Singapore to ban sale of elephant ivory from 2021

Yahoo – AFP, August 12, 2019

Singapore authorities made their largest ever seizure of smuggled ivory last month,
impounding a haul of nearly nine tonnes of contraband tusks from an estimated
300 African elephants valued at $12.9 million (AFP Photo/Handout)

Singapore said Monday it will impose a blanket ban on the domestic sale of elephant ivory and products from 2021 as the government tightens its campaign against illegal wildlife trade.

The announcement on World Elephant Day followed two years of consultations with non-government groups, ivory retailers and the public.

Authorities in the city-state made their largest ever seizure of smuggled ivory last month, impounding a haul of nearly nine tonnes of contraband tusks from an estimated 300 African elephants valued at $12.9 million.

The illegal cargo was discovered in a container from the Democratic Republic of the Congo being shipped to Vietnam via Singapore and also included a huge stash of pangolin scales.

Singapore has banned international trade in all forms of elephant ivory products since 1990.

Such items could be sold domestically if traders could prove they were imported before that year or acquired prior to the inclusion of the relevant elephant species in an international convention protecting endangered species.

In a statement Monday, Singapore's National Parks Board banned the sale of elephant ivory and products with effect from September 1, 2021.

Violators face a jail term of up to one year and fines on conviction.

Traders can donate their ivory stocks to institutions or keep them after the ban takes effect, the board said.

Public consultation by the government last year showed that 99 percent of those who responded were in favour of a total ban.

Elephant ivory is coveted because it can be fashioned into items like combs, pendants and other jewellery.

The global trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after the population of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to around 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

Malaysia makes record 30-tonne pangolin seizure

Yahoo – AFP, February 12, 2019

Graphic on pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammals. (AFP Photo/AFP)

Malaysian authorities have made a record seizure of about 30 tonnes of pangolins and their scales worth some $2 million in raids on major processing facilities, police and environmentalists said Tuesday.

The haul included about 1,800 boxes full of frozen pangolins stuffed inside three refrigerated containers, 572 more frozen pangolins in six freezers, 61 live pangolins in cages, and 361 kilogrammes (795 pounds) of pangolin scales, according to police.

The Southeast Asian nation is battling to clamp down on rampant poaching and smuggling of pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal.

The critically endangered creatures, also known as scaly anteaters, have long been targeted as their body parts are highly valued in traditional medicine in countries including China and Vietnam while their meat is considered a delicacy.

Following a tip-off, wildlife officials in Sabah state raided a factory and a warehouse on Thursday, according to a statement from local police chief Omar Mammah.

Graphic on pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammals. (AFP Photo)

Police arrested a 35-year-old man suspected to have been in charge of the factory as part of an illegal syndicate.

The operation is believed to have been running for the past seven years, and police believe the pangolins were bought from poachers to be distributed locally.

Traffic, a Malaysia-based group that monitors wildlife smuggling around the region, said it was the "biggest such bust Malaysia has seen to date".

"No threatened species can withstand industrial levels of extraction such as this," Kanitha Krishnasamy, the group's Southeast Asia director, told AFP.

The seizures also shone a light on Sabah's major role in animal trafficking -- the state on Borneo island has been implicated in smuggling cases involving over 40 tonnes of pangolins since August 2017, according to Traffic.

Malaysia regularly foils attempts to smuggle pangolins and their parts out of the country but usually on a far smaller scale.

75,000 cacti, monkeys and ivory seized in anti wildlife trafficking campaign

DutchNews, December 17, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Some 75,000 cacti, monkeys, coral and kilos of ivory are among the items seized by Dutch officials in a major drive against wildlife trafficking, which took place between September and mid November. 

Operation Toucan is a national campaign in support of the CITES endangered species treaty, which also aims to build up a better picture of smuggling routes and boost public awareness about the illegal trade in plants and animals. 

This year, officials, police and customs experts were involved in raids across the country and on the Dutch Caribbean islands. In total, there were 217 separate investigations. 

