Environmentalism Chapter 8 Animal parts trade - Probing the problem part I

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) dates as far back as the Shang dynasty (14th–11th centuries BCE) although Shang didn’t actually understand the whole concept of Chinese traditional medicine it then later took of exactly over two thousand years ago that’s seen Asia’s economy benefit.

Mainly used in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Cambodia to even Africa it’s seen as an alternative to synthetic medicines (manmade) that can have acute side effects to even seriously harming ones health if not administered correctly to overdosed on.

Herbal medicine, acupuncture, reflexology,  and massage was the main concept of traditional Chinese medicine at which point really only plant based tinctures where prepared then administered, the same type of medicine was used back in the American years of President Abraham Lincoln to even Europe although little is really known of this very crude western type of practice.

Traditional Chinese medicine has taught many thousands of “registered” practitioners in Asia from the books of the Emperor’s Inner Cannon http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-4/huang-di-nei-jing-yellow-emperors-inner-canon/ and the other ancient old book Treatise on Cold Damage http://history.cultural-china.com/en/60H11290H14411.html

It is unclear to this day when animals where used in the traditional Chinese medicine market however what we do know is that the market is now thriving on animal parts more today than it ever did back in the early 1940s of which we can locate some “form” of evidence which we believe originated from Tibet from reading the Traditional Medicine Handbook that one can view more no here http://www.vitcm.org/?page_id=125

From this point Korea then started to become more involved within the alternative medicine market of which again very “few” animals where used, and to be precise the classic traditional book of alternative Asian pharmaceuticals states from the Tibetan era that  442 were plant parts, 45 were animal parts, and 30 were minerals. Moving forward to present 2013 we now see very more plants are used with many more “species” of animals mainly from the Asian zodiac chart of 12 animals that include Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon (lizards are used in TCM) Snake, Horse Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and finally the Pig.

Traditional Chinese “herbal” medicine then became more used in the 1970’s within America within forty states of which fifty oriental medicine colleges where introduced for students of all backgrounds to train on.

In Korea, more than 5000 herbs and 7000 herbal formulas are used in Traditional Korean Medicine for the prevention and treatment of ailments all deriving from traditional Chinese medicine, Japan followed on from which they refer to (TCM) as Kampo meaning Han Chinese Medical Formulas http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC538517/

However cultures have changed and the world has evolved into a self-destructive planet that now see’s many animals slaughtered internationally to tortured in medieval practices to sustain this ancient form of medicine from which China is the main player and trade route from which animal parts are shipped to, then processed to transported to their final destination.

Taking the million year old Rhinoceros for instance once poached the Rhinoceros horn[s] are then transported over the border once the slaughter has taken place and can be in Asian medicine markets within a three to four days.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O) quoted that nearly 80 per cent of the world’s population depends for its primary health care needs on medicines derived from plants and animals and with disease and illness being rife in third world nations especially Asia then Asia makes up most of this eighty per cent mainly due to poverty.

What’s changed though? Why are we seeing now so many animals slaughtered for medicines that the Asians and we know don’t work as traditional medicines, when you have the other alternative called “Homeopathy” that was first really put into practice in 1700’s by the German physician and chemist Samuel Hahnemann whom lived from 1755-1843. We simply don’t know the complete answer to this however we are searching for the truth and below I have placed some interesting points that we are working on.

1. Climate change
2. Usage of pesticides, herbicides, insecticide’s, fungicides,
3. Over urbanization
4. Air pollution and land pollution
5. Season weather disruption

These five points are fine indicators of what we have noticed now for some years to be contributing to lesser agricultural plants and herbal stock used which regrettably is equaling to more animals destroyed. I have explained below in brief detail below of our findings to date.

