WildAid scores Yao

[Guest guest]

Yao becomes ACAP WildAid spokesperson

(CRIENGLISH.com/Brandweek Online)

2006-06-07

 

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming will become the new spokesperson of

international wildlife conservation organization Active Conservation

Awareness Program WildAid.

 

According to a report from Brandweek Online, the Chinese basketball player

will appear in a 30-second TV spot for the organization.

 

The spot will air this week on Fox and CBS in the US and also on China

Central Television.

 

In the spot, the 7-foot-6 center will use his shot-blocking ability to save

an elephant.

 

ACAP WildAid will follow with other TV spots and print and outdoor ads in

which Yao will play an ongoing role and is " developing content " with the

National Geographic Channel and other networks.

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2006-06/07/content_610974.htm

............

Club Yao

Official Fan Club

 

The Game: Ming Is More Than Just 'Stuff'

(From Brandweek)

 

June 05, 2006

 

YAO MING is 7-foot-6, which makes the star of the NBA's Houston Rockets a

BMOC: Big man on court and in commercials in this country and in his native

China. But Ming is not just about selling " stuff. "

 

Ming has parlayed his athletic skills, amiable personality and good timing

into about $15 million in yearly endorsements. He is the highest-profile

athlete from China to become a pro star in the U.S., and his impact in the

NBA has been a catalyst in helping U.S.-based marketers either gain entry or

expand their presence in China in anticipation of the 2008 Summer Olympics

in Beijing. Among his portfolio, Ming reps such companies as Reebok,

McDonald's, Visa and Garmin International.

 

Now, Ming will be the face of international wildlife conservation

organization Active Conservation Awareness Program WildAid, beginning with a

30-second TV spot, its first work from new lead agency ML Rogers, New York.

The spot breaks this week on Fox and CBS and also on CCTV-1 in China. ACAP

WildAid, which has its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, will follow with

other TV spots, print and outdoor, in which Ming will play an ongoing role;

and is " developing content " with National Geographic Channel and other

networks. Terms of the deal with Ming were not disclosed. His agent is Bill

Duffy, president at BDA Sports Management, Walnut Creek, Calif.

 

In the spot, Ming literally uses his shot-blocking ability to save an

elephant. We first see the elephant, then a gun being locked and loaded.

Ming is shooting hoops, but turns into a superhero when he races off the

court, flies through the air and knocks down the bullet before it reaches

its intended target. Voiceover: " You don't have to play ball to be a great

shotblocker. " Ming adds, " When the buying stops, the killing can, too. " The

spot was filmed in both English and Chinese.

 

The effort ties in with ACAP WildAid opening an office last month in

Beijing. WildAid said that previous campaigns have received up to $10

million in donated airtime. Regarding Ming as a spokesperson, NBA

commissioner David Stern has said on numerous occasions, " Nobody was more of

a global icon than Michael Jordan. But Yao . . . is a symbol of [China's]

renaissance and their determination to compete on a world stage. "

 

http://www.yaomingmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10057 & sid=9a0b634c6126772dbaaa\

85ab8fb3613e & PHPSESSID=5386cacc9b18d0678ffcf8486ceb841a

--------------------

WildAid:

 

" WildAid's mission is to decimate the illegal wildlife trade within our

lifetimes.

 

Unique among the world's challenges, we believe we can end the illegal

wildlife trade within an immediate timeframe and realistic economic

parameters.

 

In describing WildAid as the new face of environmentalism, the New York

Times Magazine called our approach 'aggressive, but economically

comprehensive.' Our programs disrupt the trade at every level by reducing

poaching, targeting illegal traders and smugglers, and drastically lowering

consumer demand for endangered species parts and products.

 

WildAid is a non-profit 501©3 organization headquartered in San Francisco

with offices in China, India, Vladivostok, Cambodia, Thailand, Galapagos,

Quito, London, Washington, D.C., and New York City. "

 

http://www.wildaid.org/eng.asp?CID=1

............

[Two articles from WildAid's Southeast Asia Field Programs News

http://www.wildaid.org/index.asp?CID=8]

 

Bear smuggler busted at Phnom Penh airport

Phnom Penh Post

1/13/2006

Jake Sherman

 

On New Year's Day, government authorities arrested an alleged RCAF soldier

as he left Phnom Penh International Airport at Pochentong with a cardboard

box he collected from the baggage carousel containing some unusual

contraband - a baby Malaysian sun bear.

 

According to environmental NGO WildAid, the illegally trafficked bear cub is

the eighth confiscated by Cambodia's Wildlife Rapid Response Team (WRRT) in

the past ten weeks. Nick Marx, an animal husbandry specialist with WildAid,

told the Post the eight bear cubs probably represent " only the tip of the

iceberg " of those being smuggled. Marx said it is breeding season for bears

now, which may explain the increase in bear cub confiscations.

 

Officials for the San Francisco-based NGO WildAid said the WRRT received

information from an informant that an RCAF district commander in Ratanakkiri

had obtained the cub. WRRT began a surveillance of a house and, on December

31, saw the bear moved to a wildlife trader's house. The following day, the

cub was boarded in a cardboard box and sent unaccompanied on a plane from

Banlung to Phnom Penh.

