'HK Can't Wash Its Hands Over Wildlife Smuggling'

A wildlife activist has expressed frustration over the authorities' failure to catch the kingpins behind the trafficking of endangered species via the SAR.

WildAid Hong Kong's Alex Hofford was speaking a day after customs officers seized a record 40 kilogrammes of rhino horn at the airport as it was on its way to feed demand in Vietnam.

The seizure came less than a month after customs officers intercepted a record 8.3 tonnes of pangolin scales, in a shipment that also included the city's third largest seizure of ivory tusks.

Two South African men were arrested over the latest haul confiscated. They were remanded in custody after appearing in West Kowloon Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Hofford told RTHK's Richard Pyne that the government needs to start treating these crimes more seriously.

"Hong Kong being a very, very important node in the illegal wildlife trade supply chain, we have an important role to play in fixing the problem", Hofford said.

"We can't just push it onto other jurisdictions in Asia, like mainland China or Vietnam, saying it's their problem because it's only coming through Hong Kong. That may be true, but certainly we're all sharing the same planet together. Rhinos belong to the whole of humanity and so do pangolins and we all must play a part in saving these species."