her friend is, in fact, alive.
Which is a huge relief obviously. And
then the big trade that happens with
Percy (Xander Berkeley). The way I
would solve the next episode is
comings and goings. I would say Nikita
gets a huge gift and she also loses
something very big."
If they get a Season 3 pickup, Q tells
us what she'd like to see happen to
Nikita. "In season 3, I would hope that
after season 2 there would be not
demons that are taken care of, but
demons that at least are recognized,"
she said. "You know in the first in
healing or getting better is obviously
1 of 5
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‘Nikita’: Maggie Q on Mikita, Season 3 and the Amanda show...
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/03/nikita-maggie...
number one you have to recognize the problem. You have to find what your truth is, which is
what Nikita is gonna do in Season one."
Everyone wants to know about Mikita, of course and Q tells us that Michael (Shane West) is
going to act like a typical guy. Tell us if this sounds familiar to you, ladies. "You're going to
see him do the 'guy thing' where he does the right thing or does right by her, or puts her first
in the big picture, or in the broad picture, but not really saying the thing that he needs to say
to her for her to actually be at ease -- guys always do that. Guys always go 'But I did this,
and you should know.' And it's like no, we wanna hear it."
Q also says that not only are we getting an Amanda/Nikita showdown, but that we're going to
have some flashbacks that will show a more human side of Nikita's foe. We're also going to
get a look at why she and Nikita were close at one time.
"Nikita" airs Friday nights on The CW.
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7/23/12 1:12 PM
16
Shark Finning - The Big Picture of a Big Problem: Endangered...
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/endangered-species/shark-fin...
Animal Planet > Guides > Endangered Species
Shark Finning - The Big Picture of a Big Problem
by Jaymi Heimbuch
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Watch maritime crews off the coast of New Zealand fight poachers and other wrongdoers on the high seas in an
exciting new season of Coastwatch, premiering Fridays at 8/7c on Planet Green.
Shark finning is a brutal practice. A shark is caught, pulled onboard a boat, its fins are cut off, and the still-living
shark is tossed back overboard to drown or bleed to death. The wasteful, inhumane practice is done to satisfy a
demand for shark fins, which can fetch as much as $300 per pound. The meat, on the other hand, is far less
valuable, so fishermen toss it overboard to save space for more fins.
Not only is it an intensely wasteful and harmful practice, it's also essentially pointless since shark fins have no
nutritional or medicinal value. And they're practically flavorless. Yet, finning continues, to the point that these
Sharks on the brink Photo by Erik Charlton
DCL
INFORMATION, PETITIONS, AND ACTIVISM
animals so vital to the ecological balance of our oceans are about to be wiped out completely.
WATCH VIDEO: Explore the Future of Sharks
Discovery's Shark Week
What's So Great About Shark Fins?
Stop Shark Finning
Really, nothing. They have no nutritional value and are practically tasteless. When it comes to shark fin soup, all
the flavor comes from the broth. The fins are added just for texture and novelty. The shark fin is merely a status
symbol and a mark of tradition.
Still, shark fin soup is part of Asian culture, particularly in China, as a meal eaten during celebrations among the wealthy. But with China's economy rapidly growing,
more people can afford to buy this symbol of a luxurious life and the demand for shark fins is increasing. Unfortunately, it is increasing in conjunction with a serious
decrease in shark populations globally.
How Serious A Threat is Shark Finning?
Finning is responsible for the death of between 88 million to 100 million sharks every year. Exact numbers are unknown because the practice is illegal in many
places and hauls aren't accurately counted. Because sharks are at the top of the food chain and have few predators, they reproduce and mature slowly. That means
their numbers are slow to replenish when a population is overfished. At the rate humans are going, we're set to wipe out sharks entirely in as little as 10-20 years.
[b]Sharks: A Bleak Future Ahead (Slideshow)
What Happens If Sharks Die Out?
Sharks are an apex predator. Apex predators are invaluable for keeping the populations of everything else in the food chain in balance. The oceans depend on them
to keep the numbers of other fish and mammal species in check and weed out the sick, injured and dying so that populations of fish stay strong and healthy. Without
sharks -- from bottom feeders all the way up to Great Whites -- the balance of the ocean's food chain is in danger.
This is not just a guessing game, either. We've already seen the impact a loss of sharks can have on an ecosystem. According to Shark Savers, a scientific study
conducted in the mid-Atlantic part of the United States showed that when 11 species of sharks were nearly eliminated, 12 of the 14 species those sharks once fed on
became so plentiful that they damaged the ecosystem, including wiping out the species farther down the food chain on which they preyed. The negative effects
trickle out as the ecosystem gets thrown out of balance.
