Shipments of protected African species to Asia soar
SHIPMENTS of protected African species including tortoises, pythons and parrots to Asia have soared since 2006 as demand grows in the Far East for exotic pets, meats and other animal products, a study warned yesterday.
Imports of leopard tortoises, African spurred tortoises and ball pythons into Asia increased nearly tenfold in a decade, the report by monitoring network Traffic said, while trade in animal skins including seals also rose.
Although much of the trade is legal, all of the species in the study are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
“Until now the legal wildlife trade between Africa and Asia has been largely overlooked,” said Willow Outhwaite, co-author of the Eastward Bound study, adding that the report aims to “fill in some of the blanks in our understanding of this vast, complex” trade.
Using import and export databases, the report found over 1.3 million live animals and plants, 1.5 million skins and 2,000 tonnes of meat from Citeslisted species have been exported from Africa to East and Southeast Asia since 2006. Animals such as ball pythons and tortoises are popular in the Asian pet trade because of their docile nature and low space requirements.
Trade in the three reptile species from Africa to Asia rose from 8,488 creatures in 2006 to 78,295 in 2015, the study found. But the trade may be having an impact in Africa, with reports of population declines of leopard tortoises due to unsustainable harvesting. Commercial exports of wild African spurred tortoises – the world’s third-largest tortoise – have been banned since 2000.
The study also reported nearly 100,000 grey parrots were exported between the continents over that period, before the central African bird was reclassified as endangered in 2016.
The trade also raises concerns of animal cruelty, campaigners say.
“The lack of adequate animal protection laws and education, especially in China, is resulting in out-of-control animal abuse,” said Jason Baker of PETA. “If consumers had any idea what was happening, they’d be outraged.”
The report also found a rise in mammal skins to Asia. The trade – mostly Cape fur seals hunted in Namibia – grew from 1,972 skins in 2007 to a peak of 20,651 in 2012.
Namibia issues seal hunting permits each year, despite outcry from conservation groups that brand its annual cull a massacre for trade purposes. Authorities in the southern African country maintain that what they call seal harvesting is meant to control the burgeoning population which threatens the fishing industry. But activists slam these reasons as hypocritical, saying hunts are carried out for commercial gain. The animals are harvested for their pelts, fat – which is used in beauty products – and male sexual organs, believed to have aphrodisiac properties in Asia.
The majority of animal skins imported from Africa to Asia are crocodile, used in Japan and Singapore for luxury leather goods, the study said.