• Climate change – Contributing to fewer herbal crops via extreme unpredictable weather
• Usage of pesticides – Contributing to the destruction of insect and bud pollinators
• Over urbanization – Contributing to land destruction thus reducing land mass to plant reproduction
• Air and Land pollution – Contributing to poorer air quality equaling decreased photosynthesis whilst land pollution being a major factor that leaches toxins in to the ground plus debris pollution
• Seasonal weather disruption – Contributing to moister winters and dryer summers = disruption in agricultural and herbal crops growing and budding at the correct time of season = lower yield

Civil war and international conflicts I shall go in to detail further on as this does require a lot of attention and awareness.

As conservationists and animal welfare professionals we cannot say that demand is just the number one factor here that is driving the illegal animal parts trade, there has to be some form of reason for us to view further beyond demand and it was not until recently going through some 4,000 documents that we started to view a pattern that “may” or may not be the reason why “demand” is high.

Yes there are poor families in Asia just like there is in any other continent, but within these continents that are non-Asian there are very few if any traditional medicine markets like there are within the borders of Asia which has lead us back to “climate change”.

I may sound like a broken record however International Animal Rescue Foundation looks at the (facts) and being a very large organisation on ground and on line we are also educated to.

So let’s look at the facts here first and see if one can start to break the web of destruction open of which we are only going to concentrate on two points here and that is climatological disruption and change and civil war to conflict.

Climatological disruption and change within Asia.

Setting the facts down;

Climate change has moved on from “global warming” and there is no way of stopping the destruction that is being caused now, of which we the human can only “slow the destruction down”. I have contacted the University of Virginia’s traditional Chinese Medicine University as I wish for their secondary advice on whether they think the increase in “animal parts usage”  in Asian medicine is due to a decrease in the number of “plants” used in Asian medicine as of botanical climate disruption blamed on climate change.

At present there is no documentation that we have managed to locate on a decrease in “Traditional Chinese medicine botanical use in fact it’s increased alarmingly” or TIM (Traditional Indian Medicine) however this doesn’t mean for one minute that the evidence is not there, it simply could/can mean that people are just not fundamentally aware of this issue. So let’s look at some facts.

Firstly any botanical medicines from herbs to trees such as Aconitum carmichaelii, Flueggea suffruticosa, to Magnolia and Lavandula angustifolia can be grown in just about any nation, leaves, seed’s to bark and roots are all used in TCM and TIM for alternative practices more or less the same as homoeopathic treatments.

The traditional Chinese medicine market is though massive both economically with demand being a main factor which I have highlighted below the average prices of botanical medicine that “does not” include the use of mammals, reptilians, to aquatics species and invertebrates within the arthropod phylum family.

• The herbal industry shares about $62 billion United States dollars (all continents included)
• he World Bank reports trade in medicinal plants, botanical drug products and raw materials is growing at an annual growth rate between 5 and 15%
• Within the European community, botanical medicine represents an important share of the pharmaceutical market the nutraceutical sector is also growing rapidly
• In India the value of botanicals related trade is about US $10 billion per annum with annual export of US $1.1 billion
• China’s annual herbal drug production is worth US $48 billion with export of US $3.6 billion
• Presently, the United States is the largest market for Indian and Chinese botanical products accounting for about 50% of the total exports. (interesting fact) (Fig W.H.O)
• Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore are the major importer of TCM taking 66% share of China’s botanical drugs export

So these are just some of the main market facts of “botanical medicine” and from what we are now aware of America is by far the largest number one exporter into both China and India with Japan Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore the largest “exporter” to mainly America “oddly” and 80% of European nations.

Other material sourced was what we more or less knew anyway which was China was the main user of Traditional Chinese Medicine however what was more startling and is now making us more nervous is the fact westerners are the second largest user of traditional Chinese medicine. Please view below.