Activists Working to Stop Shark Finning
Everyone from celebrities like Yao Ming to politicians like John Kerry all add their voices to the fight against shark finning. But while their help gets the issue into the
public eye, activists at the docks are going a world of good exposing fishing practices and markets that bolster shark finning. Randall Arauz won a Goldman
Environmental Prize for his work in showing the extent of the damage done to shark populations on Costa Rica and getting policies changed that favor sharks, at
least to some extent.
The real activism comes with ending a market for shark fins -- something incredibly difficult to do since shark fin soup is an embedded part of Chinese culture
worldwide.
Are There Laws Against Shark Finning?
There are some laws in some areas worldwide, but ultimately, they're incredibly difficult to enforce.
The 2000 U.S. Shark Finning Prohibition Act restricts shark finning in all federal waters and both coasts. It also calls for an international effort to ban shark finning
globally. The first international ban on finning was instated in 2004 with sponsorship from the United States, the European community, Canada, Japan, Mexico,
Panama, South Africa, Trinidad (Tobago) and Venezuela, and support from Brazil, Namibia and Uruguay. This international ban, however, has proven to be more
1 of 3
7/23/12 1:15 PM
17
Shark Finning - The Big Picture of a Big Problem: Endangered...
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/endangered-species/shark-fin...
posturing than action since only the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Namibia, South Africa and the European Union (EU) have actual laws in place.
Much of the problem surrounding laws with shark finning is enforcement. If a country sees fit to create a law, they have to then somehow come up with the resources
to monitor the oceans over which they have jurisdiction, and to punish those who break the law. Some countries just simply don't have the resources.
Beyond the shores, laws can help by curbing access to the fins that are sold. For instance, Hawaii has outlawed selling shark fin soup. Difficulty in getting the soup
decreases demand, which decreases the selling price and makes finning less attractive of an option to fishermen. But again, the product is such an embedded part
of Asian culture that decreasing demand is about as difficult as monitoring all the fishing boats on the ocean. Not impossible, but difficult.
Arauz stated, "Shark finning is not only cruel, it is irresponsible and unsustainable fishing at its highest degree. In spite of this, it has been close to impossible to
attain any international binding management and conservation measures to curtail this practice."
Learn More and Take Action Against Shark Finning
Follow Jaymi on Twitter for more stories like this
INFORMATION, PETITIONS, AND ACTIVISM
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7/23/12 1:15 PM
18
Pierce Brosnan And Larry King To Attend A Wild Night For Ch...
http://www.looktothestars.org/news/8074-pierce-brosnan-and-la...
WildAid
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March 22, 2012
Pierce Brosnan, Bo Derek, Li Bing Bing and Larry King will all appear as presenters at this year’s A
Wild Night – A Benefit for WildAid – event in May.
The event will honor internet pioneer James H. Clark for his generous support of multiple wildlife and
marine organizations through the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation. He has also donated his time
as a board member, advisor and volunteer to many non-profits. He has also been a major funder and
producer of several special projects, initiatives and films such as the award winning film about
dolphins, The Cove. Also being honored with a leadership award at the event is Google Earth, for its
ground-breaking use of technology in the advancement of conservation.
The event will feature a reception, dinner with a focus on local and organic foods, and auction. The
Honorary Committee includes Richard Branson, Jackie Chan, Minnie Driver, Harrison Ford, Daryl
Hannah, Ang Lee, Yao Ming, Edward Norton and Shauna Robertson.
The A Wild Night event takes place on May 11 at Terra, 511 Harrison St, San Francisco. More
information can be found here.
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2 of 7
7/23/12 1:16 PM
19
Athletes and Celebrities to Enjoy ‘A Wild Night’ for WildAid | ...
http://www.athlebrities.com/2012/03/23/athletes-and-celebrities-...
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Athletes and Celebrities to Enjoy ‘A Wild Night’ for WildAid
Published March 23, 2012 | By Delinda
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Celebrities and athletes are planning on ‘A Wild Night’ in San Francisco, May 11 at Terra, 511
Harrison St, San Francisco.
“NBA All-Stars”, Pierce Brosnan, Bo Derek, Li Bing Bing, and Larry King will appear as presenters
during this year’s A Wild Night – A Benefit for WildAid.
The event will honor internet pioneer James H. Clark for his generous support of multiple wildlife and
marine organizations through the James H. Clark Charitable Foundation. Generous support is an
understatement…he has also been a major funder and producer of several special projects, initiatives
and films such as the award winning film about dolphins, The Cove.
1 of 4
7/23/12 1:16 PM
20
Athletes and Celebrities to Enjoy ‘A Wild Night’ for WildAid | ...
http://www.athlebrities.com/2012/03/23/athletes-and-celebrities-...
