# Asia's Wildlife Trade: The Kingpin



## MonarchzMan (Oct 23, 2006)

A friend passed this article on to me in the latest article of National Geographic. It's a long article, but worth a read. It is so frustrating to read about the legal difficulties with Anson Wong. They even interview a guy from Strictly Reptiles who has had and still has (as I understand) dealings with Wong.

They also bring up the concept of "fake" breeding facilities to sell smuggled animals as captive bred and get around CITES. That really makes me think about these farms we hear about that are "captive breeding" frogs for trade in the US and Europe. The whole thing seems so frustrating!

Asia's Wildlife Trade — National Geographic Magazine


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

JP,

Read the book by Christy..."the lizard king".....on animal trafficing.

It's a little romantized and perspective challenged but it's one of the first of it's kind and is a useful read....


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## NCStateHerps (Jun 18, 2007)

+ 1 for The Lizard King - it tells of Wong's beginnings in the Asian animal trade, the beginnings and current dealings of Strictly Reptiles, etc.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

I JUST read the Jan edition of National Geographic...

Whatever you do, read it.

Go to Barnes and Noble or Borders books and read it for free.

That particular article is a must read IMO. Powerful and should raise awareness.


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## JJuchems (Feb 16, 2004)

The Lizard King is a must read!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

None of that is really news to those who have been involved in the animal trade for any length of time and it is one of the direct reasons, the "farm raised" dendronbatids have been questioned for a long time.. 

Ed


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## JJuchems (Feb 16, 2004)

After reading the Nat Geo article, a lot of the information is covered in the Lizard King. I like Bryan Christy's writing style. Ed is correct, it is not a big surprise Wong is up to his tricks. And that plenty of people exploit the CITES captive clause.

EDIT:
I do need to say we also need to be careful on we start sling farm raised as wild caught. There is evidence of captive breeding in of highly sought after species. For example there is evidence that China is farming turtles. The demand for turtle has placed a hug strain on Asian turtle species.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

JJuchems said:


> I do need to say we also need to be careful on we start sling farm raised as wild caught. There is evidence of captive breeding in of highly sought after species. For example there is evidence that China is farming turtles. The demand for turtle has placed a hug strain on Asian turtle species.


There is evidence but there is also a lot of evidence that these farms are also hybridizing turtles to make "rarer" species that demand more money when sold and there is also a lot of evidence that a number of those farms are also laundering the most expensive species... 

See CJO - Abstract - New Chinese turtles: endangered or invalid? A reassessment of two species using mitochondrial DNA, allozyme electrophoresis and known-locality specimens 

and Farming Endangered Turtles to Extinction in China 

Ed


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## MonarchzMan (Oct 23, 2006)

I guess my issue would be that he's had dealings with Wong, who is known to be very bad in illegal trade, Wong got busted, and then went back to business, and Strictly is doing business as usual. I guess if it were me, I wouldn't buy from Strictly because even if he is getting stuff legally, he's supporting a guy who's getting stuff illegally.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

As an alternative consideration on the filling out of CITES paperwork by Strictly.. is that the animals were always sold because the paperwork might not have passed muster. 

Ed


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## somecanadianguy (Jan 9, 2007)

no , my papers alwas had every thing i ordered on them , just he couldnt send what he no longer had. back then 1998 -2001 the cites was a single paper {or a few pages but one permit} and had all the cites things on it and the numbers.
i pushed him hard every single week we ordered for chams because that was what i was mostly working with at the time, but never once got one that wasnt on the papers.as a buyer i alwas assumed the papers were legal and corect and our local gov went thrught them each time.

for thier dealing with wong , like it or not there are very few large exporters in these locations .like olaf in mad {not linking olaf to any wrong doing at all , alwas been a huge suporter of what he does}to deal with, after all its a price driven market.i had lists from every other big wholesaler i could find at that time that could send enuff of a varity of herps frogs and insects in each of our orders to be profitable for us.by far strickly was the best in prices and quality.

heck i was even given a shot at the albino crocs that are touring the zoos now a days , funny our local aqurium paid more for a month rentals than i quoted them as a price to buy em.

i dont know for sure if anything was faked to me or any one else by mike i can only go by how i was treated.others may have a diferent story.
im sure all the oldcites papers we did are a matter of public record but i have no clues on where to look at them, if any one else does id love to go over them again it was a very hetic time in my life i would love to rehash it over coffee and time.
craig


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