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 | | From: | jay_stutz at yahoo.com | | Subject: | Re: Wild Animal Sales Thrive in Mexico's Black Market | | Date: | 15 Jan 2005 04:44:08 -0800 |
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Bunn E. Rabbit wrote:
> http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0108Animals08.html
>
> Wild-animal sales thrive in Mexico's black market
>
> Chris Hawley
> Republic Mexico City Bureau
> Jan. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
>
> CHARCO CERCADO, Mexico - The dried snake skins and skinned foxes
> hanging from racks are what make the motorists slow down on this
> lonely stretch of Mexico's Highway 57. But it's the live animals that
> are the real attraction.
>
> Golden eagles and great horned owls, monkeys and baby deer. They're
> all for sale in Charco Cercado, a village 250 miles northwest of
> Mexico City and one of the most infamous way- stations in Mexico's
> bustling underground market for wild animals. Many animals bought in
> Mexico are smuggled into the United States.
>
> "You want a squirrel? How about an eagle?" asked a wrinkled vendor.
> She scurried to a wooden lean-to and pulled out a huge raptor with a
> string tied to its foot. It was a protected Harris' hawk, actually,
> not an eagle. advertisement
>
> She looked around nervously as a visitor began to photograph the
bird.
>
> "Not my face, OK? I don't want problems," she said.
>
> This is the shadowy world of Mexico's animal sales, where, for a
> price, you can get all manner of critters, from big cats to
endangered
> reptiles, despite government efforts to crack down on such sales.
> Smugglers can get thousands of dollars for animals in the United
> States, said Roger Maier, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border
> Protection.
>
> "Sometimes you'll have the case of a little old lady who likes her
> birds and buys some at a market . . . but the bigger things are
> usually more organized than that," he said.
>
> On Dec. 23, dozens of Charco Cercado's animal vendors armed with
> sticks and stones threatened to shut down Highway 57 after federal
> police set up an outpost nearby. A clash was averted only after
police
> said they were there to protect holiday travelers and would not raid
> the markets.
>
> The confrontation came just days after U.S. authorities in California
> returned 90 rare parrots to Mexico after confiscating them from
> smugglers. They were among 173 birds found stuffed in the side panels
> and under the seats of two vehicles stopped at Tijuana border
> crossings.
>
> The birds included 22 red-headed Amazon parrots, which are protected
> internationally as facing an immediate threat of extinction. Another
> 68 were lilac-crowned Amazons, which will join the same list in
April.
>
> "The authorities have tried very hard to stop (animal trafficking),
> but it's very difficult," said Adrian Reuter, the Mexico
> representative for Traffic, an activist group that tries to prevent
> such sales. "There's a lot of money to be made."
>
> In November, authorities raided six animal vendors at the Emilio
> Carranza Market in central Mexico City and seized 88 protected
> animals, including rattlesnakes, toucans and yellow-headed parrots,
> that were being sold illegally.
>
> In the nearby Sonora market, toucans with green bills the size of
> bananas sell for $1,800 a pair. Baby-faced squirrel monkeys from
> Central America run $2,200 apiece.
>
> Many of the animals, at least the ones displayed openly, can be
bought
> legally from breeders, Reuter said. But sellers boast they can
provide
> pretty much anything a buyer wants.
>
> "I can get you a lion cub for 35,000 pesos (about $3,100 )," offered
> one vendor in Mexico City's Lagunilla neighborhood. "It comes with
the
> fangs removed and everything."
>
> In 1998, U.S. undercover agents made one of their biggest arrests
ever
> in Mexico City by collaring international wildlife trafficker Ken
> Liang Wong in a sting operation. In 2001, he was sentenced to almost
> six years in a U.S. prison for selling some of the world's most
> endangered reptiles.
>
> Birds are among the most popular animals among smugglers. One of the
> favorite smuggling methods is to sedate baby birds with alcohol and
> put them in toilet-paper tubes, which are then strapped to smugglers'
> bodies, Maier said.
>
> Wild parrots can carry exotic Newcastle disease, which spreads easily
> to chickens. An outbreak in 2002 forced farmers to destroy more than
3
> million chickens in Arizona, California and Nevada.
>
> Not all of the birds smuggled from Mexico are fancy tropical
> varieties.
>
> In August, a smuggler caught at a Tijuana border crossing was
carrying
> cardinals in his pickup truck.
>
> In the United States, it's illegal to keep cardinals as pets because
> they are a native species. But at the Lagunilla market and other
> places in Mexico, they can be bought legally for as little as $5
> apiece.
