ILLEGAL ANIMAL TRADE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

ILLEGAL ANIMAL TRADE IN ASIA

baby civets

According to the United Nations Development Programme: The illegal flora and fauna trade is estimated by different sources to be worth $7 billion to $23 billion annually, with $2.5 billion in East Asia and the Pacific. This trade has already caused the decline and local extinction of many species across Southeast Asia.

In 2012 tens of thousands of elephants and hundreds of rhinos were butchered to feed the growing appetite of the illegal wildlife trade. This black market, largely centered in East Asia, also devoured tigers, sharks, leopards, turtles, snakes, and hundreds of other animals. Estimated at $19 billion annually, the booming trade has periodically captured global media attention, even receiving a high-profile speech by U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

Denis D. Gray of Associated Press wrote: “Tens of thousands of birds, mostly parrots and cockatoos plucked from the wild, are being imported from the Solomon Islands into Singapore, often touted as one of Asia's least corrupt nations, in violation of CITES, the international convention on wildlife trade. According to TRAFFIC, the international body monitoring wildlife trade, the imported birds are listed as captive-bred, even though it's widely known that the Pacific Ocean islands have virtually no breeding facilities. [Source: Denis D. Gray, Associated Press, August 15, 2012]

Michael Casey of AP wrote: “To understand the extent of the illicit wildlife trade across Southeast Asia, a good place to start is one of the hundreds of teeming markets that serve as key transit points for illegal animals throughout the region and beyond. Most — like Bangkok's Chatuchak Weekend Market or Jakarta's Pramuka Market — are filled with parrots, lizards and turtles that are sold illegally for the pet trade. Behind closed doors, buyers can find everything from cuddly creatures to black bears, elephants and orangutans that often end up in safari parks or circuses. Farther afield and even more brazen, remote markets along Thailand's borders with Myanmar and Laos specialize in animal parts — furry bear claws, bloody tiger skins, mountain goat horns — destined for Chinese consumers looking for a miraculous cancer cure or special aphrodisiac. [Michael Casey, AP, December 23, 2006]

Uses of Animal Parts in the Illegal Wildlife Trade

According to the Star in Malaysia: Aphrodisiac value, traditional medicine, exotic food and decorative items are among the “uses” of animal parts, which fuel the lucrative wildlife trade. Besides its skin, bones and claws, the tiger’s penis is also highly prized for its supposed potency. Although such claims have no medical basis, the organ of the big cat is still being sold to enhance male virility and ends up in very expensive soups. [Source: The Star, June 10, 2013]

“Tigers, elephants and snakes such as pythons are also killed to making trophies and luxury goods such as shoes, belts and bags. The bones of tigers, bile and gall bladder of bears, porcupine bezoars (foreign material that is swallowed and collects in the stomach) and scales of pangolin are among the parts still being used in traditional medicine. “The flesh of the pangolin is also eaten as a sex stimulant. Geckos are also much sought after for their supposed aphrodisiac value. A lizard weighing 300gm now sells for about US$1,200.

Traffic South-East Asia’s senior programme officer Kanitha Krishna-Ssamy said tigers were also being hunted for their teeth, claws and whiskers — used for “magic or superstition” — while freshwater tortoises and turtles and deer were sold as food. She said while some of the wildlife parts were exported, there was still a demand for such “exotic” food among locals. Kanitha noted that in Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo, orangutan and bears were even kept as pets.

New Species and Animals Thought Extinct Found in Asian Markets

Frank Izaguirre wrote on Mongabay.com: “In 2008, a film crew gathering footage for a documentary on bird trapping in the Philippines took some photos and video of a small nondescript bird before it was sold at a poultry market to be eaten. When an ornithologist from the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines saw the film, he was aghast: it was the Worcester’s buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri), a species believed extinct. Belonging to the famously cryptic Turnicidae family, Worcester’s buttonquail may continue to survive undetected, or it may not. [Source: Frank Izaguirre, Mongabay, January 21, 2014]

In addition to yielding rediscovered species, markets sometimes reveal totally undiscovered animals. A master’s student from a 2012 team from the National University of Laos found the first ever Laotian flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus laoensis) while on a trip specifically to look through meat markets for animals of interest to science. The Laotian flying squirrel is only the second member of its genus (Biswamoyopterus), and has never been seen alive.

“Only found on the Arakan hills of western Myanmar, the 1994 rediscovery of the Arakan forest turtle (Heosemys depressa) in a Chinese food market marked the first time the creature had been seen since a British army officer collected one in 1908. The tiny turtle has since been observed by scientists in the wild.

