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Summary of the main points from the documentary "Who's Killing the
China Animals?"
an enquiry into Hong Kong's trade in wildlife from
China
By Fatricia Fenn (broadcast BBC Radio 4, December 6th 1973, subsequently broadcast in New Zealand and Australia).
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Since the mid-1960's the trade in some rare species - including
the orangutan has been officially prohibited in the British colony of
But a Hong Kong as a result of international pressures on London, huge trade in wildlife from China (possibly without the full knowledge of Peking) still serves Hong Kong's 'medicine' shops and the exotic food trade. In its effects, this trade legally sanctioned by the
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Hong Kong Government can be considered in the following ways:
Conservation.
A very conservative estimate of the number of birds
of prey imported (buzzards, kestrels, peregrines, goshawks, vultures, eagles and a whole variety of owls) is between 5, 000 and 6, 000 a year. These are caught on their winter journey south by Chinese peasants in communen junt north of Hong Kong to augment their ourninga, actual number of these birds may be in the tens of thousands. Import of such species into Britain is, paradoxienlly, strictly controlled,
The
In the financial year 1973/3 Hong Kong's imports of leopard cats, civets, racoon dogs, ferret badgers and other small carnivores were officially numbered at over 5,000, and pangolin imports officially exceeded 4,000. These figures are returned by the traders and are believed to be in reality very much higher. Every year, many thousands of reptiles - mainly snakes and several hundreds of monkeys and other creatures are imported for the food and medicine' trade. An animal dealer in Hong Kong can order from China for over- seas collectors items regarded elsewhere as threatened species. In 1973 one Hong Kong dealer received, as a result of overseas orders, 300 Rewick Swans, half of which were bully minimed. Another parndog
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earnings from wildlife is less than that carned in one day fi om the Chinoge exports of domestic pigs to the colony! Prins of endangered species cheetah, leopard, tiger are also regularly on sale in Hong Kong shops. Imports of rare cat skins is prohibited in Britain. This trade almost certainly constitutes an environmental threat to China. The huge toll of birds also threatens other countries north
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