IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Sin City - Illegal wildlife trade in Laos' Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone | |
| 2015 Full Book | |
Illegal tiger and wildlife trade at the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GT SEZ) takes place openly. Buyers are primarily Chinese gamblers and tourists, consuming wildlife on site and smuggling it back in to China. Wild tiger and other wildlife parts are sourced by criminals with connections to Myanmar and China, although tiger skins likely originate from India, Thailand and Malaysia. Captive tigers sourced from other tiger farms in Laos are intended for breeding and the manufacture of tiger bone wine. Despite being the owner/lessor of the land and a 20 per cent stakeholder in the GT SEZ, the Government of Laos has failed to ensure any enforcement of Laos national law with regard to illegal wildlife trade, despite previous expos‚s. The Kings Romans Group (KRG), being an 80 per cent stakeholder in the GT SEZ, is a well-established operation with international connections to legitimate business concerns as well as the criminal underworld. The tiger farming and trade business model from China is well-established in Laos, operating in contravention of commitments under CITES and the Global Tiger Recovery Program. Laos is routinely used by transnational organised criminal networks as a base to avoid law enforcement and criminal justice. Laos' laws, law enforcement capacity and political commitment are inadequate to end illegal wildlife trade and to work towards zero demand for tigers. There are several well-established wildlife trade hotspots and trafficking routes in the region that do not appear to have been subject to law enforcement, despite previous expos‚s. China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have had more than a decade to take action and report on measures to comply with CITES Resolution Conference 12.5 (Rev CoP15) and Decision 14.69 regarding tigers and other Asian big cats. |
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