Environments and People - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 54

Animal Byproducts
A bigger part of the animal trade is in animal parts, espe-
cially among Asian countries. Many animal parts are used in
traditional medicine but others are collected for souvenirs
or to wear. T Ten tons of tiger bones (from 500 to 1,000 tigers)
were sold between 1995 and 2002. Bear bladders and tiger
penises are very much in demand as well. In India such un-
usual items as mongoose hair, tiger whiskers, and bear bile
are garnered for the international market for traditional
medicine. Stuffed snakes, inscribed turtle shells, and carved
elephant tusks are also very popular around the world.
Every year, at least $300 million worth of wildlife
products enter the United States. Elephant skin boots;
crocodile shoes and belts (some of this trade is legal);
matted butterflies (stuck by pins into a display box);
snake skins; and even bear paws are only a sampling of
illegally imported items.
In my travels throughout Asia, I have visited (reluc-
tantly) a number of markets selling illegally acquired an-
imals and their by-products. I saw a bear for sale in Inner
Mongolia (China) that was in a cage so small that it
could barely turn around. In one small town, there were
wolf skins hanging on a board in an alley and a woman
wanted to know if I wanted to buy a custom-made pair of
wolf-skin boots. In a shop in Vietnam, I spied bottles of
“cobra tonic” for virility . In each large, green, beer-type
bottle was a whole cobra floating in liquid.
In Guangzhou, China, I went to a market where there
were otters, spotted cats, and other animals crammed into
tiny cages, without food or water, waiting to be sold, I
presume for food. I also went to a “Snake Restaurant”
where they not only cooked snakes but also kept them for
their gall bladders. A man took the snake out of its cage
and put one foot on its tail and the other on its neck.
Then, he grabbed the middle of the snake and, with what
looked like a scalpel, slit it open and took out its little gall
bladder. The organ was then put into a jar with some kind
of preservative in it and placed on a shelf in the window
for the public to see. (No, I didn't eat snake.) Clearly ,
these are images that have stuck in my mind.

The worst of the action is in Southeast Asia. Confisca-
tion, fines, and arrests are limited. Borders are porous
and many poorly paid officials and police are all too
ready to take bribes and look the other way .
Cambodia has a total of only 31 trained officials to
monitor and make arrests of those who are poaching
such animals as tigers, pythons, and pangolins. Cambo-
dian wildlife is increasingly in demand as “stocks run dry
in Vietnam.” The wildlife trade in Vietnam was an esti-
mated $66.5 million in 2002. Now , Vietnamese traders
go to the largely unguarded border and contract with
Cambodians to get the animals for them.
Those individuals and organizations that are working
to save and protect wildlife are pessimistic. There is too
much money to be made by unscrupulous people. A point
to note: After the drug and arms trades, wildlife poaching
is considered to be the most lucrative crime on the planet!
The removal of wildlife negatively impacts biodiver-
sity . Biodiversityrefers to the range of variation of living
organisms and is usually defined in terms of genes,
species, and ecosystems. It is generally accepted that we
should strive to preserve biodiversity for several reasons:
present and potential uses of biological resources espe-
cially in medicine; to maintain a biosphere supportive of
healthy human life; and for its own sake, based on a con-
cern for the well-being of all living things.

TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
Recent findings reveal that tropical medicinal plants are
more commonly found in “disturbed habitats”—where
hunting and gathering or slash-and-burn agriculture is
practiced, and that the virgin forest is quite devoid of
them. However, the knowledge of these plants and their
uses is dying as traditional populations modernize and
become more urbanized.
Does this mean that we should save the people and
disturbed habitats and not worry about pristine rain for-
est? Remember that there are unknown, potential uses
for rain forest flora and that this forest, with its own com-
plex of ecosystems, is integral to the larger biosphere in
which we live.
Some environmentalists speak of environmental
criticality when referring to environmental degradation
and associated socioeconomic deterioration. Removal of
forest, disturbed or not, is removal of habitat for all living
creatures. Ways of life are destroyed and associated
knowledge is lost. Thoughtless development reduces
biodiversity of flora, fauna, and humans. Quality of life
for all is surely related to the health of habitat.

Future Prospects
Prospects for the protection of wildlife are bleak. Al-
though there are international agreements, and national
laws against the illegal trade of animals and their parts,
there is too much money at stake, especially in poorer
countries. The Indian mafia is integrally involved in this
sad, illegal activity . However, it is not only India; crime
syndicates worldwide are making fortunes in the “industry .”