Consuming our way to extinction – Rare and exotic animal trade

The native peoples of Laos, China and other Asian nations have taken advantage of the new road infrastructure to escalate the demise of jungle creatures large and small. Their partners in “crimes” against nature are the European nations and US consumers who buy and consume or use the black market meat and produce harvested in large quantities.

According to the United Nations, the world trade in frog meat has exploded in the last 20 years. France and the United States are the two largest importers, with France importing between 2,500 and 4,000 tons each year since 1995. Indonesia exports more than 5,000 tons a year, mainly to Europe. Frog legs are also very popular in Asian cuisine.

Until twenty-five years ago, hundreds of tigers roamed vast tracts of relatively untouched jungle in Laos. But in recent years, particularly the past decade, development, deforestation and a boom in wildlife trafficking have reduced the Laotian tiger population to 50 or fewer individuals, according to Johnson and other scientists. The main driver of the rapid depletion of tigers and dozens of other bird, animal and reptile species is the growing wealth of neighboring Thailand, Vietnam and especially China, where a vast new market for wildlife products has emerged.

Laos is the latest front in the fight to control a clandestine global trade that each year kills tens of millions of wild birds, mammals and reptiles to supply multibillion-dollar markets around the world.

The US and Europe are among the largest buyers of elephant ivory and parts of tiger and frog, monkey and game animals (commonly known as bushmeat). all over the world in Southeast Asia, the Russian Far East, Africa and even North America.

Rapid development and increasing wealth create a demand for more hunting and commercial trapping; an increase in international trade; the rise of increasingly sophisticated smuggling networks; an influx of weapons and technology; and easier access to wilderness due to road construction by extractive industries. The opening of the Laotian economy, like other native economies around the world, put prices on the heads of virtually every animal, from river bugs to tigers.

Over-exploitation of wildlife for trade must be addressed in a way that is respectful, sensitive, effective, and fair and honest to local people. This is a very sensitive educational and economic challenge that has the potential to lead the way out of investment that has recently become a flood. Like other forest-dependent people, rural Laos have long relied on hunting to supplement their rice-dominated diet with protein. But the opening of the economy put a price on the heads of virtually every animal, from river bugs to tigers. This, along with a lack of wildlife education and preservation, combined with an abundance of weapons left over from years of war, gave hunters the incentive and tools to turn rich biodiversity into money.

This scenario has been repeated around the world many times a day and the result on both the land, sea and air of the world has been impoverished as these animals, plants, insects, birds, reptiles and amphibians fall silent because we have chosen this consumer. mindset, but we can and are making better decisions.

Everyone can help.

Refusing to buy, eat or use products or use cosmetics made from wild animals at the expense of the biodiversity of our beloved planet.

Yes, we can save our world.