>
> Venomous Gila monsters also are popular among smugglers. It's illegal
> to own a Gila monster in Arizona, but in other states they can sell
> for as much as $750 apiece, said Stephane Poulin, a reptile keeper at
> the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. Some of the animals
> confiscated at the border end up at the museum.
>
> "These are expensive animals, real money," Poulin said.
>
> In Mexico, selling endangered or protected animals without a permit
> can be punished by up to nine years in prison and a $200,000 fine,
> said Monica Rodr=EDguez Cardenas, a spokeswoman for the Office of the
> Federal Environmental Protection Prosecutor.
>
> But few cases ever go to court because environmental crimes are seen
> as less serious, Reuter said.
>
> "If you have one guy with 20 parrots and another guy with a gram of
> coke, the guy with the coke is seen as the more important case,"
> Reuter said. "That's even though the parrots are worth a lot more."
>
> _____
>
> "Cosmic upheaval is not so moving as a little child pondering the
death
> of a sparrow in the corner of a barn." -Anouk Aimee, French Actor
> _____
>
> "Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny", Aeschylus
(525BC-456BC),
> Agamemnon
> _____
>
> "I wear no Burka." - Mother Nature
>
> ----------
The mestizos swarm across America destroying neighborhood after
neighborhood even in the midwest. They breed and breed stopping only
for the nine months gestation period. Mestizos are the major factor in
population growth. Unchecked you may kiss environmental efforts
goodbye.
http://www.numbersusa.com/
http://www.fairus.org/
Jay
|
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| | From: | Miquel_Ŕngel | | Subject: | Re: Wild Animal Sales Thrive in Mexico's Black Market | | Date: | Sat, 15 Jan 2005 18:15:21 GMT |
|
|
| jay_stutz@yahoo.com wrote:
> Bunn E. Rabbit wrote:
>
>>http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0108Animals08.html
>>
>>Wild-animal sales thrive in Mexico's black market
>>
>>Chris Hawley
>>Republic Mexico City Bureau
>>Jan. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
>>
>>CHARCO CERCADO, Mexico - The dried snake skins and skinned foxes
>>hanging from racks are what make the motorists slow down on this
>>lonely stretch of Mexico's Highway 57. But it's the live animals that
>>are the real attraction.
>>
>>Golden eagles and great horned owls, monkeys and baby deer. They're
>>all for sale in Charco Cercado, a village 250 miles northwest of
>>Mexico City and one of the most infamous way- stations in Mexico's
>>bustling underground market for wild animals. Many animals bought in
>>Mexico are smuggled into the United States.
>>
>>"You want a squirrel? How about an eagle?" asked a wrinkled vendor.
>>She scurried to a wooden lean-to and pulled out a huge raptor with a
>>string tied to its foot. It was a protected Harris' hawk, actually,
>>not an eagle. advertisement
>>
>>She looked around nervously as a visitor began to photograph the
>
> bird.
>
>>"Not my face, OK? I don't want problems," she said.
>>
>>This is the shadowy world of Mexico's animal sales, where, for a
>>price, you can get all manner of critters, from big cats to
>
> endangered
>
>>reptiles, despite government efforts to crack down on such sales.
>>Smugglers can get thousands of dollars for animals in the United
>>States, said Roger Maier, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border
>>Protection.
>>
>>"Sometimes you'll have the case of a little old lady who likes her
>>birds and buys some at a market . . . but the bigger things are
>>usually more organized than that," he said.
>>
>>On Dec. 23, dozens of Charco Cercado's animal vendors armed with
>>sticks and stones threatened to shut down Highway 57 after federal
>>police set up an outpost nearby. A clash was averted only after
>
> police
>
>>said they were there to protect holiday travelers and would not raid
>>the markets.
>>
>>The confrontation came just days after U.S. authorities in California
>>returned 90 rare parrots to Mexico after confiscating them from
>>smugglers. They were among 173 birds found stuffed in the side panels
>>and under the seats of two vehicles stopped at Tijuana border
>>crossings.
>>
>>The birds included 22 red-headed Amazon parrots, which are protected
>>internationally as facing an immediate threat of extinction. Another
>>68 were lilac-crowned Amazons, which will join the same list in
>
> April.
>
>>"The authorities have tried very hard to stop (animal trafficking),
>>but it's very difficult," said Adrian Reuter, the Mexico
>>representative for Traffic, an activist group that tries to prevent
>>such sales. "There's a lot of money to be made."
>>
>>In November, authorities raided six animal vendors at the Emilio
>>Carranza Market in central Mexico City and seized 88 protected
>>animals, including rattlesnakes, toucans and yellow-headed parrots,
>>that were being sold illegally.
