Shipments of protected African species to Asia soar, study finds

Shipments of protected African species including tortoises, pythons and parrots to Asia have soared since 2006 as demand grows for exotic pets, meats and other animal products, a new study warned on Tuesday.

Wildlife exports of leopard tortoises, African spurred tortoises and ball pythons to Asia increased nearly tenfold in a decade, the report by monitoring network Traffic said, while trade in animal skins including seals also rose.

Although much of the trade is legal, all of the species in the study are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

“Until now the legal wildlife trade between Africa and Asia has been largely overlooked,” said Willow Outhwaite, co-author of the “Eastward Bound” study, adding that the report aims to “fill in some of the blanks in our understanding of this vast, complex” trade.

Using import and export databases, the report found more than 1.3 million live animals and plants, 1.5 million skins and 2,000 tonnes of meat from CITES-listed species have been exported from Africa to East and Southeast Asia since 2006.