Yahoo – AFP,
19 March 2015
Bangkok
(AFP) - A resort complex in northwest Laos targeting Chinese visitors has
become a "lawless playground" for the trade in illegal wildlife
ranging from tiger meat to bear paws, an advocacy group said Thursday.
Customers
"can openly buy endangered species products" in the Golden Triangle
Special Economic Zone on the border between Laos, Myanmar and Thailand in Laos'
Bokeo province, according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency
(EIA).
The
London-based group, together with the non-governmental group Education for
Nature Vietnam, also documented restaurants offering "sauté tiger
meat", bear paws and pangolins on their menus.
Laos is
becoming a growing hub for the trade in endangered species with foreign
tourists, particularly from neighbouring China, driving the demand for illegal
products, according to environmental groups.
Many
Chinese believe rare animal meat and body parts contain aphrodisiac or
medicinal qualities.
The EIA
report called on Laos to immediately set up a task force to tackle the trade
and seize all illegal products in the Special Economic Zone.
"China
also needs to understand and accept that its legal domestic trade in the skins
of captive-bred tigers is doing nothing but driving consumer demand," said
Debbie Banks of the EIA in a statement.
According
to the report the Laos zone "appears more like an extension of China"
-- running on Beijing time, employing mostly Chinese workers and displaying
signs in Chinese characters.
Similar
temples of excess have sprung up in Myanmar where some border towns -- often
outside of central government control -- have become open markets renowned for
selling rare animals, sex and gambling trips to Chinese visitors.
China's
seemingly insatiable appetite for rare animal meat and parts has also led to a
thriving smuggling scene across much of Southeast Asia.
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