Corruption and the Illegal Wildlife Trade in Asia

Denis D. Gray of Associated Press wrote: “Squealing tiger cubs stuffed into carry-on bags. Luggage packed with hundreds of squirming tortoises, elephant tusks, even water dragons and American paddlefish. Officials at Thailand's gateway airport proudly tick off the illegally trafficked wildlife they have seized over the past two years. But Thai and foreign law enforcement officers tell another story: Officials working-hand-in-hand with traffickers ensure that other shipments through Suvarnabhumi International Airport are whisked off before they even reach customs inspection. [Source: Denis D. Gray, Associated Press, August 15, 2012]

It's a murky mix. A 10-fold increase in wildlife law enforcement actions, including seizures, has been reported in the past six years in Southeast Asia. Yet, the trade's Mr. Bigs, masterful in taking advantage of pervasive corruption, appear immune to arrest and continue to orchestrate the decimation of wildlife in Thailand, the region and beyond.

And Southeast Asia's honest cops don't have it easy. "It is very difficult for me. I have to sit among people who are both good and some who are corrupt, says Chanvut Vajrabukka, a retired police general. "If I say, 'You have to go out and arrest that target,' some in the room may well warn them,'" says Chanvut, who now advises ASEAN-WEN, the regional wildlife enforcement network. Several kingpins, says wildlife activist Steven Galster, have recently been confronted by authorities, "but in the end, good uniforms are running into, and often stopped by bad uniforms. It's like a bad Hollywood cop movie.

"Most high-level traffickers remain untouched and continue to replace arrested underlings with new ones," says Galster, who works for the FREELAND Foundation, an anti-trafficking group. Galster, who earlier worked undercover in Asia and elsewhere, heaps praise on the region's dedicated, honest officers because they persevere knowing they could be sidelined for their efforts. In another not uncommon case, a former Thai police officer who tried to crack down on traders at Bangkok's vast Chatuchak Market got a visit from a senior police general who told him to "chill it or get removed."

Biggest Asian Wildlife Traffickers Are Untouchable

leopard skin

Denis D. Gray of Associated Press wrote: “Lt. Col. Adtaphon Sudsai, a highly regarded, outspoken officer, was instructed to lay off what had seemed an open-and-shut case he cracked four years ago when he penetrated a gang along the Mekong River smuggling pangolin. This led him to Mrs. Daoreung Chaimas, alleged by conservation groups to be one of Southeast Asia's biggest tiger dealers. Despite being arrested twice, having her own assistants testify against her and DNA testing that showed two cubs were not offsprings from zoo-bred parents as she claimed, Daoreung remains free and the case may never go to the prosecutor's office. [Source: Denis D. Gray, Associated Press, August 15, 2012]

"Her husband has been exercising his influence," says Adtaphon, referring to her police officer spouse. "It seems that no policeman wants to get involved with this case." The day the officer went to arrest her the second time, his transfer to another post was announced. "Maybe it was a coincidence," the colonel says.

"I admit that in many cases, I cannot move against the big guys," Chanvut, the retired general, notes. "The syndicates like all organized crime are built like a pyramid. We can capture the small guys but at the top they have money, the best lawyers, protection. What are we going to do?"

Communist Laos continues to harbor Vixay Keosavang, identified as one of the region's half dozen Mr. Bigs, who has been linked by the South African press to a rhino smuggling ring. The 54-year-old former soldier and provincial official is reported to have close ties to senior government officials in Laos and Vietnam.

Thai and foreign enforcement agents say a key Thai smuggler, who runs a shipping company, has a gamut of law enforcement officers in his pocket, allowing him to traffic rhino horns, ivory and tiger parts to China. He frequently entertains his facilitators at a restaurant in his office building.

Poaching in Southeast Asia

Many rainforests in Southeast Asia are empty shells: full of large trees and abundant plant life but short off large mammals, many of which have been killed snares. Poachers use neck snares that choke animal to death when it struggles to escape; spring snares that lift the animal in the air and hold it upside down; leg snares that simply held on to the animal leg until it starves to death; jaw traps that clamped down to the bone; falling weigh traps that crush skulls; and bamboo and wooden spikes traps that skewer prey; and traplines set up on heavily used animal trails.

Describing wall of death trapline system in Laos's largest protected forest, conservationist Alan Rabinowitz wrote in Natural History magazine, "The 'wall' I had walked into...was an extended trapline made of sticks and small trees, no more than four feet high, that snakes its way across the valley and up the nearest hillside...I reached an opening that was partly blocked by the skeleton of a barking deer."

