GAST
REF.
NEXT
REF.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
Telephone 01-
Far: 185
Your reference
HKK 7/1
Date
24 July 1974
E H Nichols Esq OBE JP
Director of Agriculture and Fisheries Our reference
Colonial Secretariat
HONG KONG
174
Frew Nichols,
TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILDLIFE
1.
We spoke briefly in Hong Kong about the problem of the Giant Salamanders. When I got back I found waiting for me the attached letter to the Secretary of State from Mrs Turmer. This is an example of the extensive mail which, as I told you, we have been getting on the subject. I can reply adequately to Mrs Turmer on the general question of the treatment of wildlife (I enclose for your information a copy of the standard letter that we have been sending to enquirers); but one point in Mrs Turmer's letter will need to be separately dealt with. This is the allegation that price lists from China Wildlife Company in Hong Kong include the Giant Salamander, which, of course, is an Appendix I species.
2.
Could you possibly let me know whether this is true and if so whether you are able to do anything about it? On the face of it there would appear to be a clear breach of Hong Kong law which would be difficult to explain away.
Yours ever,
Andrew
A C Stuart
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.