Traffic study details illegal cat trade in two border towns

Traffic study details illegal cat trade in two border towns

By Aye Sapay Phyu   |   Wednesday, 24 December 2014

The trade in tiger and other wild cat parts from Myanmar into China has grown in recent years but diminished into Thailand, a new study released by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic says.

The Traffic study scrutinises two decades of survey data in Tachileik, on the border with Thailand, and Mong La, within Shan State's Special Region 4 and on the Chinese border.

The report shows that the number of shops in Tachileik selling tiger and wild cat products fell from 35 in 2000 to six in 2013, while the number in Mong La more than trebled to 21 from six in 2006. The report states that Mong La caters almost entirely to Chinese customers, adding that both towns are situated on international borders and serve as sources for illegal cross-border trade.

It adds that all wild cat species are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and by national laws.

The report, titled Trade in tigers and other wild cats in Mong La and Tachilek, Myanmar - a tale of two border towns, was published in Biological Conservation, a December 22 press release said. The report studied information gathered from 19 surveys of wild cat trade in Tachileik between 1991 and 2013 and seven surveys between 2001 and 2014 in Mong La.

The media release stated that most of the 2000 parts recorded as being on sale were claws, skulls, teeth and skins.

Authors Chris R Shepherd, regional director for Traffic in Southeast Asia, and Vincent Nijman, professor of anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, argue that the decrease in Tachileik could be due to greater enforcement action in Thailand, while the increase in Mong La may be linked to the rising buying power of China's consumers, and the apparent ease in smuggling illegal wildlife parts into China from Mong La.

"With little or no enforcement in Tachileik and Mong La it's open season for wildlife traffickers, with the contraband bought by those who have little fear of being stopped for their criminal actions," said Dr Shepherd.

The authors also suggest that trade in other illicit wildlife products, such as ivory, is also on the rise in Mong La, while Tachileik's customers from Thailand now mainly buy cheap clothing.

Although the dynamics of the trade in wild cat parts differed in the two border towns, in both clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) parts were the species most often seen in trade. Clouded leopard parts were observed in all but two of the surveys, representing at least 482 individuals.

Other wild cat species commonly found in trade over the decades included leopard cat, leopard, tiger and the asiatic golden cat.

Traders in both towns claimed that tiger and leopard products were mainly sourced from Myanmar and India. Previous studies reported that large cat skins and bones on sale in Tachileik also originated from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Smaller species were said all to be sourced from Myanmar.

The authors urged more effective enforcement and prosecution of wildlife criminals in Myanmar and called on neighbouring source and consumer countries, especially China, to allocate more resources to ramp up existing efforts to clamp down on illegal wildlife trade.

"It's time for the relevant enforcement authorities to live up to their international commitments to address wildlife crime," said Mr Nijman.

Though inside Myanmar territory, Mong La is controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army, an ethnic Chinese group that formed following the collapse of the Burma Communist Party in 1989. Its territory in eastern Shan State is known as Special Region 4.

A Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that this self-administered status makes it difficult to enforce Myanmar law.

"We don't have an office in that area. It is really hard to enter the area," he said.

But he said the team, including Department of Forestry officials, as well as those from other departments such as police and customs, checked wildlife trading and other cases of drug smuggling and illegal trading in the border gate of Tachileik.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/traffic-study-details-illegal-cat-trade-in-two-border-towns/