On the Trail n°30 – July, August and September 2020
1040 events with references, along with analyses, iconographic documents, maps and historical archives
201 pages (pdf), 12 Mo
“On the Trail” is going on with its analysis of the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on poaching and animal smuggling through one thousand or so genuine examples from around the world. In the third quarter of 2020, rumours are taking hold about pangolin meat, feline meat and lion organs being considered miracle cures for Covid-19. The pandemic causes a surge in wildlife plundering. As soon as the pandemic emerged, it caused an upsurge in trapping. In India and Africa, people from the cities returned to the villages, there were many mouths to feed, and poaching increased. In rich countries, recreational hunting is in full swing; people kill deer, bears, moose and birds of prey to kill time. Wildlife trafficking is on the rise on social networks. In Myanmar, transit and force-feeding centres for pangolins waiting to be smuggled to Thailand are full because of the border closures and transport paralysis. Destocking of raw ivory and other wildlife products accumulated during the full disruption of supply chains are beginning to appear. The global market for wild birds is expanding. The Covid-19 crisis has opened up new opportunities with a confined humanity in need of nature.
This issue #30 sounds the alarm on the fate of porcupines (p.16). A pandemic of big polluting projects in Africa and Asia is diagnosed (p. 151). They represent a new threat to biodiversity. Jaguars have ‘gold teeth’ (p. 65). When the human race wears a jaguar’s tooth around its neck, it hopes to have the stealth and speed and to establish itself in the urban jungle as the jaguar establishes himself in his Amazonian jungle.
Some black market quotes
1 pangolin scale in India: 13 US$
1 skewer of 12 robins or ortolans or skylarks in France: 30 US$
1 g of porcupine bezoar in Borneo: 150 to 650 US$
1 g of cobra venom in India: 220 US$
1 kg of pangolin scales in China: 774 US$
1 kg of raw ivory: 91 to 7,463 US$/kg in Africa and 540 to 1,450 US$/kg in Asia
1 kg of rhinoceros horn in South Africa: 3,708 US$
1 young orangutan in Indonesia: 2,000-3,425 US$
1 red-tailed black cockatoo in France and Switzerland: 10,156 US$On the wildlife exchange, the value of seized animals is purely economic and does not take into account their ecological value.
August 25, 2020, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, Zhejiang Province, China.Seizure of an ivory bracelet by 2 customs agents in full anti-Covid attire (cf. page 33). Picture Chinese Customs.
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