13
Jan 2009 - Kuala Lumpur – Thai highway police
unexpectedly underlined the seriousness
of the tiger trafficking problem in Southeast
Asia when they seized the contents of a
truck containing four freshly slaughtered
tigers, believed to be on their way from
Malaysia to China last week.
At the same time as
the seizure, and only four hours’ drive
north, police from China, the US and Southeast
Asian states concluded a meeting in Bangkok
on how better to coordinate anti-wildlife
trafficking efforts, with tigers a leading
item on the agenda.
The result of the meeting
was the beginning of a strategy on how to
dismantle the organized crime syndicates
that are believed to be behind the illegal
killing and trade of endangered species
such as tigers.
The seizure was particularly
shocking for Malaysian wildlife authorities,
who just last month launched an ambitious
new National Tiger Action Plan which seeks
to double the number of wild tigers in Malaysia
by 2020.
Poaching is the biggest
threat to tigers in Malaysia and the population
of tigers there has gone from 3,000 to 500
in the last 50 years. Tigers are poached
for their parts, which are used in traditional
medicine and eaten as an exotic dish in
countries such as China.
“Illegal trade is the
most urgent and immediate threat to wild
tigers, having the greatest potential to
do maximum harm in the shortest span of
time,” said Azrina Abdullah, Regional Director
of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, based in Malaysia.
“With a thriving international
market for tiger products, there appears
to be a large and very well-connected organized
network of hunters and traders that target
tigers in the region.”
Two men were reportedly
arrested in connection with smuggling the
dead tigers but according to Dr Loh Chi
Leong, Malaysian Nature Society’s Executive
Director: “Wildlife crime is not considered
a priority within Malaysia’s judicial system
and penalties for such crimes are often
extremely low and therefore do not serve
as a deterrent. Time and again wildlife
offenders often escape arrest, prosecution
and punishment.”
Conservationists in
Malaysia hope that Protection of Wild Life
Act 1972 will be updated as it is severely
outdated and riddled with loopholes, often
enabling wildlife offenders to escape arrest,
prosecution and punishment.
The National Tiger Action
Plan for Malaysia outlines actions that
are specifically focused on the importance
of improved intelligence-driven anti-poaching
patrols in key tiger habitat and better
enforcement of wildlife and wildlife trade
laws.
WWF and its partners
including the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS),
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Wildlife Conservation
Society (Malaysia Programme) are helping
to implement the plan by working on securing
key forest areas that are connected so tigers
can migrate safely from place to place and
providing anti-poaching protection for tigers
and their prey.
“This was a bad start
to the year for Malaysia’s tigers,” said
Dr. Susan Lieberman Director of WWF International’s
Species Programme. “There is no time to
waste – we must all work together to ensure
enhanced enforcement in Malaysia and beyond,
and efforts to stop illegal trade into China,
so that one of Earth’s most iconic species
will thrive and indeed recover in the tropical
forests of Southeast Asia.”
+ More
High-level Russian helicopter
crash prompts poaching inquiry
15 Jan 2009 - Moscow,
Russia - WWF-Russia and Greenpeace have
asked prosecutors to investigate whether
the Kremlin's envoy to the State Duma was
participating in an illegal hunt of endangered
animals when the helicopter he was riding
in crashed last week in the Altai region,
killing him and six others.
Photographic evidence
suggests that the late Duma envoy, Alexander
Kosopkin, may have been part of a hunting
expedition targeting an endangered species
of wild sheep from the air when the group's
Mi-171 helicopter went down last Friday.
Experts identified the
dead wild mountain sheep, argali, on pictures
made at the site of the crash. If it is
proved the animals were killed from the
helicopter it is a crime as it is illegal
to hunt any animal species from a helicopter,
even if it is not endangered.
The argali is a globally
endangered species, of which there are just
200 specimens remaining on the territory
of the Altai region and in Mongolia.
Killed in the crash
along with Kosopkin was Sergei Livishin,
a senior member of the presidential administration;
Viktor Kaymin, a senior Altai environmental
official; Gorno-Altaisk aircraft division
head Vladimir Podoprigora; and Vasily Vyalkov,
the frontman of the regional music band
Armanka. Survivors included Nikolai Kopranov,
an adviser to the Duma's Economic Policy
Committee; and Boris Belinsky, a Moscow
entrepreneur.
“Poachers often remain
unpunished in Russia but we are hopeful
that a trial of this case will become a
warning and will help reduce poaching rates,”
said Vladimir Krever, WWF-Russia biodiversity
expert.
The hunting of animals
listed in the Russian Red Book of endangered
species is a crime by Russian law and can
be punished by a fine of up to 200,000 roubles
or corrective labour of up to two years,
or by an arrest of up to six months. If
it is proved that this crime was committed
through an abuse of an official position
punishment can be more severe.
