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A
small victory...pass this on to anyone who may be interested.
Beagle shipments halted
Air Canada. Airline to stop transport of dogs for research in Europe
MAX HARROLD
The Gazette
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
CREDIT: Richard Arless Jr., The Gazette
![](images/beagle.gif)
Air Canada has decided to stop shipments of beagles to Europe for
medical research after protests from its passengers.
Air Canada has stopped shipments of beagles for medical research to
Europe after protests from its passengers.
It turns out the airline's May 21 cargo of 70 to 100 beagles from
Montreal to Paris was the last of shipments that had been taking place
for a number of years.
That May 21 shipment led to complaints to The Gazette from passengers
on the flight. The passengers said they heard the dogs yelping in the
cargo hold during take-off and landing, and then saw them being
unloaded in Paris.
They were told by flight attendants that the shipment of dogs from
Montreal to Paris for medical and scientific experiments happens
regularly, the passengers told The Gazette.
Air Canada spokesperson Isabelle Arthur confirmed yesterday that
following the publication of the story on May 29, the airline received
a formal complaint about the shipments.
"It's the first time we received formal complaints from passengers on
any of those flights," Arthur said .
The Gazette has learned that Marshall BioResources, a company that
breeds beagles for biomedical research in North Rose, N.Y. - between
Syracuse and Rochester - was supplying the dogs.
A retired Air Canada employee who worked for years on the cargo tarmac
said the dogs would arrive in clean, air-conditioned trucks.
The former employee said the dogs were then unloaded onto pallets,
where they were weighed before boarding. "If it was too hot, we would
turn them around and send them back down to the U.S.," the former
worker said.
Arthur said Air Canada policy permits it to stop any shipment if the
cargo disturbs passengers. As a result of the recent complaint, "We
advised the shipper that we would no longer be accepting their cargo."
In an internal Air Canada memo obtained by The Gazette, the airline's
director of corporate communications, Priscille Le-blanc, says the
beagle shipments made the carrier "look insensitive and uncaring and I
think we might have handled it better."
An employee at Marshall BioResources - which, according to its
website, also breeds mongrel dogs, ferrets and "mini-pigs" - declined
yesterday to comment on the shipments to Montreal.
"The Marshall Beagle is known worldwide as a premier canine model for
safety assessment studies," their website says.
"Our proprietary socialization process yields a dog that is active and
happy while in the cage, comes willingly to the front when approached,
and is calm and pleasant when handled."
Beagles are flown to facilities in Europe and Asia to ensure genetic
consistency, the company says.
Spokespeople for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were mystified about why Marshall's
dogs go to Europe via Canada. "We don't regulate domestic animals
leaving the U.S.," said a representative of the Fish and Wildlife
Service. Only endangered and exotic animals are controlled, she said.
As for Marshall's Canadian pipeline, it has only been rerouted, said
another source at Air Canada, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Marshall has already found another air carrier departing from another
Canadian city, possibly Toronto, the source said.
Alain Lajoie, a veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,
said Marshall has had a permit from the agency for several years to
bring beagles through border points at Lacolle or Brockville, Ont.,
for transit to Montreal and then shipment to a third country. The
permit can be reassigned to another port of exit in Canada within five
working days, he said. Caring about the dogs' ultimate purpose "is not
in our mandate," he said.
Animal-rights activists said Air Canada's decision was not a victory,
since the dogs will still end up in labs, part of a legal trade that
is beyond the reach of most animal-cruelty laws because it is for
medical research.
But "because it's legal doesn't mean it's not wrong," said Michael
O'Sullivan, executive director of the Humane Society of Canada.
mharrold@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
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Nov 20th
2005
With regards to
the recent dog seizure in Blainville by the SPCA of Jean Talon. The SQDA
wishes to state the following:
-
That such activities are still ongoing
in Quebec is unacceptable and brings shame to this province.
