Quat Says SAR Must Do More To Protect Wildlife

DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat has urged the government to put wildlife crimes under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance to increase the deterrent effect.

Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, Quat said she welcomed the SAR government's ban on the ivory trade which came into effect on May 1, but added that the SAR's laws still aren't strong enough to combat the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horns.

"Wildlife trafficking has grown and grown, encouraged not only by the increasing value of its product but also the high-profit, low-risk nature of the crime," she said.

Quat said wildlife crime is now considered to be the fourth-most profitable trans-national crime after drug smuggling, weapon smuggling, and human trafficking. She said, in spite of this, not a single wildlife kingpin had ever been caught and tried in Hong Kong.

She said people caught smuggling ivory and rhino horn at Hong Kong International Airport are part of international criminal networks, not just individuals carrying contraband in their backpacks.