Cruel, evil wildlife trade: Hong Kong’s top authority paints horrifying picture of what goes on every day

_{Shark fins drying Photo: Paul Hilton/Earth Tree Images}

Biodiversity across the globe is endangered by the illegal wildlife trade. Ecosystem collapse will be catastrophic to humanity. More pandemics are likely as tens of thousands of animal viruses are known to be capable of making a jump to humans.

These are some of the scariest facts Hong Kong’s foremost wildlife trade expert Professor Amanda Whitfort states on her website. “A quarter of all terrestrial species: 7638 are now in trade, including a third of all reptile species and a quarter of all bird species. Endangered species are being driven to extinction and once common species are becoming rare.” The next pandemic, triggered by a virus jumping from an animal to a human, may be far deadlier than Covid-19.

_{Macaques seen inside the cages during on sale at animals market store in Indonesia. Photo by Sutanta Aditya/ABACAPRESS.COM}

Professor Whitfort says harm done by the illegal wildlife trade goes beyond the physical suffering of individual animals. Judges may give a smuggler caught with a shipment of tortoises and a restaurant owner with endangered reef fish light sentences “because it is just a few tortoises” or fish. Trafficked animals suffer cruelty in capture and transport such as crushing, asphyxiation, dehydration, starvation, temperature shock and stress.

Illegal trade in pangolins is common in this part of the world. “Traps may leave pangolins maimed. They may not live long during transport suffering dehydration and starvation before they find themselves being descaled in restaurants or markets.”

The professor says biodiversity is essential for the health of our ecosystem. “Species are the bricks on which ecosystems are built. Take out enough bricks and the ecosystem will collapse. We may be close to a tipping point as species are pushed to extinction by climate change, habitat loss, pollution — and the wildlife trade. What is a collapsed ecosystem? A grassland that has turned into a dustbowl or a coral reef once full of fish turns into a lifeless mire of green algae.”

_{BUZZ exposed exotic animal store in Sai Kung in 2018}

Ms Whitfort rolls out horrifying statistics:

• 1471 species of fish are traded for aquariums
• More than 140 million pieces of coral are traded annually
• 10 million marine invertebrates are traded every year
• More than 35% of reptile species are sold. 21 species of reptiles have been wiped out by this illegal trade
• About a quarter of all wild bird species are traded. “The topical forests of SE Asia are being emptied of song birds.” The removal of birds who spread seeds and control insects is potentially catastrophic.

The above is quoted from the University of Hong Kong’s Species Victim Impact Statement Initiative. Professor Whitfort is the leading authority on animal welfare law in Hong Kong. The Government has awarded her two grants to study how animal related laws can be improved. She sits on the Government’s legal sub-committee advising AFCD on animal related law and policy.