Hong Kong is second largest market in the world for smuggled endangered black spotted turtles, report finds
Wildlife trade monitoring network states city was second only to India for trade in the black spotted turtle, driven partly by demand for the animals as pets
Hong Kong has become the second largest market for smuggled endangered black spotted turtles, according to an international report published on Monday.
Customs and police officers in Hong Kong seized 1,775 black spotted turtles – 17 per cent of the overall number seized globally – between April 2014 and March 2016, the report released by wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic showed.
The highest number of confiscations occurred in India, where 3,001 turtles, or 29 per cent of the overall figure, where seized.
The species, which is mainly black with small yellowish spots, is primarily sourced in South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and subsequently transported to Hong Kong and mainland China, the report said.
Listed as threatened with extinction in Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, this is supposed to prohibit all commercial international trade. The turtle is also protected by national laws in its habitats in South Asian countries.