WildAids list of celebrity-athlete ambassadors includes Athlebrity favorites: Yao Ming, Carmelo
Anthony, Amanda Beard and Leonardo DiCaprio among others.
The Honorary Committee includes Richard Branson, Jackie Chan, Minnie Driver, Harrison Ford,
Daryl Hannah, Ang Lee, Yao Ming, Edward Norton and Shauna Robertson. Not involved but should
be: Eric and Donald Trump Jr. who cowardly hid behind an African-custom as an excuse for being
unethical.
And yes, you are correct to assume that if Delinda were invited into the event and came across
Carmelo Anthony, the encounter would look like something from a page in Lennette Newell’s
portfolio…speaking of body painting-there seems to be a dire shortage of MEN posing in body-paint,
therefore, we ask that WildAid rally the “NBA All Stars” for a new campaign?
WildAid’s mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes by reducing demand through
public awareness campaigns and providing comprehensive marine protection. You may already know
them for their amazing work to ban shark fin soup? MORE INFO HERE
As always, thanks for reading~
[email protected]
*Note: Athlebrities™ is NOT associated with E! Entertainment Television’s on-line sports section.
Posted in Celebrity Athlete Charity Events, Celebrity Athletes | Tagged Ang Lee, athlebrities, athletes,
Carmelo Anthony, celebrities, Daryl Hannah, Edward Norton, Harrison Ford, Jackie Chan, James H.
Clark Charitable Foundation, leonardo dicaprio, Minnie Driver, NBA All Stars, richard branson,
Shark Fin, WildAid, Yao Ming
Comments are closed.
Delinda Lombardo
Athlebrities
Athlebrities #Sunset
#SanDiego #Amazing
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Athlebrities @MoreMediaHits
2 of 4
7/23/12 1:16 PM
21
irishtimes.com - Then & Now - Sat, Mar 24, 2012
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2012/0324/12...
Then & Now
KEVIN COURTNEY
Sat, Mar 24, 2012
Bo Derek, actor
IN 1979, SCIENTISTS identified a major factor in the rise of global warming. No, it wasn’t the hole
in the ozone layer. It was the sight of bronzed bikini beauty Bo Derek running along a beach in slo-mo
that sent temperatures soaring in cinemas around the globe.
The movie was Blake Edwards’ 10, starring Dudley Moore as a dissatisfied married man, and Derek
as the titular 10. On a scale of one to 10, male moviegoers voted Bo top film totty, while women
rushed to their hairdressers to get the Bo Derek cornrow hairstyle.
These days, however, Bo Derek’s attention has turned from sun-drenched beaches to melting ice-floes,
as she tries to combat the effects of global warming on the world’s polar bear population. She’s joined
forces with Richard Branson to try and save Canada’s 20,000 polar bears, as part of an organisation
called WildAid.
Last week, the pair made a much-publicised appearance in Toronto to announce their campaign;
they’re also campaigning to stop the hunting of sharks to make shark-fin soup.
Bo Derek is of course no danger to nature, red in tooth and claw. She appeared au naturel in the
soft-core film Fantasies, and had a small part in Orca, a Jaws-style B-movie about a vengeful killer
whale. She was also the scantily-clad prey of another wild jungle creature in Tarzan – the Ape Man.
Her book, Riding Lessons, tells of her passion for horse riding and breeding.
She was born Mary Cathleen Collins in California, a perfect mix of Irish, German and Dutch. She met
actor/director John Derek when she was just 16 – he was 30 years her senior – and they began an
affair (he was married to actress Linda Gray and had been married to another bikini sex symbol,
Ursula Andress).
The couple married when she was 18, and remained together until his death in 1998 aged 73. She met
actor John Corbett at an Oscars party in 2002, and the couple recently celebrated their 10th
anniversary – by stepping out to an Oscars party.
In 2000, Bo came out as a conservative, campaigning for GeorgeW Bush in the 2000 US presidential
elections, but her current wildlife campaign brings her closer to Al Gore territory.
“Right now there’s such a debate on climate change over who is responsible, the science of it,” she
told CTV in Canada. “There’s a lot of work to be done and I realise that. But in the meantime we must
save polar bears and sharks.”
1 of 2
7/23/12 3:39 PM
22
Not a Normal Killing | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog N...
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/03/26/not-...