The haul of illegal goods ranged from Korean face creams containing endangered types of the Aloe plant, a parcel containing six live snakes from the US and two dead toucans which had been sent from Uruguay to the Netherlands. 

Officials also picked up two live monkeys which were being kept as pets. Officials also confiscated rare tropical hardwood which was to be used as wall panelling and took coral from tourists on Bonaire who were planning to take it home. On the last day of the campaign, police seized seven kilos of ivory at a collectors fair in Utrecht. 

New this year was the involvement of the Meld Misdaad Anoniem crime tip-off hotline, the nature and farm ministry said. 

The ministry also said on Monday that from next March all trading in raw ivory in the Netherlands will be banned. Selling ivory dating from 1990 onwards was already illegal but this will be extended to cover the entire trade because of fraud with certificates and the difficulty in differentiating between new and old ivory, the minister said. 

The ministry is also working to set up a network of places where people can hand over ivory or plants and animals which may be on the CITES list.

Singapore Airlines bans lion bones in cargo

Yahoo – AFP, September 21, 2018

Singapore Airlines says it has banned lion bones as cargo on its planes
(AFP Photo/GREG BAKER)

Singapore (AFP) - Singapore Airlines said Friday it has stopped accepting lion bones for cargo after the carrier was singled out in a report for transporting the animal parts from South Africa.

Campaigners have long called for a ban on the controversial trade in big cat bones, which are sought after for medicine and jewellery in Southeast Asia.

Singapore Airlines was the sole carrier importing lion bones from South Africa to Southeast Asia last year, according to a report released in July by the non-profit EMS Foundation and animal rights group Ban Animal Trading.

At least 800 lion skeletons had been exported with the blessing of the South African government in 2017, the report said, making it the world's largest exporter of lion bones.

The airline told AFP it had stopped accepting lion bones as cargo, but did not say when the policy had come into effect.

"Singapore Airlines does not accept the carriage of lion bones as cargo following a review which took into account increasing concerns around the world," the company said in an email.

EMS Foundation director Michele Pickover said her organisation had sent the report to the airline and "appealed to them to immediately stop its involvement in this terrible trade".

"I believe that once they were informed about what this trade entails they took the correct and logical decision not to support it," she told AFP.

South Africa has been sending lion bones to Southeast Asia since at least 2008 and it was likely that Singapore Airlines had been transporting them since that year, Pickover added.

Lion bones and other body parts are highly sought after in parts of Southeast Asia -- particularly Laos, Thailand and Vietnam -- for use in jewellery and for their supposed medicinal properties.

In Vietnam, lion bone is cooked and turned into balm while claws and teeth were used as body ornaments, the report said.

While trade of body parts from wild lions is banned, international treaties allow the sale of parts taken from lions bred in captivity.

Cameroon pangolin traffickers caught in the act

Yahoo – AFP, August 21, 2018

Pangolin scales are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (AFP Photo/
Jekesai Njikizana)

Yaoundé (AFP) - Police in Cameroon have shut down an international poaching gang after catching six traffickers carrying more than 700 kilos of pangolin scales, a conservation group said Tuesday.

Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are one of the world's most trafficked species and are threatened with extinction. Their scales are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and their meat is a delicacy in many Asian and African countries.

The six poachers -- five Cameroonians and one from the Central African Republic -- were arrested on August 18 in Douala, a coastal city in southwest Cameroon, according to the Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA).

Most of the 718 kilos (1,600 pounds) of scales they were carrying were from the Democratic Republic of Congo, it said.

The gang bought pangolins from smaller traffickers in Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo before sending them to Nigeria, where they were prepared for export to Asia, it said.

50 live crocodiles from Malaysia seized at London airport

Yahoo – AFP, May 4, 2018

Saltwater crocodiles from Malaysia found at London Heathrow Airport had not been
packed in accordance with international regulations, making the importation illegal
(AFP Photo/ARNO BURGI)

British officials have seized an illegal shipment of 50 live crocodiles at London Heathrow Airport, the UK Border Force said Friday.

The year-old juvenile saltwater crocodiles were found crammed into five boxes coming from Malaysia.

