More Proof That Rules Alone Won’t Save Threatened Wildlife

HONG KONG - A major international conference on wildlife trade last week added 343 animal and plant species to the list of roughly 34,000 that are considered threatened. Trade in these creatures is either banned or strictly monitored, and the outcome was widely welcomed by conservationists as an important development.

At the same time, however, warnings abounded that the actual implementation of trade restrictions is what will make the difference between the survival and extinction of many species.

And, as if on cue, two developments late on Tuesday provided a stark reminder of how hard it is to enforce the curbs foreseen under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites.

From the central African state of Chad came the news, reported by Reuters, that poachers had killed at least 86 elephants, including 33 pregnant females and 15 calves.

The killing was the worst in the region since more than 300 elephants were slaughtered for their ivory in Cameroon early last year. Conservationists warn that elephant poaching in the region is now “out of control.”

Meanwhile, customs officials in Bangkok, where the Cites meeting took place, made two big seizures of threatened tortoises - among them some of the rarest in the world. Traffic, an organization that monitors wildlife trade, has more details here.

Poaching and illegal trading of wildlife has soared in recent years. And it is hitting not only well-known animals such as elephants, tigers and rhinos, but, increasingly, creatures that were not in great demand until recently.

As I wrote last week, the sheer speed of these changes - taking in new species and geographies - is leaving scientists, conservationists and enforcement agencies scrambling to keep up.

My colleague Thomas Fuller recently wrote about Vixay Keosavang, a Laotian who is notorious for his activities in the wildlife trade, and last September Jeffrey Gettleman wrote about the role that organized syndicates increasingly play in the ivory trade.

No wonder that, despite the elation over the successes of the Cites meeting, some campaigners called on governments to take much more determined action.

The meeting fell short of putting the brakes on poaching of elephants, tigers, and rhinos, commented the Environmental Investigation Agency, Wildlife Protection Society of India and Freeland Foundation, in a joint news release.

“Poaching and trafficking of elephants, tigers and rhinos is at crisis levels,” they said, “yet domestic trade is still allowed and international trade in the body parts of these critically endangered animals is still being negotiated.”