Permanent Address: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/03/26/not-a-normal-killing/
Not a Normal Killing
By Rachel Nuwer | March 26, 2012
Reeking of infection,
the elephant stumbled
into the Tanzanian
camp where Thomas
Appleby works as a
safari manager. Its
back legs festered with
gangrene radiating
ADVERTISEMENT
from the open,
A rhino poached for its horn in Zimbabwe. Credit: Anti-poaching Unit, Zimbabwe
pungent wounds that
the animal had
evidently endured for
at least two long weeks. Ivory poachers had shot the elephant in
both legs, but it had probably bolted before they could subdue the
massive beast enough to hack off its tusks. The infection had slowly
spread throughout the animal’s limbs, and Appleby had to put it
down.
“The poor thing, it completely tore my heart out,” Appleby said. “We are losing thousands—and I mean thousands—of iconic animals
because of some kind of rapacious hunger from far off countries.”
The ivory poachers who shot Appleby’s elephant were most likely African, but their orders probably came from thousands of miles
away—from China or Vietnam. In many parts of Asia, traditional Chinese medicine, a taste for wildmeat, a desire to display pricey horn
and ivory trophies, and a lust for rare pets have merged into a cultural infatuation with wildlife consumption.
This voracity is taking its toll. The World Wildlife Fund declared the Javan rhino to be extinct in Vietnam in September. The Western
black rhino was declared extinct in the wild in November. The Sumatran rhino is almost certainly now extinct in Thailand. Between
January and October 2010, South Africa lost 230 rhinos to poaching—on average, one every 30 hours. Last year, South Africa lost a
record 443 rhinos.
In Asia, tigers are in a worse state than ever; fewer than 3,500 now live in the wild, occupying less than 7 percent of their historic range.
“With the tiger, we are witnessing the tragic winking out of one of the planet’s most beloved animals,” wrote Elizabeth Bennett, the vice
president for species conservation for the non-governmental Wildlife Conservation Society, in the journal Oryx.
The world is in the midst of a global extinction crisis primarily driven by illegal hunting for highly valuable animal body parts. Having
largely emptied its own jungles of furry, scaly, and feathery creatures, Asia’s thirst for exotic blood, bile, and bones has turned to the
African continent. The Far East’s middle class is becoming more affluent; it is no coincidence that poaching on the African continent has
spiked in recent years, as more and more people are able to afford luxury goods like ivory or exotic pets.
“With this demand spreading to Africa, it’s only a matter of time before we see populations of animals in Africa start to decline in a
similar manner to Asia,” said Chris Shepherd, the Southeast Asia deputy regional director of the non-governmental organization
TRAFFIC that deals with illegal wildlife trade. Shepherd doesn’t think Asia’s demand will stop with Africa, either. Once the animals are
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Not a Normal Killing | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog N...
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depleted there, if nothing is done, “it’ll just keep spreading and spreading until nothing’s left,” he said.
Shepherd is part of a group of increasingly desperate conservationists who deal with these statistics on a day-to-day basis. He witnesses
illegal Madagascan tortoises openly displayed in Jakarta pet markets, despite Indonesian legislation that bans their trade. He deals
with the logistical nightmare of sorting out 2,800 pounds of African ivory seized in Vietnam in a single week. On the worst days, he and
his colleagues must draft the public extinction notices when another animal succumbs forever to the trade. Despite the scale of these
crimes, politicians and the public are all too complacent. “We’re losing all of our wildlife, and people are just sitting back and letting it
happen,” Shepherd says.
A cultural palate
The trade link between Asia and Africa is not new. Ivory, rhino horn, and other wildlife products have for years found their way into the
Asian market. In the 1980s, Japan was what China is today in terms of wildlife exploitation. Japan was the largest importer of sea
turtles, reptile skins, and fur coats, but as the leading importer of ivory—mostly used to fashion intricate seals for stamping official
documents—the country drew huge criticism from the international community when African elephant populations began to collapse.
In 1989, the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) banned ivory trade. This event marked an
important milestone for Japan, and the government decided to play by the international rules and crack down on contraband trade.
“Apart from whales and marine issues, Japan is acting rather responsibly on most aspects of the wildlife trade today,” said Tom
Milliken, the elephant and rhino program leader for TRAFFIC.
Today, China has assumed the paramount role as the driver behind
most wildlife trade, Milliken says, with countries like Vietnam and
Thailand also coming on strong. And this demand is increasing on a
seemingly exponential scale.
In Vietnam, wealthy businessmen and government officials show off
by taking colleagues out for expensive feasts of rare wildmeat,
dining on stews of endangered pangolin fetuses or barbeque spreads
of threatened civets. In China, products like tiger bone and bear bile
are regarded as potent disease cures and virility boosters. Wealthy
households also value sculptures; an ivory carving is seen as a status
symbol not available to the masses. In Indonesia and Thailand,
collecting highly endangered pet tortoises is all the rage, with a
single animal sometimes costing several thousand dollars.
