[MAIPC] FW: [Aliens-L] New report on Hong Kong's exotic pet trade

Tue Jun 28 04:57:27 PDT 2022

Origin of invasive species. Please tell Hong Kong to stop this> 

From: aliens-l-request at list.auckland.ac.nz
<aliens-l-request at list.auckland.ac.nz> On Behalf Of Shyama Pagad
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2022 3:28 AM
To: aliens-l Mailing List <aliens-l at list.auckland.ac.nz>;
issgmemberslist at list.auckland.ac.nz
Cc: Sophie Le Clue <slc at admcf.org>; Christie Wong <christie.wong at admcf.org>;
Sam Inglis <si at admcf.org>
Subject: Re: [Aliens-L] New report on Hong Kong's exotic pet trade

FYI

We write to share the latest report from the ADM Capital Foundation, a
non-profit working on environmental issues out of Hong Kong. Our wildlife
programme is focused on IWT and the exotic pet trade and we've just
completed a report entitled 'Wild, Threatened, Farmed: Hong Kong's Invisible
Pets <https://bit.ly/3MgTD7m> '!

We wanted to share our report with you and colleagues within the IUCN SSC
Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), as the work of the group informed
our own and we hope our findings may, in turn, support the work of the ISSG
or at least shed new light on Hong Kong's relevance in the trade of exotics.

The scale of the trade in Hong Kong is disproportionately large and likely
ecologically impactful. There are a number of findings that we believe would
be of interest to ISSG colleagues. These include:

- 4 million live exotic animals drawn from over 700 species were imported in
Hong Kong from 84 countries between 2015 and 2019 (pg 19).

- From our review of the literature, as many as 125 bird, 23 fish, 19
reptile, eight mammal, four amphibian and two marine invertebrate species,
alien to Hong Kong, have been introduced into the local environment over the
last century (pg 40).

- We found that despite the HK Government's stance that species such as
Red-eared sliders are driving endemic species towards local extinction, they
permitted over 60,000 to be imported (2015-2019) (pg 41).

- Local studies have found 'mercy releases' (practised since at least the
1940s) to be a key mechanism for introducing alien (potentially invasive)
species into local ecosystems. Many of the animals, such as bullfrogs, have
been in poor condition upon release (pg 41-43).

- Species, such as snapping turtles (imported in their hundreds of
thousands), have been identified in the local environs, released when they
presumably became too challenging for pet owners to keep in small HK
apartments  (pg 41 & 58). 

- Two-thirds of the 2.8 million CITES-regulated animals imported were
'Vulnerable'. Just 0.03% of CITES animals were drawn from species whose
populations are known to have been increasing (pg 31).

- 70% of the 1.2 million non-CITES animals were drawn from species whose
wild populations are in a state of decline or is unknown (pg 32).

And those are just some of the trade & conservation-focused facts. We also
spent considerable effort delving into animal welfare concerns (pg 46),
public & animal health (pg 74) and, ultimately, areas for potential policy
and regulatory enhancement (pg 97). We have a number of recommendations to
address the challenges we've observed (pg 147), most focused locally within
Hong Kong. We have zeroed in on a few of the most critical areas (i.e.,
positive list, returning safeguards to the Possession License system,
reviewing biosecurity protocols, enhancing traceability, incentivising
improvements in trade). We will be working over the coming months to move
the needle in a whole variety of areas!

Hopefully, this report is of interest to you and your colleagues at ISSG. It
is available on our website <https://bit.ly/3MgTD7m>  and we also have
videos on YouTube <https://youtu.be/cCgBoENpKAU> , Facebook
<https://fb.watch/d5zv3KTSUC/> , Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cdr00MmgF0E/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link>  and
LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adm-capital-foundation_wild-threatened-farme
d-hong-kongs-invisible-activity-6932544160516165632-liZL?utm_source=linkedin
_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web> ! If you know of anyone else who might
be interested, please do pass along or feel free to introduce us! If you'd
like to learn more, please let us know!

Best,

 <http://admcf.org/> 

Sam Inglis |  Wildlife Programme Manager
ADM Capital Foundation

Suite 2405, 9 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong

T: +852 2810 6634  |  F: +852 2810 6865

Act for our planet:  <https://www.facebook.com/admcapitalfoundation/>
Facebook  |   <https://twitter.com/ADMCapFound> Twitter  |
<https://www.instagram.com/admcf/> Instagram

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<http://chooserighttoday.org/> Choose Right Today  |
<http://www.supporthk.org/en> Support HK  |   <http://tlffindonesia.org/>
TLFF  |   <http://aarambhindia.org/> Aarambh India

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