-
Animals left to sit in their bodily
excretions, ear infections, rotten teeth, infections in untreated
wounds, fecal matter coating their fur, … the list is long and often
heard, but did you know that in this instance some animals where also
missing bit of ears, and some had lost parts of paws or legs. Dog fights
often occur in close quarters when many dogs are isolated and have
little or inadequate supervision. But in this instance, the missing body
parts may indicate the unthinkable…Many of the dogs had to be euthanized.
-
The SQDA congratulates the SPCA for
having acted and proceeded in seizing these animals.
-
The SQDA can’t help but wonder what was
Anima Quebec’s role in these proceedings if any? If so what did they do?
And if they were not involved directly or indirectly why not?
-
The SQDA is not currently in possession
of all the facts at the current time, we know that the seizure involved
small breed dogs (i.e.: Fox Terriers, Poodles, etc), we understand that
a number of the dogs had to be euthanized and a number of dogs were
seized and treated (approximately 65). The recovery process for most if
not all of the dogs that survived will be long and will undoubtedly
require people with knowledge and dog socialization skills and much TLC.
Anyone wishing to adopt any of these dogs must understand that these
dogs are emotionally shattered and will require immense care amongst
other needs.
-
The SQDA cannot understand why another
instance such as this one occurs and the punishment meted out yet again
is inconsequential. We understand a $ 400.00 fine was imposed. And no
limitations on animal ownership have been imposed on this abuser.
-
Some of the people responsible for
cleaning up these dogs were overwhelmed with how gentle and responsive
the dogs where to handling by caring human hands. When you consider how
these dogs where neglected, you can’t help but wonder at their
resilience and their ongoing willingness to interact with humans. One
cannot but helped be moved by this information. Do we humans have that
level of capacity of trust?
-
The SQDA implores the Provincial and
Federal governments to act now and to enact legislation that will help
to bring such abusers to be accountable in front of our legal system and
to face serious consequences for their actions. At the Federal level, we
need Bill C-50 or some version of it (it has gone through several name
changes) to go through and be passed into law. At the Provincial level,
we need Bill P-42 (part of which came into force in January 2005) to be
enforced and that these abusers be exposed and punished and that they be
imposed serious restrictions on having any animal whatsoever for the
short if not long term.
-
The SQDA incites individuals to sign
petitions having the goal of putting a stop to puppy mills. Better yet,
the SQDA asks that everyone write letters to their Municipal Counselors,
their Mayors, the provincial representative in their district, the
Government of Quebec, their federal representative in their district and
the Federal Government asking each and every one of these political
appointees to do something and to do it NOW !!!
-
To know what you can do to avoid
purchasing a puppy or kitten from a mill and for further information
with regards to putting a stop to puppy mills please consult the
following web sites:
Canadian site:
www.nopuppymillscanada.ca
American
site:http://www.nopuppymills.com/
For addresses for your different
governmental political appointees please see the following:
Federal Government : Department of
Justice – Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of
Canada:
The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0H8
Provincial
Government: The Members of the 37th Legislature, 1st Session (electoral
divisions) of the Quebec National
Assembly:
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/eng/Membres/circ_lst.html
President of the National Assembly.
Quebec
President
of the National Assembly, Mr. Michel Bissonnet.
courrier.president@assnat.qc.ca
courrier.president@assnat.qc.ca
Thank you for reading this information.
And great thanks for those of you whom
choose to write a letter.
Toni Andrea Belschner
President of the SQDA |
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Japan Loses First Tussle in Whaling Talks
-------------------------------------------------------
ITALY: July 20, 2004
SORRENTO, Italy - Japan lost the first battle in a war
to turn back years of anti-hunting agreements at the
International Whaling Commission yesterday when
countries rejected its motion to hold votes in secret.
Conservation groups, which accuse Japan of enticing
developing countries to join the body and vote with
it, welcomed the outcome which indicated the majority
of the 57 members were still largely opposed to
whaling.
"It looks like the pro-conservation majority will hold
for another year," said Susan Lieberman of the WWF,
but she added the majority might be as slim as just a
single vote as most of the newer member countries
would likely side with the hunters.