• TCM was popular among the Chinese population in Taiwan during the period studied. More than 60% of all subjects had used TCM during the 6-year interval this figure has since risen again to another 6.8%
• Recent studies have demonstrated dramatic increases in the use of, and expenditure on, CAM in the United States, Canada, Australia and European countries
• Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important category of CAM in Western opinion
• In Europe, North America and other industrialized regions, over 50% of the population have used complementary or alternative medicine at least once.
• In San Francisco, London and South Africa, 75% of people living with HIV/AIDS use TM/CAM.
• 70% of the population in Canada have/do use complementary medicine at least once.
• In Germany, 90% of the population have/do use a natural remedy at some point in their life.
• In the United States, 158 million of the adult population use complementary medicines and according to the USA Commission for Alternative and Complementary medicines, US $17 billion was spent on traditional remedies in 2000.
• In the United Kingdom, annual expenditure on alternative medicine is US$ 230 million.
• The global market for herbal medicines currently stands at over US $ 60 billion annually and is growing steadily every year.
• The most common user of TCM/CAM is the female and not the male as suggested by some

Leaving out acupuncture, reflexology and manipulation and Bianshi and illegal animal parts trade we can clearly see that botanical alternative medicine is vast in size and is widely used from the ages of 25-40. This then creates a massive market for demand which we are more than aware of thus increasing more usage of agricultural land which from looking at the points raised “Asia” is the largest exporter to date therefor meaning a massive usage of agricultural land.

We know that in total there are roughly 13,000 medicinal’s used in China and over 100,000 medicinal recipes recorded in the ancient literature. Plant elements and extracts are by far the most common elements used.

In the classic Handbook of Traditional Drugs from 1941, 517 drugs were listed – out of these, “only 45 were animal parts”, and 30 were minerals. Many plants are used mostly as medicinals, with detailed instructions that have been handed down not only regarding the locations and areas where they grow best, but also regarding the best timing of planting and harvesting them.

So it doesn’t come then as a large shock that in order to keep up with such vast demand then one has to use more land which in China and now America problems are now becoming evident that not all environmentalists have viewed yet but those that are botanically experienced such as myself  and others have noticed.

This is where climate change has now been notified but not yet fully recorded and we are hoping that we can start the ball rolling. Climate change effects plants in many ways and in Asian alternative medicine the most common part of the plant used are the leaves, flowers, seeds, and shaving’s and root’s.

Those plants that require mass insect, wind and animal pollination are now being affected greatly in Asia and America of which both nations are vast users and exporters by climate destruction. The two largest users of TCM/CAM, animal land invasion, droughts, moister winters, and floods, as well as decrease in pollinators such as flies, thrips, butterflies, moths, bees but most importantly though bee’s  that have decreased in size dramatically from 2007 since CCD was noted that have been decreasing more every year as of CCD better known as Colony Collapse Disorder which has cause untold loss of agricultural crops in Asia and America to Europe with the United Kingdom being rarely unaffected.

Please read more here http://npic.orst.edu/envir/ccd.html and here http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/about/intheworks/honeybee.htm CCD is serious and it has now hit Asia hard with many arable farmers having to pollinate their crops by “hand” thus decreasing yield which in turn equals less money or flying in honey bee hives from thousands of miles away just to pollinate crops.

The phenomenon is now killing more bees leaving hives empty which reduces pollination of crops. So this is one theory that we are aware of and have known about since 2006-07 from which we have started working on in Asia with regards to TCM, for now all investigations on this are not “concluded”.

More noticeable issues that are causing a shortage of arable agricultural land are over urbanization/over population, pollution, raging/orflash floods that have destroyed homes, villages and TCM crops in remote Asia, followed by massive unpredictable weather surges followed by economic failure.

With the TCM/CAM market being vast in size and now taking on average near enough the same amount of monetary gain as illegal arms sales could this be the “number one factor” for increased poaching to feed the demand for TCM/CAM products that is making in China to date an average of $50 billion United States dollars? or are we going to keep believing that the demand is due to Asians wanting to get rich quick?.

Leaving Elephant Ivory out of the entire equation as this is not used as a an “animal bi-product medicine” as such we now focus on the worrying factor and that’s civil war and conflicts.

January 22^nd 2013 we contacted an [un-named] American Zoo of which details we always keep back of our contacts and investigations for privacy and confidentiality.