>>
>>In the nearby Sonora market, toucans with green bills the size of
>>bananas sell for $1,800 a pair. Baby-faced squirrel monkeys from
>>Central America run $2,200 apiece.
>>
>>Many of the animals, at least the ones displayed openly, can be
>
> bought
>
>>legally from breeders, Reuter said. But sellers boast they can
>
> provide
>
>>pretty much anything a buyer wants.
>>
>>"I can get you a lion cub for 35,000 pesos (about $3,100 )," offered
>>one vendor in Mexico City's Lagunilla neighborhood. "It comes with
>
> the
>
>>fangs removed and everything."
>>
>>In 1998, U.S. undercover agents made one of their biggest arrests
>
> ever
>
>>in Mexico City by collaring international wildlife trafficker Ken
>>Liang Wong in a sting operation. In 2001, he was sentenced to almost
>>six years in a U.S. prison for selling some of the world's most
>>endangered reptiles.
>>
>>Birds are among the most popular animals among smugglers. One of the
>>favorite smuggling methods is to sedate baby birds with alcohol and
>>put them in toilet-paper tubes, which are then strapped to smugglers'
>>bodies, Maier said.
>>
>>Wild parrots can carry exotic Newcastle disease, which spreads easily
>>to chickens. An outbreak in 2002 forced farmers to destroy more than
>
> 3
>
>>million chickens in Arizona, California and Nevada.
>>
>>Not all of the birds smuggled from Mexico are fancy tropical
>>varieties.
>>
>>In August, a smuggler caught at a Tijuana border crossing was
>
> carrying
>
>>cardinals in his pickup truck.
>>
>>In the United States, it's illegal to keep cardinals as pets because
>>they are a native species. But at the Lagunilla market and other
>>places in Mexico, they can be bought legally for as little as $5
>>apiece.
>>
>>Venomous Gila monsters also are popular among smugglers. It's illegal
>>to own a Gila monster in Arizona, but in other states they can sell
>>for as much as $750 apiece, said Stephane Poulin, a reptile keeper at
>>the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. Some of the animals
>>confiscated at the border end up at the museum.
>>
>>"These are expensive animals, real money," Poulin said.
>>
>>In Mexico, selling endangered or protected animals without a permit
>>can be punished by up to nine years in prison and a $200,000 fine,
>>said Monica Rodríguez Cardenas, a spokeswoman for the Office of the
>>Federal Environmental Protection Prosecutor.
>>
>>But few cases ever go to court because environmental crimes are seen
>>as less serious, Reuter said.
>>
>>"If you have one guy with 20 parrots and another guy with a gram of
>>coke, the guy with the coke is seen as the more important case,"
>>Reuter said. "That's even though the parrots are worth a lot more."
>>
>>_____
>>
>>"Cosmic upheaval is not so moving as a little child pondering the
>
> death
>
>>of a sparrow in the corner of a barn." -Anouk Aimee, French Actor
>>_____
>>
>>"Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny", Aeschylus
>
> (525BC-456BC),
>
>>Agamemnon
>>_____
>>
>>"I wear no Burka." - Mother Nature
>>
>>----------
>
>
> The mestizos swarm across America destroying neighborhood after
> neighborhood even in the midwest. They breed and breed stopping only
> for the nine months gestation period. Mestizos are the major factor in
> population growth. Unchecked you may kiss environmental efforts
> goodbye.
>
> http://www.numbersusa.com/
>
> http://www.fairus.org/
>
> Jay
>
>
hi
|
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| | From: | Ulrik Smed | | Subject: | Re: Wild Animal Sales Thrive in Mexico's Black Market | | Date: | Sun, 16 Jan 2005 10:41:19 +0100 |
|
|
| jay_stutz@yahoo.com wrote:
> The mestizos swarm across America destroying neighborhood after
> neighborhood even in the midwest. They breed and breed
> stopping only for the nine months gestation period. Mestizos
> are the major factor in population growth. Unchecked you may
> kiss environmental efforts goodbye.
I've just read the same text in a HerpDigest newsletter. And yesterday read
about how monitor lizards are declining in numbers i Asia and Africa, in a
scientific book about monitor lizards. It stated that the protection and
conservation actions taken to save them are far, far too small and
ineffictive to do more than a tiny bit of help. Every time I read such
things, also about other animals and habitats, it becomes more and more
clear to me that the only really good long-term conservation strategy is to
reverse human population growth, globally.
Now, take that recent tsunami in Asia. Some 140-150.000 people died. Most of
us take this for an enormously large number and consider it one of modern
time's largest catastrophes. But compared to the population growth, the
number is approximately equal to how much the world's population grows in 24
hours.
--
Ulrik Smed
Aarhus, Denmark
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