"At regular intervals along the walls," Rabinowitz wrote, "I discovered more openings, each with a snare hidden beneath the forest litter. Some openings were large enough for deer, bears and tigers, while other were small and low to the ground, just right for catching civets, small cats and ground-dwelling birds...Later I learned that most of the larger animals in the valley, such as deer, bears and wild pigs, had ben wiped out by this "wall of death" during the previous dry season."

In the old days animals were hunted primarily for food and hunters were interested in maintaining the population for food supplies the future. But these days many animals are killed to supply animals for the Asian animal parts medicine market. Hunters now make lots of money, in many cases selling parts that were nothing to them in the past.

Illegal Animal Trade in Southeast Asia

poacher with baby orangutan

Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are believed to be major routes in the animal smuggling trade. They are used to transport exotic pets, particularly snakes and fresh water turtles and are supplies for the traditional Chinese medicine market. Shells from sea turtles are carved into jewelry. Hawksbills, oliver ridleys, leatherbacks and green turtles are all found in Southeast Asian waters.

In markets in northern Myanmar you can see body parts from tigers, gaur, clouded leopard and other endangered animals. During a raid on four restaurants that serve dishes made with exotic animals in Rangoon, authorities seized hundred of endangered animals, including four armadillos and one python as well as 68 fresh-water turtles, 18 tortoises, two monitor lizards, and 283 snakes, including 252 vipers and 30 cobras. Pigeons and ducks were also seized. Poaching is done to supply the Chinese market.

So many endangered wild animals have been smuggled into Singapore and Malaysia, and then exported out with false documents, that wildlife officials call these countries "black holes" of "animal laundering." In wild animal markets in Singapore one can buy peeled pythons, gutted six-foot long monitor lizards, caged flying foxes and beheaded toads.

Vietnamese poachers — who often use snares which capture animals indiscriminately — illegally hunt pangolins, sun bears and rare monkeys which are sold to Chinese buyers. In the remote mountains where the animals are found most male villagers over the age of 13 have firearms which range from old muzzleloaders to modern automatic weapons left behind from the Vietnam War. Much of the poaching done in Laos is done by Vietnamese hunters who catch animals such as pangolins, civets, and barking deer for market in Vietnam and China.

In 2004, police confiscated 1.2 tons of turtles, pangolins and iguanas in Vietnam that were bound for wild animal restaurants in China. In another raid, earlier, authorities seized more than 2.4 tons of cobras and turtles bound for China. Police once stopped a newlywed’s limousine at a provincial checkpoint in Vietnam and found it was carrying 473 kilograms of rare animals including pythons, porcupines and rare deer. The fact that the car was weighed down so low gave it away. The couple were arrested and later admitted they were not even married but were a brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Hong Kong — Major Hub of Illegal Wildlife Trade

Despite effort to crackdown on it, Hong Kong remains a major hub in the global traffic in illegal animal parts. Charles Homans wrote in the New York Times: It was after dark on a Tuesday evening in December 2017 when the vans pulled onto Island House Lane, a placid side street of residential complexes and community garden plots in the suburban Tai Po district. High-rises gave way to lush forest as the street wound down to a pebble beach.“On the water, a speedboat was waiting. Men began unloading the vans’ cargo onto the beach. [Source: Charles Homans, New York Times, February 12, 2019]

“When officers from Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department arrived, the boats fled out to sea. Marine officers pursued them for two hours before losing them in the channel’s warren of rocky coves and mangrove estuaries. From the vans, however, officers were able to recover part of the contraband cargo. There were about $1 million worth of mobile phones, digital cameras and tablets. And, packed into cardboard boxes, the agents discovered more than 300 kilograms of pangolin scales.

“In the geography of the illegal wildlife trade, Hong Kong occupies a unique and essential position. It is a city that has built its reputation and economy as a frictionless connector of countries and capital, located on the doorstep of mainland China — the most ravenous wildlife market in the world. “Over the past decade, the appetites of segments of the booming Chinese middle and upper class — for jewelry, artwork, traditional (though often scientifically uncreditable) remedies and exotic foods — have dramatically expanded a global wildlife black market that has decimated species in Africa, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Malaysia Seizes $16 Million Worth of Illegal Animal Parts

In July 2022, Malaysian customs officials seized a stash of rare animal parts worth $18 million thought to have come from Africa, including elephant tusks, rhino horns and pangolin scales. The Southeast Asian nation is a hub for wildlife trafficking, with animal parts shipped through the country to lucrative regional markets. Authorities foiled the smuggling attempt 10 when they uncovered the illicit cargo in Port Klang, on Malaysia's west coast, hidden in a container along with timber. [Source: July 18, 2022 at 9:08 PM

The shipment included an estimated 6,000 kilograms (13,200 pounds) of elephant tusks — Malaysia's biggest single seizure of elephant ivory, said customs department chief Zazuli Johan. There were also 29 kilograms of rhino horns, 100 kilos of pangolin scales, and 300 kilos of animal skulls and other bones, he told a press conference. The seizure had an estimated value of 80 million ringgit ($18 million), he said, adding it was believed to have come from Africa, without giving more details.

