Wildlife trade in Singapore

[Guest guest]

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,124110,00.html

 

THERE were five of them, all women volunteers.

They came from different backgrounds - one was a housewife, another a

teacher.

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than 10,000 bears like this one are estimated to be caged in Vietnam farms.

 

Pictures courtesy by Acres, WSPA & AVA

*

 

But they were all determined to expose the illegal trade in bear products.

 

So they went undercover, complete with hidden video cameras. They posed as

buyers and approached traditional Chinese medicine shops.

 

The sting operation, by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society

(Acres), found one in five TCM shops here offering bear products for sale.

Acres is a registered charity working to improve animal welfare.

 

Some of these shops have now been fined or warned by the authorities.

 

One of the women, Amy (not her real name), said they had to prepare

carefully for each mission, which would last three to six hours.

 

'We had to sound believable when telling shopkeepers that we wanted to buy

bear products for a sick relative,' said Amy, who is in her late 20s.

 

'At first we were nervous but after a while, we got good at acting. No-one

called our bluff.'

 

She said it was physically tiring, but the hardest part was hiding their

emotions.

 

'Although we feel very strongly against the illegal trade, we had to pretend

to be happy when the shops said they could order more bear products.

 

'But at the end of the day, we are glad to send this warning to TCM shops -

if you are involved in the illegal wildlife trade, you risk getting caught

on film.'

 

When asked for bear products for the treatment of liver disease, 23 of 115

randomly selected TCM shops had something to offer. The items included bear

gall bladders or pills, sachets and powder made from bear bile.

 

*CAUGHT IN THE ACT*

 

Video evidence from the operation, carried out between May and October last

year, was given to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority.

 

When AVA investigated 100 TCM shops this year, including the 23 spotted by

Acres, 14 were found offering illegal bear products for sale.

 

Products from two shops - both caught on video by Acres - were found to be

genuine bear products. The shop owners were fined $3,000 and $5,000.

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screenshot taken by a hidden camera, showing undercover investigators he has

bear products for sale. He's holding a bear gall bladder. *

 

Items from the other 12 turned out to be fakes, and the shop owners were

fined between $500 and $1,000.

 

The Endangered Species Act 2006 states that it is an offence to advertise

the sale of bear products even if the goods are fake. (See report at bottom

of facing page.)

 

Some of the other shops on the Acres list were given warning letters.

 

The 115 shops the women went to were located all over Singapore, and were

randomly selected from the telephone directory.

 

*The prices they quoted ranged widely - from $1 for a bile pill, to $380 for

a box of bile sachets (which can be used like tea bags), to a whopping

$4,000 for a whole gall bladder.*

 

Of the 23 shops which sold alleged bear products, 19 did not openly display

them. And five shopkeepers were caught on video saying that trading in bear

products has been outlawed.

 

One man said: 'Bear bile is completely not allowed for sale. I only sell to

regular customers. We cannot give you a receipt and you cannot say you

bought it from here.'

 

Another said: 'Cannot import from China. Bear bile is illegal. For very long

time.'

 

China has banned the export of bear products and prohibited the setting up

of new bear farming for bile extraction since the early 1990s.

 

Eight shopkeepers mentioned that bears are a protected species and two

admitted that bear farming for bile is 'very cruel'.

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One said: 'They keep the bears in cages, insert needles in their liver to

extract (bile). Not supposed to do this to protected animals. It is very

cruel.'

 

Those who openly displayed their bear products claimed they had a licence

from the Ministry of Health to sell them.

 

But there are no such licences.

 

The sale of bear products here is completely prohibited because they involve

bear species listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade

in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).

 

As a signatory of Cites, Singapore outlaws all commercial trade of Appendix

I species. Yet, one shopkeeper told the Acres investigator: 'No licence, you

cannot sell because bears are now protected. We can openly display because

we have a licence.'

 

Five shopkeepers even said they could order more bear products.

 

One was recorded saying: 'If you want a lot, you must order. You can get the

stock immediately or within two to five days from China.'

 

Still, there is some good news - the percentage of shops found offering bear

products here has dropped from the first time Acres did such an undercover

survey. In 2001, 50 of 68 TCM shops (74 per cent) were found offering bear

products.

 

Mr Dave Eastham, head of wildlife at the World Society for the Protection of

Animals, said in a press release yesterday: 'The level of cooperation the

authorities have shown in response to the investigation is a credit to the

AVA and an example to other countries struggling to cope with the global

trade in bear parts.'