環境資訊中心外電；姜唯 翻譯；林大利 審校；稿源：ENS 編按：接續
上篇，近期一份報告「南非與中國間可恥的野生動物貿易」揭露南非政府放任野生動物活體市場、違反國際公約的真相。報告由南非非政府組織「EMS基金會」和「禁止動物貿易（Ban Animal Trading）」發表，他們指控，包括黑猩猩、孟加拉虎、狼、非洲野犬和獅子在內，數千種瀕臨滅絕的野生動物從南非銷往中國，法規和審核流程毫無作用、動物福利和自然保護原則遭到忽視，並提供確切犯罪證據。
動物福利問題
雖然瀕危物種貿易公約（CITES）應該保證出口的野生動物到達「適當和可接受的目的地」，但從南非銷往中國的野生動物最終可能成為寵物、古董、食品、傳統藥材、動物園展示動物或實驗動物。
報告指出，由於許多動物是由最初的進口商出售給未知的第三方，通常無法確定其最終目的地。
在中國，進口野生動物的飼養設施通常品質不良。以出售給北京野生動物公園的黑猩猩為例，牠們抵達中國時，籠舍等設施還沒完工，也沒有合格的員工來照顧牠們。
來自南非的黑猩猩被關在北京野生動物公園中狹窄的展示空間內。
報告截圖
這些動物中有許多是為了娛樂目的而運往中國成千上萬個公有或私有「野生動物園」、主題公園和馬戲團。根據該報告，其中有些機構涉嫌虐待動物、環境設備條件惡劣、訓練野生動物表演以及非法購買野生動物。
從南非出口的大多數非靈長類動物，包括數百隻狨屬猴子，是賣給中間商、批發商和繁殖場，最終進入會執行活體切片的生物醫學、化妝品和製藥實驗室。
道德破產的政策
報告中提供的證據清楚地顯示，南非的野生動物貿易沒有任何保育作用。加上牽涉到瀕危物種，中國的最終目的地大多很可疑以及貿易活動刺激需求成長，這條供應鏈對生物多樣性和物種生存的影響，比較可能是弊遠大於利。
這個產業的真正動機並不難發現。根據這份報告，一間南非公司出於所謂非商業目的向一間中國公司出口的18隻黑猩猩，價格超過750萬南非幣（約新台幣1287萬元），100隻狐獴的行情價格為60萬南非幣（約新台幣102萬元），57頭長頸鹿700萬南非幣（約新台幣1201萬元）和18隻非洲野犬100萬南非幣（約新台幣171萬元）。
多年來，南非政府一直在積極推動這個獲利導向的行業，無視CITES及其自己的出口法規，還大力推廣「永續利用」，將野生動物視為養殖和出口商品，將保育責任推給國際市場。
100隻狐獴的行情價格為60萬南非幣（3萬4460美元）。照片來源：Jarod Carruthers（CC BY-NC-ND 2.0）
EMS基金會負責人皮克佛（Michele Pickover）表示，這份報告的前一個版本已經寄給南非各相關政府部門和官員，裡面有清楚的非法獅骨貿易證據，「但我們從未收到任何人的任何回應，這不是無能，是無視。」
考慮到武漢肺炎（COVID-19）危機，忽視貿易問題將牽涉刑事責任。南非政府若繼續支持和合法化這個危害國內生態系統和生物多樣性的產業，就是使全世界暴露於新型人畜共通傳染病的風險，就應對相關生態破壞、人類健康和財務後果承擔某些責任。
作者呼籲南非政府放棄有爭議的野生動植物貿易政策，並禁止出口活體野生動物及其身體部位。
「報告明確指出，任何人工繁殖和貿易都使消費合法化和常態化，影響減少需求的呼籲互相矛盾，使野生物種面臨進一步開發的風險。」
作者呼籲用新的全球協議代替CITES，以「野生動物貿易不適當、適得其反、不道德和根本非永續」為基本指導原則。
South Africa’s Live Wild Animal Trade to China Exposed CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 26, 2020（ENS）
Animal Welfare Concerns
While CITES rules are supposed to guarantee that exported live wild animals go to “appropriate and acceptable destinations,” those traded from South Africa to China may end up being used as pets, curios, food, ingredients in traditional medical practices, zoo exhibits or laboratory test subjects.
The report notes that since many animals are sold on to unknown third parties by the initial importers, their final destination is frequently impossible to ascertain.
Facilities housing imported wild animals in China are often of an inferior standard. In the case of the chimpanzees sold to the Beijing Wild Animal Park, for example, their accommodation was not yet completed on their arrival in the country and the facility did not have qualified staff to take care of them.
Many of the animals are destined for China’s thousands of government-run or privately-owned “safari parks,” zoos, theme parks and circuses for the sole purpose of entertainment. According to the report, several of these institutions have been exposed for animal abuse, poor conditions and facilities, training wild animals to perform for audiences and illegally buying wild-caught animals.
Most of the non-human primates exported from South Africa, including hundreds of marmosets, are sold to brokers, wholesalers and breeding farms, and many of them end up in laboratories conducting experiments, including vivisection, for the biomedical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.
Morally Bankrupt Government Policies
The evidence presented in the report makes it abundantly clear that South Africa’s trade in live wild animals has no conservation value whatsoever. Given the involvement of endangered species, the frequently dubious final destinations in China and the fact that the trade stimulates growing demand, it’s more likely to have a detrimental impact on biodiversity and species survival.
The true motivation for this industry is not hard to find. The 18 chimps exported from a commercial entity in South Africa for supposedly non-commercial purposes to a commercial entity in China came at a cost of over R7.5 million (US$430,758). The report lists the going price for 100 meerkats at R600,000 (US$34,460), 57 giraffes at R7million (US$402,000) and 18 African Wild Dogs at R1 million (US$57,430).
The South African government has been actively enabling this profit-driven industry for years. It has done so through its laissez-faire disregard for CITES and its own export regulations and through its aggressive promotion of a “sustainable use” philosophy that treats wild animals as mere commodities to be bred and sold while leaving conservation concerns to the supposed benevolence of international markets.
According to Michele Pickover, director of the EMS Foundation, copies of an earlier and equally damaging EMS/Ban Animal Trading report on South Africa’s trade in lion bones clearly detailing illegal activities was sent to various domestic authorities and individuals in government.
“We never received any response from any of them,” Pickover says. “This is not a case of incompetence. They are ignoring us.”
Given the COVID-19 disaster, ignoring this issue amounts to criminal negligence. As long as the South African government continues to support and legitimise an industry that endangers the biodiversity of domestic ecosystems while exposing the entire world to novel zoonotic diseases, it bears some responsibility for the devastating ecological, human health and financial consequences it causes.
The authors call for the government to abandon its controversial wildlife trade policies and to ban the export of living wild animals and their body parts.
They write, “The report makes clear that any captive breeding and trade legitimises and normalises consumption, which renders demand reduction campaigns incoherent and ineffective, and puts wild species at further risk of exploitation.”
The authors call for the replacement of CITES with a different global agreement that would have as its fundamental guiding principle that “the trade in wild animals is inappropriate, counter-productive, unethical and fundamentally unsustainable.”
※ 全文及圖片詳見：ENS
出售野生動物
CITES
走私
活體動物
動物福利
道德
國際新聞
南非
美國
生態保育
生物多樣性
作者
如果有一件事是重要的，如果能為孩子實現一個願望，那就是人類與大自然和諧共存。
於特有生物研究保育中心服務，小鳥和棲地是主要的研究對象。是龜毛的讀者，認為龜毛是探索世界的美德。
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