Agents fight animal smuggling trade

[Guest guest]

http://world.scmp.com/ZZZLWRFBAQC.html

South China Morning Post 14 August 2001

 

ENVIRONMENT by GRETCHEN PETERS in Mexico City

 

Lizards and tarantulas come across in coat pockets or stuffed in car

upholstery. Parrots get packed into door frames. Tigers, deer and antelope

come hidden in trunks. Agents once found rare Girabaldi fish swimming in a

gas tank divided in two to separate the petrol from the water.

 

Authorities on both sides of the US-Mexico border say the illegal

trade in flora and fauna may be second only to narcotics smuggling in

quantity and value - with annual estimates topping more than US$1.5 billion

(HK$11.7 billion). And although animal smugglers use the same methods as

drug-runners, it is believed far more wildlife makes it across the frontier.

 

" Whatever somebody wants, it can get through here from Mexico, " said

John Brooks, a law enforcement agent with the US Fish and Wildlife Service,

who works on the California border. " You just have somebody drive it up and

you blend in. "

 

Leading the list of flora and fauna smuggled from Mexico to the US are

reptiles, which are prized for skins, jungle parrots, tropical fish and rare

cactus.

 

There is a brisk trade in animal parts used for Chinese medicine, like

bear gall bladders and rhinoceros horns.

 

Live exotic beasts make regular appearances and tend to travel in both

directions across the border.

 

In late July, Mexican authorities arrested a man ferrying a 2.7kg

Siberian tiger cub in the trunk of his car. The endangered beast apparently

was bought by a circus from a salesman based in Florida.

 

US agents have come across a Tibetan antelope, poisonous Gila

monsters, pythons and tarantulas.

 

As with narcotics, it is thought that a handful of international

networks control the bulk of the trade, using poorly paid " mules " to

transport their cargo.

 

But the profit margin is much higher for smuggling endangered beasts,

which can fetch as much as US$30,000.

 

" What we have here is a battle on the scale of David verses Goliath, "

said Adrian Reuters, the Mexico City-based representative for Traffic, an

arm of the World Wildlife Fund that monitors the global illegal trade in

flora and fauna.

 

Those who get caught smuggling wildlife seldom receive stiff

penalties. Jail terms are rare and fines usually are no higher than

US$15,000, according to documents from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

One recent exception was the June conviction of Malaysian wildlife

dealer Anson Wong, who was sentenced to 71 months' jail and a US$60,000 fine

after pleading guilty to 40 felony charges for smuggling some of the world's

most endangered reptiles.

 

Wong, who was arrested in Mexico City and then spent two years

fighting extradition to the US, spearheaded an international network that

brought together former Fedex employees with US and Hong Kong-based animal

dealers.

 

Seven other ringleaders were convicted or pleaded guilty.

 

Yuk Wah " Oscar " Shiu, a Hong Kong resident who runs a wildlife import

and export business, remains a fugitive.

 

" He's probably still doing business as usual, " said Ernest Mayer, the

Fish and Wildlife Service agent in charge of the case. " We have been in

touch with authorities there and we'll see what happens. "

 

Wong's network had smuggled rare beasts like the Komodo dragon, the

world's largest lizard and now found only on three small Indonesian islands.

 

They smuggled in the almost extinct Madagascan plowshare tortoise

which, like the Komodo dragon, may sell for as much as US$30,000 on the

black market.

 

Other endangered animals include a species of Chinese alligator found

only along the Yangtze River, and the false gavial, a protected crocodile

whose range is restricted to parts of Malaysia, Indonesia and southern

Thailand.

 

Wong's stiff sentence was unprecedented, Mr Mayer said. The operation to nab

him gave the agency new insights into how such international rings seemed to

operate.

 

Operation Chameleon, as it was called, also uncovered a separate smuggling

ring that brought rare birds from southern Mexico.

 

" During that investigation, it became clear that there is a relatively

well-organised pipeline from southern Mexico to the Texas border and into

the US market, " Mr Mayer said.

 

When the operation was over, US authorities returned 28 rare parrots to

Mexico.

 

No ringleaders of the parrot smuggling ring have been caught.

 

Diana Ponce, undersecretary-general at Profepa, the Mexican environmental

protection agency known by its Spanish acronym, said authorities regularly

caught poor Indian women in the southern jungles selling rare parrots and

toucans for as little as 35 pesos (HK$27).

 

" These same birds sell on the international market for as much as US$1,500

to US$2,000, " she said. " These women live hand to mouth and we know they are

not the beneficiaries of this illegal trade. "

 

Although authorities in Mexico and the US say there is good cross-border

co-operation, the problem is likely to remain serious until both governments

increase resources.

 

" It's a question of where to put their priorities, " Mr Mayer said. " Are they

going to look for wildlife or drugs? In many cases, a smuggler is a smuggler

and they match a profile whether they carry marijuana, cocaine or parrots. "

 

Environmentalists despair over the number of rare creatures that perish

while coming over the border.

 

While many reptiles and birds can survive long periods inside bags or, as in

the Wong case Fedex packages, thousands die every year from exposure or from

lack of food and water. In other cases, attempts to pacify them fail

horribly.

 

One Mexican smuggler gave tequila to a shipment of illegal iguanas because

he thought it would keep them docile for the journey.

 

" It would have been almost funny, " said Doug McKenna, a Fish and Wildlife

Service agent on the Texan border, " if the alcohol hadn't reacted badly with

enzymes in their blood and killed them. "