Accessing these exorbitant products “is a way of showing that you
have expendable income and you can spend it on things that bring
status to you as an individual,” Milliken said.
Ivory carving confiscated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Credit Rachel Nuwer
Centuries-old Asian values and beliefs are embedded in wildlife products, especially with regards to traditional Chinese medicine, a
practice with more than 3,000 years of cultural history. “It’s a different medicinal system and philosophy,” Bennett said. Rather than
rely on scientifically based studies to measure drug efficacy, she explained, traditional Chinese medicine considers “more the spirit of
animals and long-term holistic views of what we are and the energy of us.”
Vietnam also heavily relies on this system of medicine. Rumor has
it, in 2006 a high-ranking Vietnamese official announced that rhino
horn had cured his liver cancer. Regardless of the rumor’s origins,
Shepherd says the number of rhino horns now imported into
Vietnam is “incredible.” Needless to say, rhino horn does not cure
cancer—it has about the same medicinal value as chewing on your
own fingernails, according to several studies. But prices have
skyrocketed: the horn’s market value exceeds its weight in gold, and
people will do just about anything to get their hands on the stuff.
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Not a Normal Killing | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog N...
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/03/26/not-...
“That’s going to be very hard to stop,” Bennett said, “If you or you
child has liver cancer, you’re going to do anything you can to try and
cure them.”
A traditional Chinese medicine shop in Beijing. Credit: Rachel Nuwer
All this demand has taken a toll on Asia’s own animal populations.
With the Javan rhino now extinct in Vietnam—the last lonely female
found in a heap in Cat Tien National Park, her horn hacked off—conservationists think only 40 of the animals are left in the world.
Tigers, which 15 years ago were frequently seen in Nakai-Nam Theun in Laos, are now extinct in that region, too. The same dismal story
can be told throughout Asia, both for large charismatic animals and lesser-known species, like the shy pangolin and chirping Tokay
gecko. The forests are emptying of animals.
Africa, thanks to a high Asian presence and lax laws, is now the new frontier for obtaining wildlife. Lion bones are shipped to China in
lieu of tiger, African pangolin hides are hidden in cargo bound for Vietnam, and elephant and rhino products are leaving the continent
in the tons.
Milliken and his wife, who is Japanese, have lived in Africa for 21 years. “Africa’s never seen as many Asians on this continent as there
are today,” he said. In their Zimbabwe town, Milliken’s wife is inevitably greeted with a perky “Ni hao!” — Chinese for “hello.” Every
community has at least one Chinese restaurant, Milliken says, and the town where he lives now has about ten.
This growing Asian influence is “bringing disaster to us” in Tanzania, said Alfred Kikoti, a research scientist with that country’s World
Elephant Center. Over his lifetime, Kikoti has witnessed the change in poaching trends brought on by Asian demand. “This killing is not
a normal one,” he said, “In the past poachers were selective, but now no more—they kill whole elephant families and take even the
tiniest ivory.” The high demand for ivory motivates the poachers to kill quickly and indiscriminately. Kikoti believes that, at this rate,
elephants will largely disappear from the African continent within five years.
The new poacher
This distinction—hunting for subsistence versus hunting for
trade—has caused some confusion in the conservation and
development communities. “This is organized crime, its about big
money,” Bennett said, “it’s not about poverty and a source of income
for poor rural people living next to wild areas.”
Though bushmeat can be found locally for sale around Africa, it’s
“just a source of well-needed protein for impoverished people,”
Appleby said. Unlike Asia, where medicinal and hierarchical
significance is placed on consumption of wildlife parts, in Africa it
may simply be cheaper to go into the forest and shoot a monkey
than raise a cow. When Appleby asked his Swahili partners whether
or not they prefer beef or wild buffalo, they opted for beef.
At the safari park, Appleby has noticed the change. When he first
Concealed ivory confiscated in the Brussels airport. The ivory was being smuggled out
of West Africa, bound for Asia. Credit: Belgium Customs
came to Africa in 1998, the only elephant carcasses he came across
died from natural causes and still had their ivory. But now the
bodies turn up at least monthly, always missing their tusks. Several
weeks ago, Appleby came across three elephant carcasses—riddled with bullets and stripped of their tusks—near a water hole only about
two miles from the reserve’s main entrance.
In South Africa, where rhino poaching is most common, the feeling on the ground is similar. “If you see a dead rhino with its horn
hacked off 30 times in a year, you just absolutely start losing faith,” said Milliken, who works all over the continent.
Milliken’s investigations recently took him to Gauteng, South Africa, to analyze samples from what appears to be the largest Asian
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Not a Normal Killing | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog N...