The point of contact was the illegal animal parts trade and the American armed forces. The email that we sent can be viewed below.

21st January 2013 - 07:02 GMT

Re Snow Leopard

Dear *******************

I am not sure if you can help me however I am hoping that one can, my name is *********** and I am conducting a study on endangered species and wildlife trafficking which mainly focuses on South Africa with regards to the Rhinoceros horn, Elephant ivory, Pangolin, to parrots, bones, claws and more within the Traditional Chinese Medicine Market within the whole of Asia.

One of the animals that I am currently just looking at now is the Snow Leopard of which I located your article online that stated a “report” had been carried out with regards to the US Army and endangered species I was wondering if you had in you possession this report or survey that I could read and then right up on exactly what the United States military forces are purchasing with regards to endangered and critically endangered animal parts.

The news report within the link doesn’t really explain “all parts that are/have been purchased”, if you have this “survey or document and would be willing to share to myself for the purpose of creating awareness, education, to tackling this repulsive and barbaric trade that we have been fighting since 2009 which we are now moving to great depths I would be very grateful.

The survey/report that you or the ******* **** did carry out I would be most appreciative if you would share this or give further information on “what animal parts where found” to what areas of Asia as I have investigators in ****** and ****** along with ************ that are locating more information for myself and photographic evidence plus one investigation team within India ******. I don’t require any other information, and your help would be greatly accepted.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Director

info@international-animalrescue-foundation.org.uk

The information that we received back was shocking yet not surprising and although the information only focuses on the “purchasing of illegal wildlife products” and not killing them it still amounts to an area that now needs to be focused on dearly and completely banished.

By cleaning this area up through education and awareness and ensuring that no military solider from the USA the largest forces in the world purchases or brings back with them illegal contraband that is not always checked then we will be hitting the demand hard here in the bases thus decreasing slaughter of vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered.

I didn’t expect that I would actually receive a positive reply back however this has now opened our eyes more and I do hope it now opens yours and you share this document to all military personal so they are aware that it is “illegal” to purchase CITES contraband products.

The results can be seen below and please be aware that only;

From 2007-2009 a survey was undertaken in to military airbases that had been within Asian borders mainly Iraq, Afghanistan to observe which species of animals were being purchased by United States armed forces and the results although not “that alarming” are shocking enough to know that this is on-going and now needs massive awareness to educate and cease all animal parts sales.

The report goes on to state;

ALL ARMED UNITED STATES SOILDERS ARE AND MUST BE MADE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING

Military personnel who buy wildlife products overseas and import them back to the U.S. risk violating three levels of laws and regulations: U.S. laws (The Endangered Species Act 1531, 2008; Lacey Act of 1900; Lacey Act Amendments of 1981), local laws of the country in which military are serving (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Environment Law of 2007; Executive Order 2, 1388, 2009 NEPA), and military regulations (United States Central Command 2006; United States Defense Transportation Regulation 2009; USCENTCOM REG 600-10). They also risk violating international conventions, in particular the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Soldiers reported skins of wild felids and gray wolf Canis lupus as most commonly observed wildlife products available for sale in Afghanistan. Forty per cent of respondents said they had either purchased or seen other members of the military purchase or use wildlife products. The U.S. military was willing to assist in curtailing supply and demand for wildlife products in order to protect soldiers from unknowingly breaking the law and to conserve wildlife in the countries where they serve.

War can have multiple effects on natural resources, including wildlife (Homer-Dixon et al. 1993; Dudley et al. 2002; McNeeley 2003). In isolated cases, neutral or demilitarized zones with limited human activity may provide a safe haven for wildlife to proliferate (Martin and Szuter 1999; McNeeley 2003. However, modern warfare practices and civil strife associated with war have made recent conflicts highly detrimental to wildlife populations, primarily because effective enforcement of regulations protecting wildlife becomes limited without rule of law (Dudley et al. 2002).