The were bound for a farm in Cambridgeshire, eastern England, where they were to be bred for their meat.

The animals had not been packed in accordance with international regulations, making the importation illegal.

Each box only had room for four crocodiles but 10 had been packed into each one.

"It is just not acceptable for reptiles to be transported in this way," said Grant Miller, head of the national Border Force Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) at Heathrow.

"The crocodiles had started to fight each other during the flight as space was limited, so little attention had been paid to their welfare.

"We will seize anything that contravenes CITES regulations, so this should serve as a warning to those thinking about transporting wildlife in such conditions."

The crocodiles were found on April 27. One has since died and the others are being cared for before being rehomed.

Man stopped on Thai border with orangutans, tortoises, raccoons

Yahoo – AFP, June 22, 2017

The tiny orangutans rescued at the Thai border were less than six
months old (AFP Photo/Handout)

Thai wildlife officers have arrested a Malaysian man attempting to smuggle two baby orangutans, 51 tortoises and six raccoons into the kingdom across its southern border, officials said Thursday.

The animals were packed into plastic boxes and suitcases loaded into Ismail Bin Ahmad's car, officials said.

The 63-year-old was stopped Wednesday as he was attempting to drive through a border checkpoint in Thailand's southern Songkhla province -- part of an insurgency-torn region known as a funnel for drugs, weapons and other contraband.

"The suspect said he was hired to transport the animals from (neighbouring) Perlis state in Malaysia to Hat Yai (in Thailand) for 1,000 baht ($33 dollars)," Prach Kongthong, a wildlife officer manning the checkpoint, told AFP.

The tiny orangutans were less than six months old and will be transferred to a local shelter, he added.

The seized animals, including orangutans, were packed into suitcases and plastic

boxes (AFP Photo/Handout)

Orangutans are native to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra but they are often illegally smuggled throughout mainland Southeast Asia, either for private zoos or as pets.

Most of the 51 rescued reptiles were Indian star tortoises -- an endangered species from South Asia coveted for its star-patterned shell.

Thailand has long served as a transit hub for wildlife products bound for major markets like Vietnam and China, where exotic animal parts are often used in folk medicines.

Thai police frequently seize trafficked animals and wildlife products but they usually only catch low-level couriers, leaving the smuggling kingpins behind the lucrative trade at large.

In December Thai police rescued two baby orangutans in a sting operation that saw undercover officers pose as buyers over a mobile phone messaging app.

China to ban ivory trade by end of 2017: media

Yahoo – AFP, December 30, 2016

China has a stockpile of ivory purchased with CITES approval in 2008,
which it releases for sale with certification (AFP Photo/FRED DUFOUR)

Beijing (AFP) - China will ban all domestic ivory trade and processing by the end of 2017, state media reported Friday, a move hailed by activists as a "game changer" for African elephants.

African ivory is highly sought after in China where it is seen as a status symbol -- prices for a kilo (2.2 pounds) can reach as much as $1,100.

"China will gradually stop the processing and sales of ivories for commercial purposes by the end of 2017," the official Xinhua news agency said, citing a government statement.

"Before that deadline, law enforcement agencies will continue to clamp down on illegalities associated with the elephant's tusk," Xinhua added, citing an official with the State Forestry Administration.

The announcement follows Beijing's announcement in March to widen a ban on imports of all ivory and ivory products acquired before 1975, after pressure to restrict a trade that sees thousands of elephants slaughtered every year.

Major trafficking routes of large-scale African ivory consignments 2000-2015

 (AFP Photo/John SAEKI, Adrian LEUNG)

Xinhua said the complete ban would affect "34 processing enterprises and 143 designated trading venues, with dozens to be closed by the end of March 2017".

"This is great news that will shut down the world's largest market for elephant ivory," Aili Kang, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Asia, said in a statement.

"I am very proud of my country for showing this leadership that will help ensure that elephants have a fighting chance to beat extinction. This is a game changer for Africa's elephants."

Conservationists estimate that more than 20,000 elephants were killed for their ivory last year, with similar tolls in previous years. The WWF campaign group says 415,000 of the animals remain.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which took effect in 1975, banned the ivory trade in 1989.