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seizure in the past 10 years: 33 rhino horns, 758 ivory chopsticks and 127 ivory bracelets. The goods were concealed inside a container
shipped to Hong Kong from Cape Town, and Milliken hopes they can lend clues to the perpetrators’ identity. Matching DNA extracted
from the rhino horns to rhino database records could help the researchers figure out which individual animals were killed, narrowing
the scope of the investigation.
Legislation is in place to issue serious punishment to illegal wildlife
traffickers. All of the Asian countries partaking in the trade, including
China and Vietnam, are members of CITES, which emphasizes
international cooperation and provides thorough guidelines for
enforcing wildlife trade laws. Under Hong Kong’s Import and Export
Ordinance, anyone found guilty of importing un-manifested cargos
faces seven years imprisonment and fines up to US$257,000; anyone
guilty of importing endangered species for commercial purposes faces
two years imprisonment and US$642,000 in fines. In mainland
China, the death penalty used to be issued for people caught importing
large consignments of ivory, though those sentences were typically
suspended for good behavior and capital punishment no longer
applies to wildlife crimes.
A TRAFFIC investigator inspects part of the 1.4 tons of ivory seized in Malaysia
last December. Credit: Elizabeth John / TRAFFIC Southeast Asia
All too often, in Asia and Africa, criminals get away with their actions.
“Penalties are generally weak and loopholes are exploited,” Milliken
says. Judges in Africa allow foreign nationals out on bail—usually the
equivalent of a measly fraction of a rhino horn or elephant tusks’ value—only to find the criminals skip the country. When guilty parties
do make it to court, fines for wildlife crimes are readily paid, and again constitute a sum much less than the value of the wildlife
products for which they are being prosecuted.
When asked how much these body parts cost, Milliken declines even to say what the market value of the wildlife goods might be because
of the corrupting impact such information can have. Enforcement officers, upon finding out how much horns are worth, sometimes
seize the horns and then immediately go into negotiations with the criminals. When Milliken first got involved in conservation over 30
years ago, an Indonesian diplomat asked him for wildlife good prices. “You usually think we’re all on the same side, but the next thing I
realized, that person was directly involved in the trade,” he said, “It was a big wake-up call, let me tell you.” Milliken said the wildlife
goods have never been as valuable as they are now, and “that’s as good as it gets from me.”
South Africa recently bolstered rhino poaching and horn possession to a priority one crime, putting it on par with human trafficking and
murder. Across the country, 21 prosecutors are now dedicated exclusively to rhino crime. In June, a South African judge sentenced two
Vietnamese nationals to 8 and 12 years imprisonment for rhino poaching. The judge commented, “I want my grandchildren to be able to
see rhinos,” and warned that no leniency would be shown to anyone entering his court guilty of wildlife crimes. This case seems to be
isolated, though, and local South Africans often get much leaner sentences.
Even with the increased legal support, conservationists worry that it won’t be enough. Corruption runs rampant, rangers are
outnumbered, and multi-national cooperation is still largely lacking. “Despite improvements in the situation, we’re still struggling,”
Milliken said.
Inevitably, every large-scale seizure ends up without a successful arrest, prosecution, or conviction. Bennett suspects a vast global
network of players is involved in this trade, probably with a few head honchos calling most of the shots. Though Anson Wong, a
notorious Malaysian “kingpin” wildlife smuggler, was arrested about 17 months ago, he was released in February on good behavior. At
some point, the legal system usually fails, Milliken says.
“Right now, the traders are basically running circles around everyone,” Shepherd said. “They’re still winning the game.”
Doggie bags & call girls
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The means of procuring the animal parts vary by country. For elephants in East Africa, poor Africans are generally hired for small
sums—US$100 or so—to do the actual killing. Poachers take advantage of huge areas of wilderness left unpatrolled and bring several
clips of ammunition with them on their hunts. “As we speak, people are in the bush poaching elephants,” Kikoti said. “If rangers see
these guys, they’ll say wow—they’re not someone you can just attack. The rangers wind up running away.”
If a poacher is caught in Tanzania or Kenya, oftentimes he will spend just two or three weeks in jail because court systems are weak and
officials are easily bribed. Kikoti said this arrangement results in an “I’ll show you” mentality, with poachers returning to the field even
more determined to burn the rangers than before.
Bennett said more awareness training of prosecutors and judiciary officials is needed, because a good ranger may arrest someone but a
higher-ranking officer may not take the crime seriously and then let the perpetrator go. “It’s demoralizing and sends a message to the
poachers that they can get away with this,” she said.
In South Africa, where registered safari hunts are legal, criminals sometimes get more creative. Vietnamese traffickers pose as tourists
and register for hunts; sometimes, Thai businessmen have hired call girls to do their hunting for them. “They don’t know one end of a
gun from another,” Bennett said. “All they’re interested in are the horns.”
