Trafficking live animals

One of the findings of the report is that the smuggling of live animals through Hong Kong remains an enormous issue, with some species being brought into the city by the thousand, decimating wild populations.

“We’ve had about 48,000 animals go through our rescue centre since it was opened in 1994,” says Gary Ades, head of fauna at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, where many of the live animals seized at the border are cared for while smugglers await trial. Once a sentence has been passed, Kadoorie Farm works to repatriate the animals or, if that’s not possible, move them to a respected conservation centre.

See also: Wildlife Warrior: Gary Ades Of Kadoorie Farm And Botanic Garden

The majority of trafficked live animals are reptiles, in particular turtles and tortoises historically eaten in China but now in demand as pets. Many of these species are being poached in such extreme numbers that conservationists are referringing to the situation as the Asian turtle crisis.

“To the criminals, these animals are just objects,” says Ades. “They estimate how many animals are going to die in transit and factor that into their costs. Some of these animals die in a very bad way. And sometimes these are species where the death of one individual may be important in the big scheme of things—there might only be 200 of them in the world.”  

The trade in live fish

It’s not just live reptiles, mammals and birds being smuggled through Hong Kong. Live fish are illegally trafficked into and through the city, too. Many of these are groupers caught in Indonesia, though the city also remains a trading hub for Napoleon fish, an endangered species that cannot be sold without a permit.

Some Napoleon fish are sold at seafood markets in Lei Yue Mun, Tuen Mun and Sai Kung, but others end up on plates in some of the city’s top restaurants.

“There are restaurants in high-end hotels, including very famous ones which we all know, that don’t hold Napoleon fish in their tanks but they do order them,” says Yvonne Sadovy, a professor in the University of Hong Kong’s school of biological sciences and a global expert in the trade of live reef fish. “Some of them may not even know that what they’re doing is illegal, but they need a possession permit even if they’re selling these fish.”

See also: 7 Hong Kong Eco-Warriors Who Are Saving The Planet

Napoleon fish and groupers are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they take a long time to reach sexual maturity, so populations aren’t being replenished fast enough to meet demand. Sadovy regularly provides information on illegal trafficking to the government, which has cracked down in some cases, and she is also developing a new app to combat the trade in Napoleon fish.

“If you look at the face of a Napoleon fish it has the most beautiful markings and they’re like fingerprints—you can distinguish different fish from each other from the markings,” she says. “One of the problems we have is of restaurants laundering fish—a restaurant may have a licence to sell one, so they only keep one in their tanks at any one time but they actually sell several. If you’re a law enforcement officer walking past every day, you’re not going to notice that it’s a different fish. With this app, you take a picture once, it’s in the database, you go back and take another picture and ping, it tells you whether it’s the same fish or not. This could really help us.”

Shark fin

New technology is also being used to try to stop the illegal trade in fins from certain species of shark, which continue to be trafficked into and through Hong Kong by the tonne.

“Customs officials from Mainland China asked to borrow some shark fins,” recalls Stan Shea, marine programme director of conservation organisation Bloom Hong Kong. “The 3D scan goes into their scanning systems at ports and all the baggage that goes through the scanning machine will be automatically scanned for the shape of shark fin. We don’t know when that’s going to be implemented, but I hope it’s soon.”

There are other encouraging signs that the working group is making progress. In January this year, the Hong Kong government announced that it would phase out the trade in ivory by 2021, giving traders three years to shut up shop.

“That was huge—the importance of that can’t be overstated,” says Hofford. The government has also broken with tradition by banning shark fin from official banquets. Maxim’s, Hong Kong’s largest restaurant group, followed suit in September, announcing that it would begin phasing out shark fin and stop serving it entirely in 2020.

Slow progress

There has been some promising movement in the courts. Soon after the government banned the trade in ivory, it also increased the maximum penalty for illegal wildlife trafficking to a HK$10 million fine and 10 years’ imprisonment.

In October this year, a man found guilty of smuggling 3.1kg of rhino horn was sentenced to eight months in prison, which is a slightly harsher sentence than in previous cases. But this is still not enough. “Eight months is on the higher end of the scale, but it remains below the level we would expect and need to see in order to deter wildlife trafficking syndicates,” says Ng.

To really tackle illegal trafficking, everyone in the working group agrees that the most important thing is to move wildlife crime to schedule one of the Organised and Serious Crimes Ordinance.

“Interpol classifies wildlife crime as organised and serious crime,” Whitfort explains. “And there are important features once a crime is recognised as organised and serious crime that make it more effective to prosecute. You have much greater investigative power—you have the power to require [criminals] to answer questions about their activities, discover the criminal targets, and you have the power to freeze assets. I do not understand how dangerous drugs can be treated as a serious offence in Hong Kong yet wildlife derivatives that are also illegally traded here, and in many cases are worth much more than dangerous drugs, are not treated with any kind of seriousness.”

The power of the police 

Moving wildlife crime to schedule one of the ordinance would also allow the police to launch investigations into wildlife trafficking, which currently falls under the remit of the Customs and Excise Department and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

“The police could leverage their powers of financial forensics and cybercrime forensics when they make a seizure,” says Hofford. “They could trace back the money or follow the consignment to its end destination and arrest the people higher up the chain.” 

These criminals higher up the chain are collectively making billions of US dollars by illegally trading wildlife, yet right now they face no consequences. “

We’ve heard that some of the kingpins are wealthy individuals living in Hong Kong,” adds Hofford. “They’re very much in the public eye, they’re not hiding—they could even be reading this magazine. We need to go after those people.”

Meet the activists

Get to know each activist better with our individual Q&A's:

• Alex Hofford of WildAid
• Rosana Ng Of ADM Capital Foundation
• Gary Ades Of Kadoorie Farm And Botanic Garden
• Stan Shea Of Bloom Hong Kong
• Yvonne Sadovy, Professor And Reef Fish Specialist
• Amanda Whitfort Of University Of Hong Kong