DO YOU know what is the biggest illegal trade after drugs and arms? It is actually the trade in endangered species and Hong Kong is one of the centres for the trade.
For the past 600 million years, we lost no more than 10 species a year. Today, it is conservatively estimated that we may be losing five an hour. While loss of habitat is the primary threat to most of the world's rare birds, plants and animals, for some species, trade can be pushing them to extinction.
Each year, tens of thousands of endangered or potentially threatened species are traded - taken dead or alive for use as medicinal products, trophies, ornaments, household pets and clothing. Fur coats, caged birds and insect collections all take their toll.
Estimates of the value of this trade range from US$5 billion (about $38.7 billion) to US$8 billion. Poachers often kill an animal for a tusk or a horn and the international campaign group TRAFFIC have estimated that up to 30 per cent of some bird species die before reaching pet shops or owners.
There is an international treaty, the Convention on the trade in Endangered Species (CITES), and national laws in many countries, designed to control the trade in threatened or endangered species. However, despite some successes, the trade in some species is still thriving.
Asia is a major market for animal products and Hong Kong is reported to be the major smuggling link in Asia for tiger parts, rhino horns and bear parts. An undercover survey conducted by the Environmental Investigation Agency in 1993 showed medicine containing rhino horn was available in 59 out of 90 pharmacies in Hong Kong.
In May 1994, a survey conducted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), showed that 20 out of 50 pharmacies in Hong Kong had bear gall bladder, hide or patent medicines containing bear gall bladder for sale.
