Wildlife trade on the Thai-Burma border threatening species

June 22, 2008

By Taramon and Lawi Weng:

The flourishing black market trade in wild animal products is encouraging hunters to harvest animals on the Thai-Burma border at an unsustainable rate.

Thai authorities on the Thai-Burma border are heavily involved in the black market trade, frequently traveling into both government and rebel-controlled areas to procure wildlife.

Hunting, combined with habitat loss due to logging, the proliferation of rubber plantations and slash and burn agriculture, means that a variety of animals face regional extinction. For example, in the eastern part of Ye Township, or from the upper Bee Ree river to Thailand, rare animals including many species of tigers, deer, beer, many kind of snakes, wild goat, wild cat and some species birds are rare, if they can be found at all.

The Gan, from the monkey family, is in high demand and, in the Thai-Burma border area, virtually non-existent. “Less then ten years ago the population of rare animals like the Gan was booming in the Three Pagoda Pass border area,” said a former Mon soldier, who has lived on the Thai-Burma border area for two decades. “But the Gan will become extinct in the near future if we do not stop hunting them now.’’

The monkeys are in high demand for their medicinal value because their diet consists of fruits also lauded for their healing effects. The current price for one kilogram of meat sells for $150, and an average Gan weighs about twelve kilograms. Young Gan are also sold live as pets, and fetch $3 or 4 thousand baht each. One refugee hunter, who requested anonymity, reported that he killed two Gan last week, which earned him over one thousand Thai baht.

In the past, hunters needed only to travel a few hours into the forest to successfully hunt valuable species. Now, they must spend days traveling as far as the mountains in Tannasserim Division for a profitable hunt. Deer, once commonplace, are now rare, hunted into rarity for their coveted for their horns, which people hang in homes and temples for decoration and good luck

The Pangolin, an Armadillo-type animal, is currently in high demand by Thai wildlife traders. The animals, whose skin is used for medecine, fetch a high price – one kilogram earning $1,500 baht. A large Pangolin can weigh as much as ten kilograms, and a hunter from the Halocknee refugee camp near the Thai-Burma border reports that some hunters can get as many as five Pangolin in a single expedition, making hunting a far more lucrative and desirable occupation than most others in the area. Indeed, a single tiger killed in Karen State, close to Three Pagoda Pass, was sold to a Chinese trader for $50,000 baht.

The hunters participating in the black market trade on the Thai-Burma border are primarily local people, former soldiers and refugees or internally displaced people who have the experience, and the desperate need for income, to make the wildlife trade an attractive occupation. According to one local source, some hunters use army guns, while others use homemade guns or skillful hunting dogs. Many wild animals are also captured in traps, according to a hunter from Halocknee, because many traders will pay a higher price for live animals.

Commercial hunting has not always been such a burgeoning trade in the border area. Nai Shwe Jin, the chairman of the New Mon State Party who passed away several years ago, did not allow hunting in liberated areas. Since his death, many worry that the boom in black market will result in the extinction of many species. Many Mon people along the border think it is now too late to stop the hunting.

But as species reduce in number, and hunters are forced to travel farther and spend longer hunting, the refugee hunter reports that hunting is making less and less financial sense. Instead, the hunter reports he now spends more time working on plantations to earn money. But for others, the high black market is far from slowing down; as long as demand exists so too will hunters willing to venture into the forest.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under Feature