Conflict can also lead to increased direct pressure on wildlife through higher wild meat consumption, increased use of wildlife products to barter for food, arms, ammunition and other goods or services, direct sales of wildlife products, and shooting at animals as target practice.

During civil wars in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, hunting of wildlife for meat increased dramatically due to war refugees hunting for their own food and to obtain income by selling the meat in local markets (Plumptre et al. 1997; Renner 2002). The more than 30 years of conflict in Afghanistan has resulted in severe declines in wildlife populations due to the combination of increased availability of firearms, food shortages, and lack of effective law enforcement (Formoli 1995; Zahler 2005). The negative effects of war on natural resources are particularly true in countries, including Afghanistan, where most of the population subsists on locally available resources for their livelihoods (Formoli 1995; Renner 2002; Dudley et al. 2002; Zahler 2010).

More of a concern;

Demand for potentially illicit wildlife products by U.S. military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan is a particular concern, given the strong military presence and important wildlife populations in each country. In June 2009, approximately 135,000 U.S. troops and 120,000 U.S. contractors were in Iraq, and 55,000 U.S. troops and 72,000 U.S. contractors in Afghanistan (Schwartz 2009). Iraq and Afghanistan are at the nexus of the Indomalayan and Paleoarctic biotic realms (Udvardy 1975) with additional influence from the Afrotropical realm (Johnson and Wingard (2010; Zahler 2010).

In combat zones, soldiers may have limited access to areas outside of their assigned base, so they often purchase items at military bazaars, also known as post exchanges, which operate inside their bases. Goods purchased at on-base bazaars in Iraq and Afghanistan are generally less expensive than similar items found in the U.S. (e.g., carpets, hand-crafted-jewelry, antique guns, and fur coats), and can provide a significant income to local people.

Among the local items offered for sale at on-base bazaars are wildlife products. In this paper, ‘‘wildlife products’’ refers to items comprising or made from wild terrestrial vertebrate species including, but not limited to, pelts, coats, hats, other clothing, blankets or rugs made from furs or skins, preserved mammals or birds, antlers, shells, horns, teeth, claws, or other animal trophies, meat from local mammals, birds or reptiles, wildlife pets including wild mammals, birds, and reptiles, ivory or products containing ivory, and medicines derived from wildlife.

The survey then went on that was conducted in 2008 in Fort Drum, New York, USA questioning n average of 2,500 to 3,500 army personal the survey answers are below;

Three of the questions asked out of seven are the most concerning regarding the results that where then obtained by the researchers;

1)      Had they whilst on duty in Middle Eastern nations seen wildlife products on display?

2)      Had they purchased “any wildlife products”

3)      Had they heard of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)

Number three out of the other four questions that are irrelevant we would of thought that the typical American solider had heard of CITES considering America is a large hunting nation with many American and Canadian’s hunting and also traveling overseas to hunt in Africa, and Canada. The results though where somewhat alarming and no many hadn’t heard of CITES hence the reason why there was such vast numbers of them purchasing illegal wildlife skins, rugs/carpets/ meat, ivory, horn and medicine.

The “organisation” asked about CITES because it is the broadest, legally-binding international agreement addressing wildlife trade and many of the countries in which U.S. soldiers serve are signatories to CITES. Respondents were also given the opportunity to provide written comments. The survey took less than 10 min to complete. Soldiers placed completed surveys in a box and then received a small non-monetary thank-you gift. Data from the survey were entered and analyzed in SPSS 16.0.