In South Africa, an “unholy alliance” is emerging between Vietnamese middlemen dealers, game ranchers and sports hunters, and
wildlife veterinarians, Milliken said. Rangers found a number of poached rhinos with crossbow arrows sticking out of them. Unlike
rifles, crossbows make no noise and so avoid drawing attention to the killing, but the only people in South Africa who are skilled bow
hunters are “white professional sports hunters who have gone to the dark side,” Milliken said. In other cases, traces of immobilization
drugs were found in rhinos’ post-mortem analyses, indicating that the animal was anesthetized and its horn hacked off while it was still
alive. Only wildlife veterinarians have access to such drugs, or the skills to administer them.
Once the illegal goods are in hand, the traffickers have many concealment tricks up
their sleeves. Airport authorities in Paris discovered Thailand-destined bags labeled
“dog food” full of pangolin scales, described Jaap Reijngoud, a Dutch wildlife
trafficking consultant who formerly worked as a CITES enforcement officer. Hidden
compartments in shipping containers contain frozen pangolins, bear paws, or ivory
and are overlaid with timber, fish, or plastic or computer scraps, he said. Shipping
containers are oftentimes destined for Malaysia, Thailand, or the Philippines, where
new stamps are put on them, and traces of their African origins disappear. This
subterfuge makes it easier for them to slip by customs authorities at their final
destination, usually Vietnam or China. False documents abound, too.
In one case, Reijngoud recalled, Belgian customs officials suspected a CITES
document on a Thailand-bound shipment from Guinea was false. They transferred
the package—packed full of pangolin hides—to officials in Thailand, where the box
was seized. When the Thai enforcement officers called the Guinea CITES
management authority, the officials said that the document was indeed valid, so the
Thai government surrendered the box to its intended recipient. But the Belgian
officials also called the Guinea office, and were told the opposite. The Guinea
authorities said that many of their CITES certificates had been stolen, and they
feared that criminal organizations were intercepting their phone calls to confirm
that the forged certificates were valid. “We’re dealing with a huge criminal
organization,” Reijngoud said.
A shipment of pangolin scales disguised as dog food intercepted
in France and destined for China. Credits French Customs
Where do we go from here?
Efforts are underway to combat this trade. In 1997, Milliken helped
establish the elephant trade information system mandated by
CITES. Governments around the world are required to submit data
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on elephant seizures, whether from a tourist returning from a trip to
Africa with ivory trinkets or from a commercial consignment of tons
of ivory. This reporting allows CITES authorities to piece together
illegal ivory trade dynamics, from source to destination.
When Milliken first analyzed the data in 2002, it clearly showed
that China had emerged as the world’s driver in illicit ivory trade.
“The Chinese government threw an absolute tantrum at the
meeting,” Milliken said, “They tried to suppress our presentation.”
Thanks to the shake-up, though, China began to scratch below the
surface on its own shores, and ivory seizures increased. In 2009,
China reported 733 cases of illegal ivory imports; in 2010, it was
A shipment of pangolin skins from Guinea bound for Thailand and seized at the
Belgian airport. Belgian authorities later found that the CITES document
635. On average, China makes two ivory seizures each day. Milliken
accompanying the hides was forged. Credit: Belgium Customs
now has over 17,000 records of ivory trafficking around the world.
The data show that, between 2004 and 2010, the upsurge in ivory trade has been uninterrupted.
In December, China further bolstered its commitment to the issue when the country’s endangered species of wild fauna and flora import
and export management office drafted a plan to implement CITES recommendations—including cooperation with African and
Southeast Asian countries and improved technology and training for enforcement officers—by 2015.
No one knows how large the trade really is; seizure figures almost certainly represent only a fraction of the total amount of trafficked
goods. Based on impounded caches and animals found dead in the field, Milliken estimated that 1,521 rhino horns were destined for
East Asia between January 2006 and September 2009. In that time, authorities seized only 43 and a further 129 were found in the field,
totaling a dismal 11 percent recovery rate.
Some efforts to buckle down on the ground are underway. Several months ago, Kikoti helped organize the National Elephant Protection
Committee, which brings together government officials, non-governmental organizations, safari operators, and rangers from East
African countries to figure out how to stop the poaching. On the short term, the group hopes to mobilize national militaries to control
poaching in the bush. They also have plans for a more long-term strategy to make sure rangers have proper training and motivation to
do the job. “We need good, committed personnel,” Kikoti said. “If you see an animal killed, you should feel something.” Partly in
response to this call, Appleby recently quit his job at the safari park to pursue a career in conservation.