Anti-whalers say secret votes would let countries
proclaim their opposition to whaling in public while
cutting backroom deals to let it happen.
Japan, which views whaling as a noble tradition and
whale meat as a prized delicacy, lost the vote 29 to
24, with a handful of states barred from voting for
administrative reasons.
Japan and other whaling states like Norway and Iceland
want to overturn a ban on commercial whaling the IWC
imposed in 1986.
The body was created in 1946 to control what was then
a global industry and ensure whales were not hunted to
extinction.
JAPANESE PRESSURE
Japan believes there are plenty of some species of
whales. A Japanese delegate told Reuters if the IWC
does not replace the moratorium with a system of
sustainable whaling quotas by this time next year, it
will quit the group.
To make its point, it tabled a request to catch 2,914
minke whales from the Antarctic Ocean - declared a
whale sanctuary by the IWC.
It says the annual quota would be just 0.05 percent of
the population and no threat to the species. But at
current market prices it would be worth up to $300
million.
Japan already kills some 440 minkes there a year under
a clause allowing scientific research and the meat
ends up on the tables of restaurants and sushi bars
fetching $50 million. The request has no chance of
being granted as it needs 75 percent of the votes, but
it sets a direct challenge to the IWC to allow whaling
to resume if it can be shown to be sustainable.
Japan's pro-whaling stance is backed by many of the
developing nations at the IWC.
"We have been perplexed to realize that a whale that
consumes three-to-four times its own body weight
continues to be seen as a resource that should be
untouched by humans at a time that the nations of the
world strive to find food for their people," the
representative of new member Suriname said.
"MONEY TALKS"
Conservation groups dismiss such arguments, saying
whales mostly feed in areas and on organisms not
fished by humans.
They accuse Japan of trying to buy votes among the
newer members. Four of the six states joining this
year, Tuvalu, Mauritania, Ivory Coast and Suriname are
broadly in line with Japan's position.
"Some of the poorest developing countries in the world
are being used to vote in favor of whaling," said
Greenpeace campaigner John Frizell. "This is a clear
case of money talks."
Japan rejects the accusation, saying the countries
joining have legitimate concerns about the impact of
whales on fisheries, often the main source of income
for coastal states.
Far from opening up to environmentally sustainable
whaling, many in the opposition camp said they want it
banned for good.
New Zealand has tabled a non-binding resolution
expressing concerns over how whales are killed. It has
a fair chance of passing since, unlike legislative
measures, it only needs a simple majority.
Green groups fear those kinds of anti-hunting
resolutions, a common feature of the IWC's work in
recent years, would be stopped if new members
supported traditional whaling nations.
Story by Robin Pomeroy
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Direct link to newstory:
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/26110/story.htm
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'Animal Law' Comes Into Its Own
by Patricia Collier
Posted on February 3, 2004 on ANC (Animal News Center)
http://www.anc.org/pets/
Ten years ago, one would have been hard pressed to find even a reference
to "animal law."
These days, animal law has become a viable legal specialty, with an
increasing number of attorneys forming entire practices dedicated to animal
issues.
Animal lawyers don't just handle legal challenges for endangered species or
prosecute severe abuse cases. In response to a growing interest in
protecting all animals, animal practices now represent many kinds of issues,
including animal cruelty, companion animal custody during divorces, legal
provisions for animals in case of the guardian's death, hunting limits, lab
testing of animals, wildlife conservation regulations, even definitions of
terms such as "pain" as they relate to animals, and much more.
The sheer number of animals cared for by humans has a lot to do with the
increase in animal-related legal services. According to the American Pet
Products Manufacturers Association, animal guardianship has increased nearly
19 percent in the last ten years.
The amount of money spent on those animals has nearly doubled during the
same period of time, going from $17 billion in 1994 to around $31 billion in
2003.
The more people value their companion animals, the more they are demanding
laws to protect them.
