Trafficking in wildlife, especially pangolin, from Malaysia into Thailand

[misskit]

Traffickers in wildlife in Malaysia have increasingly switched to land routes instead of boat in their smuggling of endangered wild animals and plants from Indonesia and Malaysia into Thailand before being smuggled out through Laos into Vietnam and China, according to Somkiart Sunthornpitakkul, director of Wildlife and Plants Protection Office, and Prat Kongthong, chief of the wildlife inspection checkpoint in Padang Besar.

The two wildlife officials said that Thailand is just a transit for the smuggled wild animals, especially Pangolin anteaters which are a favourite delicacy by Chinese and Vietnamese.

Prat noted that along a 12-kilometer stretch of Thai-Malaysian land border between the Perlis state and Sadao district of Songkhla, there are 11 “risky” points where smuggles use to sneak wild animals into Thailand.

He said that most of the smuggled Pangolins were force-fed with flour and energy drinks in order to increase their weight so they can be sold at higher prices. But the fact that they were usually put together in crowded space and the long travelling time, the anteaters would mostly become so exhausted and would not last for long and the flour they were force-fed make the animals unable to digest.

During the past three years, officials have seized more than 500 pangolins and other rare species such as tiger, clouded tiger, orangutan, Indian star turtle and panther from the smugglers at the Thai-Malaysian border.

To stem the trafficking in wildlife, officials of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation Department have received close cooperation from customs officials and the military in checking vehicles and luggage from Malaysia to look for the wild animals.

Trafficking in wildlife, especially pangolin, from Malaysia into Thailand - Thai PBS English News

[Maanaam]

Strange. I've been through the Sadao crossing many times and even when queuing for long periods within sight of the Customs guys, I have never once seen anybody stopped to have their car or luggage checked except for me.
I was stopped while on the back of a moto taxi. Just been to duty free and had 4 bottles of rum which I had placed in the motocy basket on the front. Very visible.
They stopped us thinking the bottles belonged to the driver, but when he said they were mine, we were waved on.

Hundreds of cars and vans go through every day. I can easily imagine smugglers having a laugh.

[Wilsonandson]

Pangolin’s meat, blood and scales are enjoyed only by the wealthy, as an edible token of status and success. Some have observed moneyed restaurant patrons paying up to $700 for just two kilograms of the meat. “In some restaurants it can be the most expensive meat on the menu.” Dining on the animal can also be a theatrical—and deeply morbid—affair. “I’ve seen it happen. They will club the pangolin until it’s unconscious and then they they will cut its throat with some scissors,” one person recounts. For wealthy patrons wanting to display their status, buying this expensive wild meat is a sure way to do it, he says.



Menu of one restaurant



A waitress in Hanoi, Vietnam, shows how pangolin is prepared. Pangolin sells for as much as $350 per kilo.

[Maanaam]

Time to introduce fair trade practices on pangolins.

[harrybarracuda]

Can't they farm them?

[Maanaam]

Can't they farm them?

You'd think so, @$200 at the restaurant door, but....

Many attempts have been made to reproduce pangolins in captivity, but due to their reliance on wide-ranging habitats and very particular diets, these attempts are often unsuccessful.[18] They are susceptible to diseases such as pneumonia and the development of ulcers in captivity, complications which can lead to an early death.[18] In addition, pangolins rescued from illegal trade often have a higher chance of being infected with parasites such as intestinal worms, further lessening their chance for rehabilitation and reintroduction to the wild.[18]