HK's unique position in illegal wildlife trade

Countries-capital connector is on doorstep of China, world's most ravenous wildlife market

Elephant tusks weighing more than 2 tonnes and over 8 tonnes of pangolin scales on display at a Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department press briefing in Kowloon on Feb 1. Between 2013 and 2017, Hong Kong seized 43 tonnes of pangolin scales and carca
Elephant tusks weighing more than 2 tonnes and over 8 tonnes of pangolin scales on display at a Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department press briefing in Kowloon on Feb 1. Between 2013 and 2017, Hong Kong seized 43 tonnes of pangolin scales and carcasses. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

HONG KONG • It was after dark on a Tuesday evening in December 2017 when the vans pulled into Island House Lane, a placid side street of residential complexes and community gardens in suburban Tai Po. Across the harbour was Tolo Channel, and jagged hills descending into the sea all the way to the coast of China's Guangdong province.

On the water, a speedboat was waiting. Men began unloading the vans' cargo onto the beach.

When Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department officers arrived, the boat fled out to sea. From the vans, however, officers were able to recover part of the cargo - about US$1 million (S$1.36 million) worth of mobile phones, digital cameras and tablets.

And, packed into cardboard boxes, the agents discovered more than 300kg of smooth brown scales that came from pangolins.

Pangolin meat is a delicacy in southern China, where the animal is critically endangered, and its scales are prized as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.

During the past decade, the animal has been hunted out of most of its range in South-east Asia, and it is being poached at alarming levels in central Africa.

The pangolin's value has increased with its rarity - the shipment seized in Tai Po had a street value of around US$300,000.

In the geography of the illegal wildlife trade, Hong Kong occupies a unique and essential position. It is a city that has built its reputation and economy as a frictionless connector of countries and capital, located on the doorstep of mainland China - the most ravenous wildlife market in the world.

Over the past decade, the appetites of segments of the booming Chinese middle and upper class have dramatically expanded a global wildlife black market that has decimated species in Africa, South-east Asia and elsewhere.

The pangolin is the latest casualty: Four of the eight species are now endangered, and the international trade in pangolin products has been banned since 2016.

Between 2013 and 2017, Hong Kong seized 43 tonnes of pangolin scales and carcasses - representing tens of thousands of animals - in shipments arriving from six countries, principally Cameroon and Nigeria. The amount intercepted between 2013 and 2015 alone is equivalent to 45 per cent of all the pangolin products seized worldwide between 2007 and 2015.

On the well-trafficked Queen's Road in Sheung Wan district, the clerk at one small shop readily offered pangolin scales to an inquiring customer.

"We sell a lot, and we've been doing this business for a long time," she said. One liang - a Chinese measure equal to 37.5g - retailed for HK$300 (S$52).

While other jurisdictions have begun to fight wildlife trafficking, Hong Kong's government has appeared reluctant to follow suit.

The territory's Customs and Excise Department estimates the wildlife contraband it has seized over the past five years - principally pangolin, elephant ivory and timber - to be worth more than US$71 million, a figure that suggests the possibility of a billion-dollar illicit industry.

The official reluctance to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade is explained in part by the territory's long history as perhaps the world's premier entrepot for legal wildlife products. The city is culturally and physically adjacent to Guangdong province, a centre of traditional Chinese medicine and ivory craftsmanship for centuries, where the consumption of wildlife for food is also deeply ingrained.

Efforts to patrol Hong Kong's wildlife imports are also hampered by the sheer scale of commerce in the territory.

Most of the seized pangolin scales have turned up in shipping containers in Hong Kong's port, the fifth largest in the world, where inspecting more than a sliver of the nearly 21 million containers that pass through annually would be a herculean task.

NYTIMES

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 13, 2019, with the headline HK's unique position in illegal wildlife trade. Subscribe