Because of this, animal law has taken center stage with many state bar
associations, and at several law schools across the country. More than 30
law schools, including Yale and Harvard, now offer at least some animal law
courses, including 'pet custody.'
"Animals can't speak for themselves, so people need to speak for them," said
Barbara Gislason, a Minneapolis attorney who chairs the recently-formed
Animal Law Bar Association committee.
According to many attorneys, another reason animal law is gaining strength
is that people today are more aware than they were a decade ago of the fact
that animals have emotions and need protection from abuse and exploitation.
"Most of this stuff has not been closely analyzed. Now people are
questioning it," said David Wolfson, a New York City attorney who has
handled some animal cases and has taught animal law at Yale University.
"Many people consider a pet as a family member," Gislason said. "But there's
nothing in the law that reflects the role of a pet in the family."
While the field is expanding, progress is slower than many attorneys would
like, mainly because most animal cases haven't gone past the district court
level, making them difficult for lawyers to find and cite in their cases.
Help may be on the way.
Carolyn Matlack is an attorney and the president and managing editor of
Animal Legal Reports Services (ALRS), which offers reports co-authored by
attorneys to keep everyone -- from lawyers to schools to the media to
corporate managers -- aware and up to date on what's happening with animals
in the courts.
"Our mission is to uplift the status of animal law and therefore animals
around the world," Matlack said.
The reports will be published on a regular basis and will help the reader
quickly locate information, including animal-related cases and articles and
recent developments that directly impact legal practices.
Animal law will also play a part as current laws are challenged by the
public, such as how much to allow for damages in a veterinary malpractice
suit. Currently, animal guardians can receive 'fair market value' of their
animal, but many think they should be compensated more.
"What's happening now is a real interesting shift in the law in how we
recognize animals as having value," said Lee Scholder, who serves as vice
chair of the Minnesota Bar Association animal law committee.
Wolfson said on the law books, companion animals are viewed as personal
property, much like a living room sofa. Using the property reference makes
things difficult in veterinary malpractice suits, he said, because damage
awards are given based only on the 'monetary value' of a companion animal,
and ignore the 'emotional value' of the non-human companion.
"...These cases point to a larger trend. This area of the law needs to
change to reflect that people do form special bonds with their pets,"
Wolfson said. "If someone carried around a rock and felt an attachment to
it, that would not be acceptable. But a pet is different. The law needs to
start changing its terms."
With more than 160 million animal guardians in the United States -- a figure
that continues to grow daily -- animal law promises to be a positive -- and
busy -- force in the future of protection for our non-human companions.
"We spend an increasing amount of time with our pets in today's world and
form deep relations with them," said Nancy Peterson of the Humane Society of
the United States.
"Pets are sometimes the one constant in our lives." Peterson pointed out.
Sources
Star Tribune
www.startribune.com/stories/462/4326372.html
Legal world going to the dogs -- and cats and cows and deer and tigers
...
Christian Science Monitor
www.csmonitor.com/2004/0126/p11s01-lihc.html
A fiercer battle in today's divorces: Who'll get the pooch?
KGW
www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D80ASLV82.html
Appellate court defines "pain" for animal-cruelty cases
© 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.
This news story comes courtesy of ANC: ANIMAL NEWS CENTER,
a Web site devoted to reporting the news from the world of animals. The SQDA
strongly encourages you to visit their site:
http://www.anc.org/
Belgium Bans Cat, Dog And Seal Fur
by Sherry Morse
Posted on January 25, 2004
on http://www.anc.org/
Belgium has banned the import and trade of fur from dogs, cats and seals.
The ban brings the number of EU nations that have outlawed the trade in cat
and dog fur to five Belgium now joining Italy, France, Greece and Denmark.
Belgium, however, has also taken one important step further towards animal
compassion, by effectively outlawing commercial ties with Canada's seal
hunt, which is widely viewed by other nations as barbaric.
