'Tougher Laws Needed To Stop Wildlife Smuggling'

A coalition of activists, the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group, on Monday called for tougher laws to try to deter wildlife smuggling, saying the masterminds of these cases often escape punishment.

The group said those who are caught illegally trafficking wildlife currently face weak penalties.

They said they want wildlife smuggling to instead be brought under the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance, so authorities can go after the masterminds as well as the smugglers.

Justin Gosling, an independent law enforcement and criminal justice specialist, said the sheer volume of endangered species trafficked through Hong Kong suggests that the masterminds are based in the SAR.

Between 2013 and 2017, customs officers in Hong Kong seized nearly 1,500 metric tonnes of endangered species, valued at around HK$560 million.

That included nearly 20 metric tonnes of elephant ivory and nearly 43 metric tonnes of pangolin scales and carcasses – which would be equivalent to 3,000 elephants and 65,000 pangolins.

But that was just what was intercepted. Experts say we should multiply these figures by 10 to get a more accurate picture of the scale of the illegal trade.

This information comes from a new report by the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group.

Sam Inglis, an environment research manager at the ADM Capital Foundation – a member of the coalition – said the report shines a light for the first time on the extent and nature of the problem in Hong Kong.

He said it is transnational, frequent, high volume, and ecologically harmful.

The working group also said it wants to see the authorities establish a Wildlife Crime Unit to allow crimes to be more deeply investigated and more vigorously pursued.