China permits the resale of ivory bought before the 1989 ban -- and also has a stockpile purchased with CITES approval in 2008, which it releases for sale with certification.

WWF also praised China's move to a complete ban but called on the Chinese territory of Hong Kong to bring forward a plan to end its ivory trade by 2021.

WWF said legal research published by the conservation group shows an ivory ban could be imposed "much sooner under current Hong Kong law".

"With China’s market closed, Hong Kong can become a preferred market for traffickers to launder illegal ivory under cover of the legal ivory trade," said Cheryl Lo, senior wildlife crime officer at WWF.

The United States -- the world's second-largest consumer of illegal ivory after China -- announced in June a near-total ban on the trade of African elephant ivory but with notable exemptions including antiques.

Related Articles:

One-year ban on ivory carving imports to China (28-02-2015)

Chinese officials 'on illegal African ivory buying sprees' (6-11-2014)

UN Security Council declares war on ivory poachers, traffickers

Three arrested with suitcases full of reptiles at Schipol

DutchNews, September 6, 2016

One of the suitcases. Photo: NVWA.nl 

Three Spanish nationals have been arrested at Schiphol airport after customs officials found 259 reptiles stuffed into four suitcases they were carrying. 

The haul included snakes, lizards and tortoises, 10 of which had died during the journey. If they had been traded on the open market, the reptiles would have had a value of some €80,000, officials said. 

The three men were on their way from Mexico to Spain when they were stopped at Schiphol. Many of the reptiles in their bags were protected species, including 14 chucawallas, a lizard found only on the Mexican island of San Esteban. 

Last month, a German man was arrested at Schiphol airport after customs officials found dozens of snakes, lizards and other reptiles hidden in his suitcase. 

The man was on his way from South Africa to Germany to sell the animals at a reptile fair. Some 40 reptiles were stuffed in a plastic box in the suitcase and several had not survived the journey. 

And at the end of August, police and customs officers  seized a record haul of illegal animal products, including swordfish horns, mounted crocodiles and coral from five storage units in North Brabant, together with €500,000 in cash and gold.

Related Article:

Lizard skins, swordfish horns and two tonnes of coral recovered in police raid

Lizard skins, swordfish horns and two tonnes of coral recovered in police raid

DutchNews, August 29, 2016

Picture: Dutch police. 

Police and customs officers have seized a record haul of illegal animal products, including swordfish horns, mounted crocodiles and coral. 

Altogether two tonnes of coral, as well as snake and lizard skins and ivory from protected species, were recovered from five storage units in North Brabant, together with €500,000 in cash and gold. 

A spokesman for Rotterdam police said researchers spent three days categorising the collection, which was characterised by a ‘bizarre range and diversity’. 

The trail to the illegal depot began after a routine check at Rotterdam harbour uncovered 345 kilos of coral contained in 15 packing cases on a container ship from China. 

The owner of the company where the items were stored, a 53-year-old man, is under investigation but police said no arrests have been made.

Danish auction house stops ivory sales after protests

Yahoo – AFP, 24 Nov 2015

Ivory, as displayed here at an auction on October 28, 2008 in Windhoek, Namibia,
is sold for jewellery and decorative objects, with much of it is smuggled to China,
where many increasingly wealthy shoppers are buying ivory trinkets (AFP)

Denmark's second largest auction house said Monday it had stopped selling ivory products amid a social media storm over its planned sale of two tusks belonging to an African elephant.

The nearly two-metre (80 inch) tusks, weighing 28 kilogrammes (62 pounds) each, were to have gone under the hammer for a total of 150,000 kroner (20,107 euros, $21,344) on Wednesday.

"We try to be as aware as possible of what can cause offence," Kasper Nielsen, a sales director at Bruun Rasmussen, told AFP.

The move had been based on "the reactions we have received both" from the conservation group WWF "and our customers on social media," he said.

The decision also covered any tusks and horns belonging to the endangered species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the company said.

The auction had been slammed by the WWF as immoral, and on the company's Facebook page one user had left comments that said: "Supporting the poachers is horrific!" and: "I will never do business with this outfit again."