A breakthrough in banning the international trade in dog and cat fur by the
European Commission was thought to have been reached in December, but there
is now a debate over jurisdiction for the ban. The ban was intended to cut
off access to one of the biggest markets for these furs.
More than half of the MEPs in the Brussels and Strasbourg legislature
support the motion, which normally would mean the European Commission has to
respond by drawing up a law. It would then be up to the Council of Ministers
to enact it.
However, Commission officials refused to accept that they have powers to
pass such a law, stating that it is up to member countries to do so if they
choose.
A spokeswoman for Pascal Lamy, the trade commissioner, said, "We don't have
community competence on this. Competence for it is in the hands of member
states."
The campaign against the trade is focusing also on the dangerously high
chromium levels present in the tanning dyes used to disguise the appearance
of the product. Fur products may contain as much as six times the level of
chromium allowed under European law - a level shown to be hazardous to human
health.
Historically, most of the dog and cat furs that have been traded in Belgium
have come from China, but in some cases they have been alleged to come from
animals picked up on the streets in Belgium itself.
In 2003 BBC reporter Tim Franks viewed a secretly-recorded video in which a
salesman showed a fur buyer two furs produced from cats picked up in the
streets and cats farmed in the country in a "cat fur farm."
It is believed about two million animals each year are victims of the trade
in Belgium alone.
The trade in seal skins and oils, most of which come from Canada, have
provided nearly 600,000 euros a year in trade of the skins and oils.
The Belgian ban was welcomed by the animal rights organization Global Action
in the Interest of Animals (GAIA). Activists from the group said that most
animals killed for their furs are skinned alive and when killed first they
are hanged or drowned so their fur is not damaged.
Fur from the cats and dogs is used in gloves, accessories and in toys for
companion animals. During the initial phase of the ban, labels on all of
these products will have to state if the product contains real fur.
Source: ANC: ANIMAL NEWS CENTER, a Web site devoted to
reporting the news from the world of animals. The SQDA strongly encourages
you to visit their site for up to date international and national news on
animals: http://www.anc.org/
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http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/1203/21animals.html
Endangered creatures for sale
Illegal animal trade reaps billions yearly
Dec 20, 2003
By CHARLES SEABROOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lawrence Wee Soon Chye, who once advised National Geographic filmmakers
with
his authoritative knowledge of reptiles, hung his head as a federal judge
tongue-lashed him in an Orlando courtroom.
"Your crimes are reprehensible," said U.S. District Judge John Antoon.
"They
not only are a form of animal cruelty, they also endanger public health."
Antoon wished out loud that he could sentence Chye to a much longer
sentence
than the 37 months federal guidelines allow.
Chye, 38, in a prison jumpsuit brilliant as a scarlet macaw, pleaded
guilty
this month to charges that he smuggled hundreds of endangered and
protected
creatures to dealers and collectors in the United States last January. His
lucrative black market career, likely spawned by his fascination with
reptiles as a child in Singapore, was over.
Tens of thousands of endangered wild creatures from Brazil, Indonesia,
Ghana
and other countries are being smuggled each year to black markets in the
United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. Traffickers entice native people
--
often resourceful children -- to capture coveted animals from rain forests
and other wild habitats. A hyacinth macaw bought for $100 from an
impoverished Amazon youngster can fetch as much as $10,000 from collectors
in the United States and Europe.
Antoon summed up the consequences of the illegal animal trade: Not only
does
it threaten many species with extinction and risk despoiling entire
natural
areas, but it also threatens public health by introducing exotic germs,
many
of them deadly, to humans.
Both of this year's novel scourges, monkeypox and SARS, stemmed from
contact
with wild animals. And West Nile virus may have originated in the United
States with an infected smuggled bird.
It was the rank odor wafting from two boxes shipped from Singapore, boxes
labeled "books and magazines," that provoked a U.S. customs inspector at
the
FedEx hub in Memphis to look inside.
No books. No magazines. The inspector recoiled at what he saw.