 

The WRRT contacted members of their unit in Phnom Penh and undercover agents

waited inside Ponchentong airport for someone to pick up the bear. When the

man collected the box from the baggage carousel he was followed by

plain-clothed WRRT officers who arrested him outside the airport grounds.

 

During the course of a long interrogation by the Forest Administration, the

man admitted he was a soldier and said he had bought the bear for US$500.

Ultimately, the soldier was freed, as he could not legally be held longer

than two days.

 

According to Marx, getting prosecutions for wildlife crime in Cambodia is

difficult.

 

" Our hope is that this event will go through the courts and that the soldier

will either be fined or, depending on the gravity, sent to prison, " Marx

told the Post.

 

According to Article 90 of the Forestry Law, the offender, if proven to be a

soldier, would be subject to both criminal and military administrative

proceedings if found guilty.

 

The WRRT was established in 2001 as an elite unit assigned to eradicate

Cambodia's illegal wildlife trade. The group is a specially trained mobile

unit made up of personnel from the Department of Forestry and Wildlife, the

Royal Gendarmerie, and officials from WildAid. Until recently, the WRRT was

known as the Wilderness Protection Mobile Unit.

 

Officials said that in its initial 18 months of operation the WRRT

apprehended 239 wildlife traders, rescued more than 10,000 wild animals and

confiscated 1.3 tons of fresh meat and two tons of dried wildlife parts.

 

Because Cambodia is home to some of the world's most sought after species,

it has become a major location for the wildlife trade.

 

The penalties for wildlife crimes in Cambodia are not heavy, Marx said, but

wildlife groups are pushing for tougher laws and stricter enforcement. He

says there have not been many prosecutions for wildlife crimes, but hopes

that this case could serve as a deterrent to others.

 

" There need to be examples, " he said. " People need to know that they are

breaking the law. If they don't know, they won't stop. "

 

The baby bear - now named Dimanche, or " Sunday " in French - was turned over

by the authorities to Free the Bears, an Australian NGO responsible for

looking after the 66 bears living in Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center.

Free the Bears will feed and house Dimanche and four other sun bear cubs

until they are big enough to be introduced to an enclosure at Phnom Tamao.

Three other cubs, including an Asiatic black bear, were recently

transferred.

 

Malaysian sun bears are indigenous to Southeast Asia and are the smallest

species of bear; an adult male averages 70kg. According to Marx, they are

not endangered, but there is no estimate of their population. They have a

broad range and are not particularly numerous anywhere.

 

Had the cubs not been confiscated, they probably would have been sold as

pets or, more likely, to bear farms in neighboring countries. There, they

would have been milked for their bile, a traditional medicine. Some might

even have ended up on the menu at a restaurant.

 

Although the cubs are lucky to have escaped such a fate, wildlife experts

say the estrangement from their natural habitat is extremely unfortunate.

Yet, Marx says, Dimanche and the other cubs will help highlight the

cruelties of the illegal wildlife trade and help those trying to bring about

its end.

 

http://www.wildaid.org/index.asp?CID=8 & PID=331 & SUBID= & TERID=201

...........

Asian Authorities Try to Curb Wild Animal Trafficking

Voice of Ameirca

5/30/2006

Ron Corben

 

Asia's regional police forces and customs officials are joining together in

the fight against the illegal trafficking of wildlife in Southeast Asia.

 

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is creating a police and

customs task force to end illegal wildlife trafficking.

 

The decision came at a meeting in Bangkok this month of officials from ASEAN

customs and police, Interpol, the U.S. Justice Department and the U.N.'s

endangered species agency (Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES).

 

They will join environment officials in the so-called ASEAN Wildlife

Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), created in December.

 

The task force will address the close links between wildlife smuggling, drug

trafficking and other forms of organized crime.

 

U.S. government data estimate the illicit wild animal trade generates more

than $10 billion a year in profits and constitutes the third largest global

black market after drugs and weapons.

 

Officials say there is much to be done to curb wildlife trafficking, which

threatens biodiversity and pushes species to the brink of extinction.

 

But John Sellar, a senior U.N. anti-smuggling officer, says ASEAN's task

force is a good step forward in the fight against the wildlife black market.

 

" I think there's great potential here, " he said. " There's great promise, but

I've been a cop too long to know that this is not going to happen overnight,

but a very important start has been made here. "

 

Sellar says that collaboration between government agencies will provide more

information on transnational wildlife traffickers.

 

Representatives from China, a major destination in Asia for trafficked

wildlife, attended the Bangkok meeting as observers. Sellar says this is a

welcome development.

 

" China is very interested in this process, because clearly China is probably

one of the world's greatest consumers of wildlife... undoubtedly takes a lot

of the wildlife from this country and the sub-region, " he added.

 

Training and investigative programs are now being put in place that will

heighten public awareness, which is a key step in stopping the illegal

wildlife trade.

 

http://www.wildaid.org/index.asp?CID=8 & PID=331 & SUBID= & TERID=250