Kikoti’s approach will only work if all nations are equally committed, since elephant populations do not respect national borders. He
hopes to attain resources from the government, from tourists companies, and from the donor community, which will be pooled
together. “If one country does not have resources, other countries can share,” he said.
In Asia, action is sorely needed to shut down markets where illegal wildlife is openly displayed. In China’s huge markets, most animals
look similar to an untrained eye, so the Wildlife Conservation Society developed species identification smart phone apps for rangers
conducting market surveys. The apps point out subtle distinctions between turtles, which help rangers make accurate identifications.
In Holland, Reijngoud developed a database that identifies about 7,000 wildlife products in Chinese, Thai, Russian, Vietnamese, and
Pin Yin. He hopes it will help international customs officers—who are usually not so well versed in wildlife identification—to make
accurate identifications and seizures.
Sniffer dogs from the non-profit Working Dogs for Conservation are also increasingly relied on to identify animals, like tigers, in the
field. There’s talk amongst inspectors about using the dogs to find ivory amidst the thousands of shipping containers at big ports.
In China, authorities are constantly trolling the web for any sites offering illegal goods like tiger bone or ivory, though doing so is
challenging because it’s hard to identify even where a suspect site is based. A couple years ago, the International Tiger Coalition
partnered with Ebay to make sure the site was not illegally advertising wildlife products.
Awareness is always an issue. Many people, both consumers and authorities, don’t even realize it’s illegal to possess ivory, Bennett says,
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or that elephants must be killed to attain ivory.
If the cultural mindset of Asian consumers is to change, that shift will probably have to come from within rather than be imposed by
foreign conservationists, Bennett said. It’s going to take an advertising and awareness campaign of the right tone and nuance to reach
an Asian audience, Milliken added. TRAFFIC recently aired a story in Chinese discouraging wildlife trade on the Chinese national radio
station in Africa, and ads by Jackie Chan and the retired basketball player Yao Ming protesting shark fin soup and wildlife trade have
begun popping up in Asia. The educated middle class in China and Vietnam—the equivalent to the Facebook generation—are beginning
to challenge traditional Chinese medicine and wildmeat consumption. They are “our real hope,” said Bennett.
In the west, Bennett encourages lobbying to make sure agencies like Interpol, CITES, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continue to
receive funding and training for international species protection. Current budget cuts impact U.S. multinational species funds, yet the
U.S. is one of the key funders and providers of technical support to overseas conservation initiatives. Only a tiny proportion of federal
funds go to conservation, Bennett said, but it’s crucially important for many conservation organizations in Africa and Asia.
Private donors can also help. The Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg
Foundation, for example, supports conservation and plays a
prominent role in trying to fight for grassroots species protection in
Africa. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for people like them, so many of us
wouldn’t be able to do half the things we do,” Milliken said.
When all of these factors come together, things can work out. In
western India, the Wildlife Conservation Society and local
government collaborated to designate a tiger reserve that had long
term monitoring, enforcement, science, and community
involvement. Although the reserve is located in an area with high
human populations, tiger numbers have increased by about 400
percent in the past 20 years. “This is not rocket science,” Bennett
said, “It’s just a question of having enough resources, awareness,
Illegal wildlife specimens confiscated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Credit
Rachel Nuwer
and political will for people to just actually do it.”
Overall, conservationists hope the rest of the world will become more engaged with these issues. “If one country has weapons of mass
destruction, everyone makes sure they are destroyed,” Kikoti said. “Why can’t we do the same for poaching?” Kikoti calls for influential
nations, like the U.S., to put pressure on China and Vietnam to clamp down, or even threaten them with sanctions if wildlife trade is not
adequately addressed.
“A lot of people come to Africa to see our wildlife,” he said, “If these animals are killed, we’re finished.” Tourism currently contributes
about 14 percent of Tanzania’s GDP, though the government hopes to increase it to about 30 percent in coming years.
When asked what the feeling is on the ground, Milliken pauses, then quietly reflects, “As I get older and older, I just keep wondering if
we’re winning, if we can really defeat global demographics.” His son—now 21—is studying wildlife management. While Milliken is proud
to pass on the torch, he worries about a more complicated, less-wildlife rich future. “I don’t know, I guess ultimately I have to be
optimistic and just hope that we can do it,” he said.
About the Author: Rachel Nuwer is a graduate of the New York University's Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. She also holds a master's in
applied ecology from the University of East Anglia. When not trekking through a swamp, Rachel can be found taking photos, rehabilitating stray kittens, or exploring the
world. For all things wildlife trade, check out her blog. Follow on Twitter @RachelNuwer.
More »
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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
Scientific American is a trademark of Scientific American, Inc., used
with permission
© 2012 Scientific American, a Division of Nature America, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
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