Numerous reptiles, a few of them dead, packed tightly inside -- 198 Fly
River turtles from New Guinea, 25 Indian star tortoises from India, and
three Timor monitor lizards -- among the species protected by
international
law because of their increasing scarcity in the wild. And many of them
potential carriers of deadly exotic diseases that threaten to sicken
people
and other animals in this country.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service special agents traced the creatures, worth as
much as $400,000 on the black market, to Chye, described as a
smooth-talking
kingpin in the world of animal smuggling. They nabbed him within hours of
his arrival in Orlando, where he planned to set up a temporary
headquarters.
From his compound in Singapore, authorities say, Chye profited as a broker
of rare animals to dealers and individual buyers.
The insatiable demand for exotic pets, from parrots and macaws to pythons
and iguanas, is driving the wildlife trade, estimated at $6 billion a
year.
At the high end are collectors willing to pay thousands of dollars for
exceptionally rare animals, like Komodo dragons for $30,000 each and
plowshare tortoises at $25,000 each. At the other end are teenagers and
apartment dwellers who spend $30 to $75 for animals at pet stores and
exotic
animal shows and on the Internet.
"Anything that walks, creeps, crawls or flies has a price on its head,"
says
Mike Elkins, deputy assistant law enforcement supervisor for the Fish &
Wildlife Service in Atlanta. Trade in endangered animals is generally
illegal under a 30-year-old treaty signed by the United States and 162
other
countries. But the treaty is little match for the huge profits and minimal
risks that lure smugglers -- whose contraband most often ends up in the
United States.
And most often ends up dead. Authorities figure that as many as 75 percent
of the smuggled creatures die on their long, hot, airless journey.
Interpol, the international police agency, says wildlife smuggling is so
pervasive on a global scale, it is surpassed only by the black market in
drugs. In many areas, organized gangs, including South American drug
cartels
and the Russian mafia, have added wildlife smuggling to their other
illegitimate activities.
Putting major traffickers like Chye out of business puts a dent in the
illicit trade, but perhaps only temporarily, say wildlife authorities.
Other
traffickers are eager to fill the void, using a variety of ruthless
schemes
to get endangered wildlife into the hands of dealers, collectors and
exotic
pet fanciers.
Stopping the smugglers in this country is an overwhelming task, Elkins
says,
since only 92 federal wildlife inspectors are assigned to airports and
border crossings nationwide. And preventing the extinction of some species
may be impossible.
"With the loss of habitat and the illegal smuggling of animals for profit
and gain, there are many animals that are . . . going to go extinct," says
Ernest Mayer, head of special operations for the Fish & Wildlife Service.
"So I think from that standpoint we're losing."
First U.S. stop: Miami
Most of the black market animals entering the United States arrive by air.
The hot spot in the Southeast is Miami International, with its connections
to South America. Opening cartons there, the airport's five wildlife
inspectors routinely find snakes, lizards, tortoises, parrots -- and
sometimes baby orangutans.
In an airport warehouse, inspector Jim Stinebaugh cautiously slits open a
large box labeled "Live Frogs."
"No matter how many times you do this, you get a little antsy," he says.
Poisonous snakes are sometimes found inside shipments.
In this box, Stinebaugh finds layer upon layer of plastic foam cups with
lids. Each holds a thumb-size frog, snatched from the wild and shipped
from
the South American country of Suriname.
Another box holds dozens of clear plastic containers, each harboring a
crawly rose-haired tarantula spider from Chile. "They'll spray you with
hairs if you make them mad," Stinebaugh warns.
This time the animals are legal, he concludes -- headed for pet shops in
the
United States and Canada.
As best he can, he checks to see if any endangered species are stashed
with
the legal animals, a common ploy of wildlife smugglers.
He is mindful that one smuggling tactic is to pile bags containing water
monitors -- aggressive lizards that can be shipped legally -- atop an
endangered animal at the bottom of a crate. The smugglers know that most
inspectors are reluctant to shove around snapping lizards to look for
contraband beneath.
