Silent tragedy of illegal wildlife trade in South-east Asia

South-east Asia is a hot spot for illegal wildlife trade, where exotic animals and their parts are sold in markets and even proudly presented on dining tables, and Singapore has been called out by conservation groups as a transshipment hub. To learn about this nefarious business, environment correspondent Audrey Tan and photojournalist Lim Yaohui visited Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia, which have been flagged.

Drugs, gambling and exotic meats converge on the banks of the Mekong, just three hours away from Singapore. The Straits Times goes undercover in a visit to Kings Romans casino complex in Laos, a hot spot known for the blatant sale of animal products.

Audrey Tan

Science and Environment Correspondent

Updated

Published

Jul 01, 2018, 05:00 AM

At the same time, the temptation is hard to resist. Estimates from the Interpol, United Nations (UN) Environment, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime put the value of the global illegal wildlife trade at as much as US$23 billion (S$31 billion) every year - an irresistible carrot for criminals.

Where South-east Asia differs from other hubs of illegal wildlife trade is that it is a region that both supplies and demands animal parts.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Read the full story and more at $9.90/month

Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month

ST One Digital

$9.90 $9.90/month

No contract

ST app access on 1 mobile device

Subscribe now

Unlock these benefits

All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com
Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device
E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you

Illegal wildlife markets near S'pore

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.