Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
should be preferable to killing young dogs. But a potentially enormous demand for
wild species is a different matter, as drastically reduced numbers of snakes, turtles,
and frogs have become the norm throughout southern China (consequently, Chinese
reports refer to increased numbers of rodents that were previously held in check by
snakes) and as illegal imports of these animals from the Southeast Asia (Vietnam,
the Philippines, Indonesia) supply the local demand for these species.
Other surveys illustrate high levels of illegal wildlife trade in one of the planet's
most biodiverse regions, east of the Himalayas and in the forested parts of Tibet:
this large-scale illegal trade involves both the neighboring countries (particularly
Myanmar and Nepal) and activities within China (Li et al. 2000). Not surprisingly,
a 1999 survey found that 26% of all wild animal dishes served in restaurants con-
tained species on China's endangered list (Smil 2004). As a result, in January 2002
the China Wildlife Conservation Association asked professional chefs to sign a
declaration stating they would not prepare any meals containing endangered species
(
BBC News
2002). But many of those species captured in the wild are now bred
commercially, some in astonishing quantities: half of China's commercial turtle
farms whose ofi ces had responded to a survey by Shi et al. (2008) sell more than
300 million turtles (not only the common softshell
Pelodiscus sinensis
but also criti-
cally endangered species) annually, which means that the actual i gure must be much
higher.
And the now global search for traditional therapies (a far too polite a term for
many superstitions) only adds to China's (and to a lesser extent also to Taiwan's,
South Korea's, and Japan's) destructive dietary choices. The potential extent of the
Chinese demand is truly stunning: Li et al. (2000) reported that in Yunnan province,
more than 6,100 species of plants and nearly 400 species of animals are used in
traditional medicines. Species in high demand include not only the leaves, roots, and
l owers of plants that are in no danger of extinction (such as garlic, ginger, honey-
suckle, magnolia, or peony) but also body parts of such endangered mammals as
bears (galls harvested from illegally killed animals from as far as the Canadian
Rockies) and the Alpine musk deer (
Moschus chrysogaster
). As a result, an analysis
of threats to vertebrate species in China and the United States showed a striking
difference: in the United States, habitat destruction was the leading cause, whereas
in China it was overexploitation by rural populations and the widespread trade in
wildlife products (Li and Wilcove 2005).
This ongoing search for i ctional health benei ts adds constant and cumulatively
destructive pressure to the quest for meat, hides, furs, or plumage, and it has
made the hunting of wild animals one of the two main reasons for the extinction