One of the world's most notorious wildlife smugglers, Keng Liang "Anson"
Wong, 44 -- released last month from a federal prison in California after
serving six years -- used this method. From his private zoo in Malaysia,
he
shipped thousands of rare and endangered creatures, mostly reptiles, to
collectors in the United States, Japan and Europe.
To fool airport customs and wildlife inspectors, he bound the rare animals
with tape so they couldn't move and stuffed them in burlap bags stapled to
the bottom of shipping crates. Many died from the harsh shipping
conditions,
but Wong stood to profit as long as some survived.
In Miami, Stinebaugh's boss, Vicky Vina, says that on a good day,
inspectors
there are able to peek inside about three in every 10 shipments.
"We get awfully busy," she says. "We often get 60 to 70 wildlife shipments
through here in one day."
Scores of animals -- mostly reptiles -- were smuggled through Miami by
Chye,
Wong and others.
Not all smuggled animals come through cargo facilities. Airline passengers
hide live creatures in their baggage and clothing. Miami's agents have
found
tiny marmoset monkeys under hats, parrot chicks and baby snakes in
underwear, and little tortoises stuffed in baggy pants.
Once, when customs inspectors in the Miami terminal noticed a woman's bust
wiggling, they found rare parrot chicks stuffed in her bra. More recently,
a
man's heavy, loose-fitting clothing was a tip-off -- he was trying to
smuggle 44 birds through the airport by taping them inside toilet paper
tubes and securing the tubes to his legs.
Sometimes the animals are simply stashed in suitcases.
In one Argentinian passenger's suitcase, Miami inspectors found 107 chaco
tortoises, 102 red-footed tortoises, 76 tartaruga turtles, 20 red Tegu
lizards, seven rainbow boa constrictors and five Argentine boa
constrictors -- all barred from global trade.
"Smugglers use every little trick they can muster to stay one step ahead
of
us," says Jorge Picon, wildlife agent in charge at Miami. "It's a
never-ending struggle."
In business since '97
Chye, a short, trim man whose dark horn-rimmed glasses give him a
professorial look, acknowledged in court documents that he had bought,
sold
and traded reptiles -- legally and illegally -- since 1997.
"He had a strong interest in animals and at one point worked for National
Geographic as a consultant," said his federal public defender, Stephen
Langs. Chye made no statements in court, and Langs refused to let him be
interviewed.
Prosecutors said he shipped hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of protected
animals to dealers and collectors in Florida, Massachusetts, California
and
Washington state. Most were sent via FedEx, labeled as books, magazines,
lamps or other merchandise.
One California collector said Chye sent him an emerald tree monitor, which
grows as long as 34 inches, and a yellow boa constrictor in a shipment
labeled as "microwave safe" plastic container samples. Both reptiles are
protected.
In August 2002, according to court records, Chye, using the alias Jon
Morelia, (Morelia is the genus name for carpet and diamond python snakes)
met University of Central Florida business student Michael Barrera at the
International Reptile Breeders Exposition in Daytona Beach. Barrera
claimed
to be an Internet reptile dealer.
He and Chye agreed to do business together. Chye, in a show of friendship,
invited Barrera to Indonesia to go "reptile hunting."
Barrera was the eventual recipient of the odoriferous shipment of turtles,
tortoises and monitor lizards that came through Memphis in January,
touching
off the investigation of Chye.
When confronted, Barrera told authorities about several previous illegal
shipments between himself and Chye involving hundreds of endangered
snakes,
lizards and turtles. Several of the reptiles died en route. At one point,
he
said, Chye offered to send him Komodo dragons, one of the world's most
endangered species.
Barrera has not been charged. He could not be reached for comment for this
article. In court papers, he said he had known what he was doing was
illegal
and that he "had been stupid" to get involved with Morelia.
A collector in Washington state tipped off investigators that Chye and a
business associate were flying from Bangkok, Thailand, to Orlando in June
to
set up a temporary smuggling operation.
