In Jakarta, wildlife monitors find a hotspot for the illegal tortoise trade

JAKARTA — The sale of some of the most threatened tortoise and turtle species from around the world continues to flourish at stores and exhibitions across Jakarta, highlighting longstanding concerns about the illegal animal trade in the Indonesian capital. A four-month survey by the wildlife-monitoring group TRAFFIC in 2015 found that 4,985 individuals from 65 different tortoise and freshwater turtle species were on display for sale at pet stores, animal markets, tropical fish markets and reptile expos in Jakarta. Fifteen of the 65 species observed during the survey were native to Indonesia, only three of which were included in the country’s list of protected animals, according to the report published on March 26. Radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) and African spurred tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata) for sale at an expo in a shopping center in North Jakarta. Photo courtesy of TRAFFIC. The rest of the surveyed species were identified as endemic to countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Madagascar, the report said. It added that nine species observed, only one of which was endemic to Indonesia, were currently listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), for which commercial international trade is prohibited. “[This means] at least eight of these species were likely to have been illegally imported,” John Morgan, from TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and lead author of the report, wrote. Two of these non-native species are the ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora) and the radiated tortoise (Astrochelys…

from Conservation news https://ift.tt/2ugXmhW
via IFTTT