Rampant poaching of elephants in Africa has caused a major drop in their numbers over recent decades.

There are between 419,000 and 650,000 elephants left, according to conservation group Save the Elephants.

In a bid to show their determination to end the trade in ivory, Kenya's wildlife authority last week vowed to destroy its vast ivory stockpile from several thousand elephants, nine times more than the largest pile torched so far.

Ivory is sought out for jewellery and decorative objects and much of it is smuggled to China, where many increasingly wealthy shoppers are buying ivory trinkets as a sign of financial success.

Thailand destroys ivory stockpile amid junta crackdown

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Aug 2015

Thai Department of National Parks (DNP) workers display pieces of ivory 

during a destruction ceremony in Bangkok on August 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Bangkok (AFP) - Thailand destroyed more than two tonnes of ivory Wednesday -- a victory for animal rights groups fighting against the trade in a country renowned for being a hub for illegal tusks.

The ceremony, in which 2,155 kilograms of raw tusks and carved trinkets were fed into an industrial rock crusher before being incinerated, was presided over by the Thai junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha and is the first time the kingdom has taken steps to destroy part of its stockpile.

"This is to show the Thai government's strong determination to oppose ivory trafficking and that Thailand will comply with international rules," he said during the ceremony.

Animal rights campaigners have long accused successive Thai civilian and military administrations of turning a blind eye to the lucrative trade.

They have pushed for Bangkok to destroy its stockpile to signal its determination to stamp down on the trade and avoid the risk of seized ivory finding its way back onto the black market through corrupt officials.

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha (2nd R) looks at pieces of ivory

 on display during a destruction of confiscated ivory exercise at Thailand's 

Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Bangkok on

August 26, 2015 (AFP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). But that has not stopped criminal gangs seeking to exploit a continued demand for tusks in Asia.

Ivory and other body parts of elephants are prized for decoration, as talismans, and for use in traditional medicine across parts of Asia with Thailand a key transit point.

The country's generals, who seized power in a coup last spring, have vowed to crack down on the illegal ivory trade.

Earlier this year, they ordered all Thais to register any ivory they owned, warning that those who failed to do so would see their items confiscated.

They have also made a series of high profile seizures including four tonnes of ivory found hidden in containers in April that originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and was destined for Laos.

Thai police seized more than three tonnes of ivory a week later in a second haul, this time from Kenya that was again destined for Laos.

Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 - but that has not stopped criminal gangs

 seeking to exploit a continued demand for tusks in Asia (AFP Photo/

Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

The ivory destroyed on Wednesday accounts for most of Thailand's stockpile where criminal cases have been completed.

A further 540 kilograms has been donated to museums, government institution and universities to be used for educational and awareness raising purposes.

Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, from the World Wildlife Fund, said Thailand's junta had taken significant steps to tackle the illegal trade and that the destruction of the stockpile was "more than just a symbolic act".

"For too long Thailand has been exploited by wildlife criminals as both a gateway and marketplace for ivory poached in Africa and Asia," she added.

The ceremony came as state media in Vietnam reported two significant seizures of elephant tusks in the last few days, including two tonnes from Nigeria and another yet to be weighed haul that came via Malaysia.

Related Article:

Vietnam seizes illegal ivory from Malaysia

662 kg of confiscated illegal ivory destroyed in China

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-05-31

An illegal ivory carving is destroyed by an official in Beijing, May 29. (Photo/CNS)

The Chinese government on Friday destroyed 662 kg of confiscated ivory, the second such demonstration of its stance against wildlife crime.

The illegal ivory, which was seized over the past year, was dumped into crushers in Beijing and ground down by the State Forestry Administration (SFA) and the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In January last year, 6.1 tonnes of confiscated ivory were destroyed in the southern city of Dongguan.

The second public ivory destruction in China demonstrates the country's determination to end the illegal trade, protect wildlife and raise public awareness, said Zhao Shucong, head of the SFA.

"We will strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted," Zhao said.