The associate, Leong Tian Kum, 33, a Bangkok reptile dealer, was arrested
with Chye shortly after they landed at Orlando International Airport.
Kum, aka "Bobby Lee," was charged with money laundering and illegally
sending endangered animals to a Wisconsin dealer. Authorities said he
shipped pancake tortoises from East Africa, Hermann's tortoises from the
Mediterranean rim countries, and Borneo leaf turtles in FedEx packages --
labeled "native crafts."
Arrested in Waukesha, Wis., was Reid Turowski, 28, owner of Captive Bred
Specialties, who was accused of illegally receiving the animals from Lum.
Both men face more than 10 years in prison.
The dead zone
Many smugglers avoid live animals altogether. They traffic in dead
animals,
or their parts, fueling a black market that parallels the pet trade -- and
adding to the threat to individual animals, species and ecosystems.
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport receives relatively few
live animals, though it gets plenty of illegal objects made from rare
animals -- skins, shawls, carved ivory objects and the like.
When U.S. authorities find endangered or otherwise illegal animal parts at
airports and border crossings, they are sent to the National Wildlife
Property Repository near Denver, a facility that bears stark testimony to
the size and breadth of this market.
Shelves are piled high with boots, wallets, purses, briefcases and coats
made of the skin of elephants, caimans, cobras, leopards, jaguars and
other
animals. Bins sag with hair clips, combs and necklaces carved from sea
turtle shells. Tons of confiscated elephant ivory occupy other bins. The
"Asian Medicine Section" holds black bear gallbladders, dried tiger
penises
and powders and extracts made of tiger bones and black rhino horns.
Locked in a cabinet are more than 50 softer-than-silk "shahtoosh" shawls,
many seized from an international smuggling ring. The shawls, worth
$30,000
each on the black market, are made from the fine hair of endangered
Tibetan
antelopes, which must be killed before their hair can be harvested.
Though the warehouse is crammed with confiscated animal products, it's
still
just a holding facility. Most of the illegal merchandise will end up in
schools or museums or being sold at auction.
"We're constantly turning over our inventory," says Special Agent in
Charge
Bernadette Atencio. "If we didn't, we'd be stacked up in no time."
Trade shows popular
By far the most lucrative side of the wildlife trade is live animals.
Nearly 7 million U.S. households have a pet bird, and 4 million have a pet
snake, iguana or turtle, according to the American Pet Products
Manufacturers Association. Some of the interest comes from people who live
in apartments or those with allergies to dogs and cats.
Particularly unusual animals, however, are attention getters and status
symbols.
The fascination with exotic pets perhaps is most apparent at the more than
400 wild pet expos held around the country each year.
Typical of those gatherings is the Atlanta Reptile and Exotic Pet Show,
held
last month at the Gwinnett Gwinnett Civic & Cultural Center. Scores of
visitors paid $7 apiece to get in, then stood in line at booth after booth
to buy exotic pets.
A Brazilian rainbow boa, $175. A Goliath bird-eating tarantula, $100. A
Bengal cat kitten, $400. A Moluccan cockatoo, $1,500. Emerald tree boa,
$275. African spur-thigh tortoise, $225.
Authorities say Chye and other global wildlife dealers are regulars at
some
of the bigger shows, making valuable contacts and deals there. Most
dealers
are believed to be operating legally.
Most of the animals they offer for sale were likely bred legally in
captivity, which authorities say avoids harm to wild populations -- but
not
in every case.
The animals may have been snatched illegally from the wild, a cheaper
source
of inventory for dealers.
The problem is determining if an animal is captive-bred or smuggled.
"Once an animal is smuggled in, it's difficult to determine if it's legal
or
illegal," says Tom Watts-Fitzgerald, a U.S. attorney who prosecutes
smuggling cases in Miami. "Dealers claim their animals are captive-bred
and
legal.
"But if you go to a pet show or a store to buy an exotic pet, you really
have no foolproof way of knowing if it's legal or not."
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