MALAYSIA: Traditional Healers Fight Use Of Animal Parts For medicinal Purposes

Numerous endangered animals in Malaysia continue to be poached and killed for the silliest of reason: millions of people around the region continue to persist in the belief that the parts of rare and "exotic" animals have curative properties.

And so rhinos are killed mercilessly for their horns to cure cancer and other diseases.

Tigers are poached for their bones so their bones can be ground up and used as curatives for kidney and liver problems or arthritis.

Pangolins have been driven to the edge of extinction because their scales are used in traditional medicine to treat malarial fever, deafness or demonic possession.

Sun bears are condemned to a life of misery so that their bile could be harvested to treat a variety of ailments.

Needless to say, none of these body parts possess the magical curative properties attributed to them.

But here now comes some good news: 46 members of the Federation of Chinese Physicians and Medicine Dealers Associations of Malaysia (FCPMDAM) have joined forces with the anti-wildlife trafficking watchdog TRAFFIC to fight wildlife crimes in the country.

The federation's healers have agreed, by signing a pledge, to promote herbal and other alternatives to bear bile in traditional medicine.

It is the responsibility of each of us to cherish and protect wild resources, the federation's President Ting Ka Hua said.

Chinese medicine practitioners and retailers should choose the legitimately produced medicines, pay attention to the contents of the products, do not buy medicinal ingredients of unknown provenance, and consciously resist illegal items.

Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are duty-bound, he said, to correct unfounded and inaccurate concepts of the use of wildlife in traditional medicine.

He added: Under the leadership of the Federation, we will drive support for the effort to end the use of illegal and endangered wildlife products in traditional medicine, within the Malaysian Chinese Traditional Medicine community, while maintaining the highest, safest and most reliable services.

Kudos to members of the federation for taking a stance against the use of wild animals like bears in traditional medicine.

The TCM community of practitioners and users in Malaysia can be one of the strongest allies to ending illegal wildlife trade, and we are very glad to be partnering with Malaysia’s largest TCM community, noted Kanitha Krishnasamy, acting regional director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.

The good news is that effective substitutes for bear-based products are available and being used worldwide and it’s important for the Malaysian community to know of these alternatives and work towards incorporating them into practice.


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TANZANIA: Infant Rats Training To Detect Trafficked Pangolin Parts And Smuggled Hardwood Timber In Morogoro

The pangolin, a scaly anteater coveted by poachers, might have a new champion: rats that will be trained to sniff out trafficked pangolin parts in shipments heading from Africa to Asia.

A pilot project to turn African giant pouched rats into conservationist sleuths is literally in its infancy — the 10 to 15 rodents being reared in Tanzania to detect pungent pangolin remains as well as smuggled hardwood timber are just a few weeks old and most are still with their mothers.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service , however, is on board with the vermin trial, which organisers hope can eventually be used to find hidden elephant ivory and rhino horn. The American agency has provided $100,000 to support what it says could be “an innovative tool in combating illegal wildlife trade.”

The challenge seems overwhelming.

Conservationists describe the pangolin as the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal because its meat is considered a delicacy in Vietnam and some parts of China, and its scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Wildlife contraband is concealed among vast numbers of shipping containers that annually leave Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Mombasa in Kenya and other African ports.

Yet APOPO , a non-profit group based in Tanzania, already harnesses the rats’ keen sense of smell to find mines and other explosive material on old battlefields in Angola, Mozambique and, more recently, Cambodia. The organization also uses rats to detect tuberculosis in sputum samples of patients in Tanzania and Mozambique.

The rats in the conservation project will start “socialisation training,” which means being carried around on people’s shoulders and in their pockets, being driven around and generally getting used to sights and sounds, APOPO spokesman James Pursey said.

Then comes “click and reward” training in which the rats are fed a treat whenever they hear a clicking sound, and they’ll eventually learn to link the gamey smell of pangolin scales with edible rewards.

Later, the intensity of the pangolin smell will be reduced and other smells will be added to confuse the rats. The ultimate aim is to train the rodents to scratch or linger over the pangolin or hardwood aroma for three seconds, tipping handlers to a possible find.

APOPO is confident it can get rats to discriminate between a pangolin scent and other smells, and “the challenge is going to be how the rats actually test the containers,” Pursey said.

The Endangered Wildlife Trust , a South African group leading the project, said the trial “builds on the use of scent detection by dogs, but will take advantage of the rats’ added agility and ability to access the container vents, which would provide the most air from the container, and potentially the most scent. Alternatively, the rats will detect scents sampled onto a filter through the vents.”

Handlers can dispatch rats with leashes and harnesses into hard-to-reach areas, but then “how are they going to tell us that they’ve found something?” said Kirsty Brebner of the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

One option being considered is to install small cameras on the backs of the rats, an idea that has been discussed for the detection of people trapped in collapsed buildings after an earthquake or bombing.

WWF and TRAFFIC have supported “successful” tests using dogs and air-filtering technology to detect wildlife contraband, “but we are still learning the best ways to apply the system for prime time, permanent applications,” said Crawford Allan, a leader of an anti-wildlife crime initiative launched by the two conservation groups.

