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China's Back Door
Michael Webster
A resident in Hong Kong describes this British colony's trade in wild animals, as reported by a group of interested observers who kept a watch on markets and shops, coupled with the inadequate government statistics. The bulk of the trade is with China, but imports also include rhino horn and enormous quantities of ivory from Africa.
It is a proud boast of the Government of Hong Kong that it is among the world's top twenty trading nations; but in terms of the trade in wild animals it ranks even higher. Yet, while the total trade seems to be assessable to the last dollar, figures for the animal trade, although improving, are still vague. Since 1971, as a parallel to Government statistics, some private individuals have been watching shops and markets in an attempt to work out approxi- mately the volume of this trade and determine what species, if any, are likely to be endangered by it. The vast majority of imports come from the People's Republic of China, a country officially very conscious of the need to conserve wildlife, but one in which distances are so vast and communication still relatively so difficult that on wildlife conservation matters many provinces seem to act almost independently. The traffic in goods over the Hong Kong-China border is virtually uncontrolled; animals are imported in wooden crates, and no attempt is made by Customs to find out what is inside.
Two systems of assessing quantities exist. One requires all animal dealers to be licensed, which obliges them to keep a logbook of all animals – birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians that pass through their hands, with details of the species, date of sale or other disposal; but there is no means of checking the accuracy of the logs, and most dealers are incapable of correctly identifying any but the commonest species. The second requires dealers to obtain import permits and submit import declarations, but again, this system is wide open to abuse when no check can be made.
The animals are imported for a number of purposes. In Chinese tradition almost every bird, mammal, reptile or amphibian has certain medicinal or magical properties. Some customs, like the use of four particular pangolin scales to scare away ghosts, are obviously absurd, but others have a sound scientific basis. For example, snake and civet meats are eaten, as is dogmeat, to warm up the body in cold weather; since these meats are rich in amino- acids, at least one Western-trained doctor believes that they may indeed have the desired effect. China recently banned the export of pangolins, apparently because of a possibility that a cancer cure may be derived from some part of its body. Other species are imported simply because they are delicacies. Examples of these are deer (221 in 1974, 64 in 1975), pigs (99 and 202 re- spectively), wild ducks (98,030 and 27,062), and geese. 'Delicacies' such as monkey's brain scooped from the living monkey and bear's paws roasted on the living bear are probably things of the past, though from time to time
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