Zazuli said Malaysia was not the shipment's final destination, but did not say where it was heading. Animal parts such as elephant tusks and pangolin scales are popular in countries where they are used in traditional medicine, including China and Vietnam. There have been no arrests over the seizure. Kanitha Krishnasamy — Southeast Asia director at wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic — hailed the "significant seizure". "This medley of threatened species in a single seizure is concerning, and it certainly verifies the suspicion that criminals continue to use Malaysian ports to move contraband wildlife," she said.

Poaching and the Illegal Animal Trade in Cambodia

Animal parts from endangered animals are sold openly in Phnom Penh. In the early 2000s at Orussie market and Street 166 in Phnom Penh shops and vendors openly sell body parts from endangered animals; guar skulls, tiger teeth and bones, bear bile, crocodile heads elephant tails, ivory, antlers, lizard skins and feathers from are birds. Occasionally shops had skins from tigers and clouded leopards.

Phnom Penh’s Central Market used to openly sell bear paws, bear skins and crucified monkey according to AP. Elephant tails sold for $200 a piece. Activists with the Conservation International counted six tails in one shop. Many animal parts are sold at traditional medicine shops. One place sold business-card pieces of elephant skin to treat migraines for 20 cents a piece; tiger bones for arthritis at $1.59 per 10 grams.

Trade in illegal animals thrived in Piopet near the Thai border. One of the biggest selections of endangered animals in Southeast Asia was reportedly found at Piopet's market. Many of the poachers that worked there were former Khmer Rouge members. The Khmer Rouge used to catch wild animal to feed its soldier.s

Animals survey in the Cardamom mountains have indicated a shortage of large animals which is an indicator of poaching. Villagers often use snares to catch animals. Most of the animal are believed to be transported through Vietnam to China. Animals smugglers, who are rarely caught of punished, are thriving.

Illegal Animal Trade in India

India has been a center of the illegal animal parts trade for some time. Four raids in January 2000 netted 12 tiger skins, 132 claws from eight tigers, 385 pounds of animals bones, 124 leopards skins, 18,080 claws from more than a thousand leopards.

Animals markets in Calcutta and the state of Bihar often have animals kept in horrid conditions. Rare Himalayan black bears are kept in tiny cages with barely enough room to move and birds are spray painted with vegetable dyes to make them more attractive. [Source: John Putman, National Geographic September 1976]

Animal smugglers are taking live endangered Indian star tortoises. Most of the animals are dead. One wildlife official said, “You can't just catch and transport an adult tiger while it's alive. Normally they are killed, and then their body parts are separated and transported somewhere. Deer meat is for consumption and also deer antlers have different purposes. They are not normally poached to become pets.” Few poachers are caught. One poacher named Veerappan is believed to have killed 300 elephants on the border of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Tiger Poaching, See Tigers, Asian Animals

Illegal Animal Trade in Bangladesh

Soraya Auer and Anika Hossain wrote in The Daily Star of Bangladesh, “The wildlife most commonly poached in Bangladesh are tigers, deer, turtles, birds, pythons and other snakes, marsh crocodiles, gharials, leopards, including the rare Clouded Leopard, and elephants. “Most of the time, the motivation of killing the animal is financial,” says Commander M Sohail, Director of the RAB media wing. “If they kill a tiger or a crocodile it will be for the skin, elephants are killed for their ivory tusks, and deer are killed for their skin as well as their meat.” [Source: Soraya Auer and Anika Hossain, The Daily Star of Bangladesh, July 7, 2012]

“Reaj Morshed, Programme Officer at Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) believes Bangladesh does not create a demand but rather supplies an international demand and acts like a transit lounge for traffickers who have benefited from the country's weak law enforcement in past decades. He informs, “There are tiger farms in China where they are breeding tigers and then they are using the body parts for different medicinal purposes, but raising tigers in a farm is expensive whereas poaching them from the wild is free so that's why there may be a demand for tiger body parts.”

“Morshed also explains some of the poachers' less than humane methods of killing wildlife. He says, “They use traps, guns and poison. They dilute poison with water and put it into something plastic, often a condom, and then put the condom of poisonous water into bait and put it in the forest for the tiger to eat and be poisoned.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated February 2025