The aims of the survey where;

“The aims were twofold: to obtain information on the type of wildlife products available to soldiers serving overseas; and to teach military police how to identify items listed under CITES or as protected species in Afghanistan”

The number of respondents can be seen below that took part in the survey;

Part ONE

The survey starts with the “nation they were based in at time of survey” then “the number of respondents” that = the % ALL OF THE RESPONDANTS WERE FROM FORT DRUM U.S.A

1)      Afghanistan 209 56.3 %

2)      Iraq 160 43.1 %

3)      Korea 95 25.6 %

4)      Germany 86 23.2 %

5)      Kuwait 58 15.6 %

6)      Bosnia 27 7.3 %

7)      Kosovo 19 5.1 %

8)      Japan 16 4.3 %

9)      Saudi Arabia 12 3.2 %

10)   Honduras 10 2.7 %

11)   Other 157 42.3 %

In total for the other many soldiers were based or deployed in more than one country during their service “and” 63 countries in which less than 10 respondents indicated they had been based or deployed

The survey then went on to part TWO

Table 2 the types of items, listed by country, reported being seen for sale in on-base or off-base markets by Fort Drum soldiers = 1,304

The countries they reported seeing for sale in on base or of base markets by Fort Drum Soldiers are named below

Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, United States, Germany, Kuwait, Kosovo, Thailand, Japan, Bosnia, Australia, countries with less than ten items reported totalled 133 seen for sale in on-base or off-base markets by Fort Drum soldiers.

The total Items “seen” for sale in Part TWO of the survey where, fur and skins, taxidermy, meats and pets, trophies ivory and medicines. Fur was totalled at 307, taxidermy 168, meat 231, pets 222, trophies 224, ivory 112, medicines 40 seen “for sale”

The survey then went on to part THREE

Wildlife items, listed by country, which Fort Drum soldiers reported purchasing while stationed or deployed overseas = 143 purchased – purchased in the following nations below;

Afghanistan, Iraq , Korea Germany, Africa, Japan, United States, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Norway, Australia, United Kingdom.

The total items purchased where;

1)      Afghanistan – 27 furs/skins, 3 taxidermy, 28 meat, 11 pets, 5 trophies, 6 ivory, 2 medicines

2)      Iraq – 5 furs/skins, 10 meat, 1 ivory

3)      Korea – 10 furs/skins, 8 meat, 3 pets, 2 ivory

4)      Germany – 2 furs/skins, 7 meat

5)      Africa – 1 fur/skin, 1 meat

6)      Japan – 1 fur/skin, 1 meat

7)      United States – 1 fur/skin, 1 meat

8)      Kuwait – 1 meat

9)      Bosnia – 1 meat

10)   Kosovo – 1 ivory

11)   Norway – 1 meat

12)   Australia – 1 meat

13)   England – 1 meat

The MOST CONCERNING WAS - more than 40% of respondents had either themselves purchased or seen other soldiers purchase wildlife products less than 12% had heard of CITES. Of the 220 soldiers surveyed who had served in Afghanistan 12% reported that they had purchased items such as clothing, rugs, comforters, or blankets made from wildlife fur.

The most popular items purchased where fur and skins and meat – illegally or legally is not known, however what we do know is that many trader where given warnings to cease selling illegal CITES contraband that MP’s and seniors knew was illegal to purchase, many traders on the base had their licences revoked and then removed.

Only 10% of the soldiers at Fort Drum had heard of CITES, with over 40% that had seen other mates purchase and over 44% seen other soldiers seen others purchase wildlife items with just under 29% purchasing themselves.

Cited in 13 Oct 2009), soldiers suggested that APO by-passed the tougher military customs screenings. These soldiers gave descriptions of the products being posted, such as ‘‘lots of sand fox pelts with heads,’’ ‘‘dried lizards and snakes,’’ and others noted that items with ivory were particularly common in Iraq. While recounting these experiences, soldiers noted that they were unaware of laws or regulations prohibiting the sale or transport of certain wildlife items or of the possible detrimental impacts of their actions.

Hundreds of wildlife items were noted in Eggers, Bagram, ISAF and Phoenix military installations in Afghanistan during on-base market surveys. For example, in April 2008, U.S. surveyor’s identified 230 items potentially containing CITES species in one on-base bazaar at Camp Eggers.