“Dogs do need a lot of care and we won’t risk them crawling into tight spaces where they could be injured — so bringing in a conservation ‘pied piper’ and a squad of rats could help in those circumstances where they can move freely, with low risk in more cramped conditions inside shipping containers or on the back of trucks etc.,” Allan said in an email. He is not involved in the rat research.

If the training goes well, it could still be another year or so before the rats finally get to work. They’ll stick to cargo perusal rather than, for example, checking out people’s luggage in airports. Travelers, Pursey of APOPO said, wouldn’t be “particularly enamored” to have vermin crawling on their belongings.

MALAYSIA: Wildlife Trafficer Arrested

Score yet another victory up for Malaysian wildlife officials. In a string of five raids conducted simultaneously in the states of Kedah, Selangor and Kelantan, officials from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan) seized a total of 32 wild animals, worth more than RM500,000, and arrested five people, including one prospective buyer.

All the people engaged in the illegal trading of endangered species had been tracked through a Facebook page and were nabbed at private residences and at pet shops. Among the animals seized were a live tiger cub, a leopard cat, a black pond turtle and a binturong. They also included foreign species such as a dwarf caiman and a Mollucan cockatoo, which must have been smuggled into Malaysia for sale on the exotic pet market. At one of the pet shops officials also found four baby long-tailed macaques for sale.

In a separate raid at Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport, an Indian national was arrested for trying to smuggle the parts of tigers and other animals (including pelts, teeth and claws) out of Malaysia.

“This has been a good year for Perhilitan’s law enforcement team. We hope that this streak carries on and more wildlife criminals can be put behind bars,” said Kanitha Krishnasamy, senior program manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia. “This case exemplifies the type of investigations that can lead to successful enforcement action, involving traders, middlemen and buyers. We also hope that the arrest of a buyer in this case cautions other would-be consumers – the law makes no exception for the uninformed.”

Since 2014 at least 59 other individuals have been arrested in 48 operations, according to Environment and Natural Resources Minister Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar. He said the latest arrests showed that the country’s exotic pet market continued to thrive despite increasing efforts to roll it back. “It is shocking how the demand for such animals has grown. A six-month old tiger, a critically endangered species, seized was meant for a Malaysian at a cost of RM200,000,” the minister said. “It appears our people are no longer interested in the usual cats and dogs, they are looking for tigers and alligators and this is a disturbing development.”

Disturbing but nothing new, sadly. Back in March, an investigation by TRAFFIC revealed a thriving online trade in exotic pets across Malaysia, much to the horror of local conservationists and animal lovers.

Wan Junaidi has called for handing down the toughest possible penalties to those breaking Malaysia’s wildlife laws. We certainly second that call. Under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, offenders face a fine of up to RM500,000 and a maximum jail sentence of five years, or both. “The judges presiding on such cases need to exercise the provisions under the Act to jail offenders instead of fining them,” the minister opined. “Let us see how they like being in a cage.”

It’s only by throwing the book at wrongdoers that we can hope to roll back the thriving trade in exotic animals, dead or alive, in Malaysia.

CYPRUS: Tourist Sought After Fleeing Crash Scene

Police are on the lookout for a Norwegian tourist who is believed to have caused a serious car crash in early hours of Wednesday morning before fleeing the scene of the accident.

According to traffic police, the accident occurred just before the Rizoelias roundabout in Larnaca when the rental car – that has been traced back to a Norwegian man who is said to have been on the island for around a month – collided head-on with a car carrying five people. Investigators say that the rental car had driven down the wrong lane.

The passengers in the other car were rushed to Larnaca General Hospital where one of the men is said to have suffered serious injuries. The rest are said to have suffered minor injuries.

MALAWI: Mzuzu High Court, Tanzania Blocks Malawi Ivory Burn

Tanzania on Friday successfully blocked Malawi from burning 2.6 tonnes of ivory smuggled across the border, arguing the horns would be used as evidence during prosecution against poaching suspects.

"We are disappointed because we were all set to burn the trafficked ivory on Friday morning to show our commitment to the fight against elephant poaching and illegal trafficking of ivory until Tanzania prosecutors appeared to seek a court order to stop the process," said Bright Kumchedwa, director of Malawi's parks and wildlife department.

In 2013, 781 tusks smuggled across the border from Tanzania were intercepted by Malawian customs officials.

The stash of 2.6 tonnes was due to be destroyed Friday, with an additional 4 tonnes to be torched later, as Malawi ramps up its efforts to curb poaching.

That has now been delayed after the Mzuzu High Court in Malawi ruled in favour of the Tanzanian appeal, granting a three-month court order halting the torching.

Last month, a court fined two Malawian siblings $5,500 for their part in trafficking the ivory and ordered it be burned within 20 days.

"We were just complying with the court order," Kumchedwa said.

Poaching has halved Malawi's elephant population from 4,000 in the 1980s to just 2,000, according to conservationists.

Jonathan Vaughan, director of conservation NGO Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, said that Malawi is a soft target not only for poachers but also traffickers because of the country’s reputation for corruption, and weak wildlife crime legislation and law enforcement.

Malawi is currently reviewing its wildlife act to provide for stiffer penalties.

Meanwhile, elephant census figures released by Tanzania in June showed a terrible decline of around 60 percent over the last five years, according to wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC.

A report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency last November said that criminal gangs and smuggling syndicates had turned Tanzania into "the biggest source of illegal ivory seized around the world".