The Chinese government will ban transport of illegal wildlife products by any means and pay special attention to the illegal ivory trade on the internet, he said.

Yu Guangzhou, chief of the GAC, said that while the smuggling of endangered species, including ivory, into China has been declining, customs will continue to fight illegal trade of wildlife products.

In February, the country announced a one-year ban on the import of ivory carvings to protect wild elephants. The SFA has said the temporary ban would allow authorities to evaluate its effect before taking further steps.

Ivory smuggling remains rampant globally. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) program monitoring the illegal killing of elephants has said that poaching rates still exceed natural elephant population growth rates, meaning a continued decline in elephant numbers and the reality that the animal faces extinction should such activities continue.

Ivory is legal in China if it comes from two sources; stock imported before the country joined CITES in 1981 and the 62 tonnes of raw ivory which China bought from four African countries in 2008, as permitted by CITES.

Ivory must be processed at designated places, sold in approved shops and tracked on an individual item basis. Each legal ivory product can be tracked through a unique photo ID and is recorded in a database.

Anyone involved in the illegal ivory trade is liable to punishment ranging from six months imprisonment to a life sentence.

Rare birds jammed inside water bottles in Indonesia

Yahoo – AFP, 6 May 2015

Indonesian police say 21 yellow-crested cockatoos and one green parrot 

were jammed inside plastic water bottles, as an alleged wildlife smuggler 

arrived in Surabaya, on May 4, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Surabaya (Indonesia) (AFP) - Indonesian police have arrested a suspected wildlife smuggler after discovering nearly two dozen rare live birds, mostly yellow-crested cockatoos, jammed inside plastic water bottles in his luggage.

The 37-year-old man was stopped by police on Monday as he alighted from a passenger ship in Surabaya, a city on the main island of Java.

Photographs show the birds, with distinctive yellow plumage, peering out of the bottles after being found by officers. The bottoms of the bottles had been cut off to squeeze the birds inside.

Police and customs officials hold rare

 Indonesian yellow-crested cockatoos, j

ammed inside plastic water bottles, 

confiscated from an alleged wildlife 

smuggler, on May 4, 2015 (AFP Photo)

The head of the criminal investigation unit at Tanjung Perak port, Aldy Sulaiman, said police found the birds stashed inside the man's luggage.

"We found 21 yellow-crested cockatoos and one green parrot," he said.

"All the birds were found inside water bottles, which were packed in a crate."

The birds have since been sent to Indonesia's natural resources conservation office, which deals with wildlife-trafficking cases.

Sulaiman said the man -- whose identity was not disclosed in line with normal criminal procedure in Indonesia -- had admitted carrying two birds for a friend but claimed to know nothing about the other animals.

If found guilty of smuggling, the man, from near Surabaya, could face up to five years in prison.

Yellow-crested cockatoos are native to Indonesia and neighbouring East Timor and considered critically endangered, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

They are different to the larger and more common sulphur-crested cockatoo which is mostly found in Australia and New Guinea.

Tiger meat, bear paws openly available in Laos: NGO

Yahoo – AFP, 19 March 2015

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 says (AFP Photo)

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.

Authorities in Vietnam and Thailand routinely uncover large hauls of endangered animals heading north in what conservationists say is likely just a fraction of the species smuggled into China.

One-year ban on ivory carving imports to China

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-02-28

Elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, July 16, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese authorities on Thursday announced a one-year ban on imports of African ivory carvings acquired in accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

In a brief statement on its website, the State Forestry Administration said it would halt administrative approval for the imports until Feb. 26, 2016.

The agency said the move is to protect African elephants, and the one-year timeframe is designed to assess the effects.

The sale of ivory is legal in China if the activities conform with certain regulations. Imports of ivory and its products must gain approval from the State Forestry Administration.

According to the rules, raw elephant ivory and its products should be processed at designated places, sold at fixed shops and tracked on an individual item basis. Each legal ivory product can be tracked through a unique photo ID and is recorded in a database.

Related Articles:

Chinese officials 'on illegal African ivory buying sprees'

UN Security Council declares war on ivory poachers, traffickers