Can anyone guess which trade brings money close to if not equal to international narcotics and illegal arms trade and human trafficking? To the surprise of many, it is the illegal trafficking of wildlife-both in the form of live birds and animals and the body parts of the dead ones-that has this potential. Over the years, countless wildlife species including rare birds and animals and their body parts have illegally crossed international borders and this has been made possible by the traffickers in connivance with agents and the corrupt officials supposed to check this practice at different ports and borders.
The international nexus in this case is so strong that despite strong vigilance and relentless efforts by conservationists, the situation has not improved much. The greed for money involved in this business has resulted in poaching of even those species that have been declared threatened and fear extinction if their shifting to alien habitats and killings is not stopped.
To name a few these include monkeys, turtles, boas, big cats including lions, jaguars, tigers and snow leopards, rhinos, elephants, parrots, exotic birds, owls, reptiles etc that are either transported live for sale to collectors or killed to get hold of their body parts that are perceived to carry high medicinal value. Most of the times, these species are transported in extremely harsh conditions as their smugglers want to hide these from the watchful eyes of the customs and border officials. As a result, many of them get injured or paralysed or even lose their lives on the way.
These were some of the major concerns of the participants of the International Congress of the Society for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2017). There were researchers, conservationists, biologists, computer science experts, students, representatives of the civil society who mulled collective efforts to check this menace. There was a consensus among all that the dynamics of this illegal trade are such that it is not possible to check it without international collaborations.
At the congress, the case study of small song birds, macaw parrots other exotic birds of Latin America was shared just to give an idea of how cruel the traffickers could be to these beautiful birds. These birds have high demand within Latin American countries because many people love to have caged birds in their houses as these can sing and talk. Sometimes, they are willing to pay huge amounts just to get hold of unique birds to outclass other bird owners in their vicinity. A macaw parrot can be purchased from Colombia for around $ 50 to $75 but its cost in Pakistan can be between $ 1,000 to $2,000 depending on the colours, size etc.
The worst part is that in order to make these birds fit for domestic use, the traffickers often clip parts of birds’ wings or break some of their bones just to stop them from flying and look more domesticated. The poor birds get paralysed and the trauma remains there for long.
Even when recovered by the authorities, these birds are not released immediately because these are traumatised and may become victims of some bird of prey or animals such as cats. Some of them cannot even fly due to the injuries that have been inflicted upon them. Therefore, these are kept in rehabilitation centers for quite some time before being released into the wild.
It estimated that this trade generates anywhere between $ 7 billion to $27 billion annually, though some global watchdogs have put the figure to be around USD 20 billion.
Like other countries, Pakistan is also known to be a hub of illegal wildlife tracking. According to a report of the WWF Pakistan, several species of reptiles, mammals, birds, timber, Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) as well as medicinal plants are illegally traded.
About the caused, it states: "Firstly, inadequate implementation of legislation and weak penalties are ineffective deterrents for smugglers. Secondly, bodies responsible for enforcing legislation often lack the equipment, technology and capacity to successfully spot smugglers, who often use calculated and sophisticated techniques."
The species that are in trafficked from Pakistan include freshwater turtles - all of the eight species, tortoises - Indian star and Afghan marine turtles - raptors particularly falcons, Indian pangolins venomous snakes including cobra, vipers and non-venomous snakes like Indian rock pythons and other reptiles including monitor lizards and spiny tailed lizards.
Fur animals (foxes, jackal, wolf, freshwater otters), shark (fins) and invertebrates such as scorpions also have a high demand in the international market.
Harmon Akram, a climate reality leader and conservationist based in Lahore, believes a lot more needs to be done to create awareness among people on the seriousness of environmental crime. He says unfortunately people take killing of wild animals easy and hardly feel any remorse. For them it is just a means to earn easy money. Akram adds most of the species are traded due to their perceived medicinal and aphrodisiac value. He recalls that a couple of years ago every other person in Sindh province and Punjab province left for rocky areas to catch scorpions alive. The motivation simply was that their demand had suddenly skyrocketed after it was made public that these were used in preparation of cancer cure in China. Within weeks, thousands of scorpions had been captured but there were hardly any buyers.
To give an idea of the fortunes one can make from this trade, one can discuss the case of rhino horn. Perceived to have powers as a cure for cancer, an aphrodisiac and a cure of several other diseases, it can fetch up to $60,000 a pound. This means it is even costlier than gold.
Hebert Cheung, associated with the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, University of Queensland says there is a huge demand for the body parts of the African rhinoceros in China and Vietnam. It is used in health tonics, making of decoration pieces and artifacts, and use in traditional medicine. He insists that both the source and destination countries of the illegally traded species must assume responsibility and against this practice together.
While on one hand huge revenues prompt many to take this course, on the other insignificant returns can lead to killing of precious examples such as jaguars.
Biologist Nuno Spares points out that jaguars in Bolivia are killed just for their four teeth costing USD 100 each. These teeth are used in necklaces and wore by collectors with pride.
The writer is a staff member