The most common species identified by surveyors in the military bazaars included Eurasian wolf Canis lupus, Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx, jackal Canis aureus, red fox Vulpes vulpes, Corsac fox Vulpes corsac, and small felid species including leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis and wild cat Felis silvestris.

At ISAF Airport, snow leopard pelts, leopard pelts, and Marco Polo sheep Ovis ammon pollii skulls and horns were also identified. Of these, only red fox is neither protected by CITES nor by Afghanistan laws. WCS staff also observed international aid workers and contractors purchasing wildlife products at a popular bazaar in Kabul known as ‘Chicken Street.’ results from these market surveys confirmed similar findings by Mishra and Fitzherbert (2004) in the same bazaar.

However - In 2008, after a series of market surveys and wildlife trade training seminars conducted by ***** staff, the number of prohibited wildlife products witnessed for sale in military bazaars in Afghanistan declined however this is JUST for the USA and no other military units from broader nations which is now of a huge concern to ourselves International Animal Rescue Foundation ©

Once trained by WCS staff, military police began con-fiscating prohibited wildlife items from soldiers departing from Afghanistan. A total of 350 confiscated items was reported from Bagram Air Field and Camp Eggers at the end of August 2008 with at least 50 additional items being confiscated between July and December 2009.

Confiscated items appeared to include parts of leopard cats, Pallas cats Otocolobus manul, black-and-white colobus monkey Colobus guereza (a species not found in Afghanistan), and Blandford’s fox Vulpes cana, all of which are listed under CITES. Military police also confiscated items apparently containing jackal, which is listed as a protected species in Afghanistan.

INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION TO ALL MILITRY BASES

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/03/16/16greenwire-new-pentagon-effort-targets-illicit-wildlife-t-97241.html

Surveys found that unless training sessions and surveys continued on a regular basis or were institutionalized in induction trainings for new military police, vendors would reintroduce items when new military rotations came in and the previous group rotated out. In Afghanistan, ISAF military police rotate every 6 months, while U.S. troops rotate every 9 months.

However, demand still abounds in the military and many products are available off-base in Kabul and other cities around Afghanistan (Manati 2009). WCS staff saw 13 snow leopard pelts and one cheetah pelt (among other potentially illegal items) for sale on Chicken Street, Kabul, in November 2011. In August and September 2009, Bagram Air Field Military Customs seized what was thought to be a wolf pelt, a wolf hat, and a Himalayan lynx coat from soldiers who were leaving for the U.S. Demand for wildlife apparently continues, as reflected in comments from military personnel who attended a Fort Drum training session in June 2010.

The report then went on;

These included ‘‘I packed 5 or 6 coats like this [referring to a spotted cat pelt coat], but [customs] took them all’’ and ‘‘they confiscate some but I hide it really well’’ [referring to turtle carapace and coral], and reports from military police in Afghanistan in July 2010 of a Colonel who had purchased a coat apparently made from Eurasian wolf. Our experience indicates that education and raising awareness works to reduce at least some of the demand, although not eliminate it

We are not just looking at culture here in the Asian world as some people think or even “get rich quick” we are looking at lack of education, awareness, other problem areas, and general purchase coupled with “demand, culture and get rich quick”

This report along with the survey has continued on from the Snow Leopard report and we will continue this environmental report in five “parts” of the main chapter. We now all need to devise a plan and awareness session for all military bases as only the Americans where investigated by te survery.

Thank you

Dr J C Dimeri, V.M.D, B.E.S, Ma, PhD , MEnvSc

info@international-animalrescue-foundation.org.uk

http://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/threats_to_rhino/poaching_for_traditional_chinese_medicine

To be continued ……..

Sadly the video above fails to mention the real issue and that’s what we are getting to.. The Tiger will be extinct in 1-2 years not a decade due to massive demand, lack of awareness, lack of education.. Where not here to write book’s or talk about it on social media were here to stop it..

January 23, 2013 | Categories: You must be the change you want to see in the world | Tags: climate, Environment, Health, medicine, nature, science | Leave a comment