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Thread: Endangered Species in TCM

  1. #46
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    Busted for snake stew

    Some violators are dumb as rocks.


    Animal Cruelty

    Brothers Catch Endangered Python, Cook It In A Stew, Then Are Arrested By Police
    No eating endangered animals

    Charles Liu Charles Liu, April 18, 2016 9:28am

    Like many Chinese, the Guan brothers spent Tomb Sweeping Day paying their respects to their ancestors. However while sweeping their family’s tomb near Shuiming, Bobai, the brothers discovered an unexpected guest: a three-metre long python.



    Instead of leaving the endangered species to itself, the Guan brothers decided to take the 15 kilogram snake home, slaughter it, and cook it in a stew. However, before doing so, they decided to take a bunch of photographs of the capture and post them online. Thankfully, someone brought the incident to the attention of local authorities who, on the same day, arrested the brothers.



    The python is a state-protected animal in China. Following confirmation from Yulin forestry officials that the photographs were in fact of a protected python, the Guan brothers were arrested. Sometimes social media has its benefits.



    Source: People's Daily Online, Sina Slide, Sina Photos
    Photos: People's Daily Online, Sina Slide, Sina Photos
    Gene Ching
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  2. #47
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    Rhino horn, Ivory and more

    Revealed: the Laos market selling ivory carvings and ‘medicinal’ rhino horn from slaughtered wildlife to Chinese buyers
    Philip Sherwell, asia editor
    17 APRIL 2016 • 3:42PM

    The array of Buddhist figurines, bracelets, ornaments, pendants and chop-sticks shone creamy-white under the shop spotlights in their display cabinets.

    The Laotian woman behind the counter passed the wares to her Chinese customers who held them admiringly and carefully inspected the workmanship.

    And she openly assured the would-be customers that the intricately carved pieces were ivory from Africa, the most desirable source, handing them a pen-torch to check for the pinkish hue that indicates high quality.

    “The best,” she boasted in Mandarin, as other shoppers studied the list of contents in bottles of tiger bone wine.

    In the cases next to them was a much more expensive luxury – rhino horn - sometimes carved into trinkets, but usually offered as bark-like strips on sale in jars, to be ground down, dissolved into water and drunk for “medicinal” purposes.

    The store was one of several in a squat concrete market on the outskirts of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, that is the new Asian shop-front for the carnage of some of the world’s most majestic wildlife.


    Some of the carved ivory items on sale in Laos CREDIT: PHILIP SHERWELL FOR THE TELEGRAPH

    Elephant, rhino and tigers are being slaughtered in tens of thousands in Africa and Asia to satisfy the demand of predominantly Chinese consumers for products and “traditional remedies” made from their tusks, horns and bodies.

    The Chinese government has in recent years clamped down on the illicit wildlife trade within its borders. So smugglers and buyers now conduct much of their business in their southern neighbours of Vietnam and particularly Laos – the “Wild East” for wildlife trafficking.

    The Telegraph visited San Jiang market following information supplied by the Environmental Investigation Agency, a London-based international campaigning organisation that tracks and exposes global environmental crime.

    “Laos has emerged as a safe haven for wildlife criminals as international syndicates seek weak spots where enforcement in poor and corruption thrives,” said Julian Newman, EIA’s campaigns director.

    Combatting this sickening trade in endangered species is close to the hearts of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who this week toured a wildlife sanctuary in Assam, India.

    They were told about anti-poaching initiatives, yet just hours later the scale of the crisis was brutally illustrated when a rhino in the same park was shot dead and its horn backed off.


    With Prince Harry, the royal couple have founded United for Wildlife to work with leading charities to fight the scourge.

    Commenting on The Telegraph’s reporting from Laos, a Kensington Palace spokesman said: "It is absolutely vital that these markets are dragged out of the shadows and people learn the truth about what is going on.

    "United For Wildlife and the Duke of Cambridge are completely committed to doing everything they can not only to protect animals but also to reduce demand on the ground because that is the only sustainable solution to the problem of poaching."

    A royal source said the Duke, who is aware of the market in Laos, will "have significant focus on reducing demand in South East Asia" later this year.

    And a major anti-poaching summit will be held later this month in the Kenyan capital Nairobi attended by African leaders and international conservations, as well as celebrity campaigners such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman and Elton John and philanthropists George Soros, Paul Allen and Howard Buffett.


    Rangers from Kenya's Elite Anti-Poaching Unit survey the site where 10 elephants were slaughtered by poachers in Tsavo East National Park CREDIT: EPA

    There will watch the burning of 120 tons of seized ivory, the largest ever pyre of tusks, intended to send the message that poaching and trafficking do not pay.

    But, Mr Newman noted, “those efforts will fail as long as markets in Asia remain open for business”. And as The Telegraph discovered at San Jiang, those markets remain highly lucrative.

    We were shown one garish ornament carved out of rhino horn that weighed 321 grams. The seller did the numbers and came up with a price of $53,450, but offered to knock off the $450 if we bought there and then.

    In its carved form, the rhino horn was retailing at a head-spinning $16,600 for 100 grams. Uncarved, it sells for about $6,000 for 100 grams – more expensive than gold - making a cut-off horn from a larger animal worth about $200,000.

    The horn is usually ground down and dissolved into boiling water in China and also Vietnam where it is believed to have restorative qualities ranging from curing hangovers to cancer.

    More affordable are the ivory trinkets and jewellery. Ivory has long been a much sought-after commodity in East Asia and newly affluent Chinese buyers are now driving the market.

    In San Jiang, nearly all the buyers and many sellers were Chinese. The prices were quoted in yuan, conversations were conducted in Mandarin and the shop names are written in Chinese script first and then sometimes Lao.

    On offer were chopsticks at $290 a set, pendants at $380 and bracelets for $500 upwards. The price was again calculated by weight, with carved ivory, fetching $6 per gram. The seller was asking for $3,729 for an elaborate eight-inch high Buddhist statuette.


    The $3,729 figurine on the scales CREDIT: PHILIP SHERWELL FOR THE TELEGRAPH


    Bottles on nearby shelves offered tiger bone wine and bile harvested from captive battery bears, while Buddhas shaped from the beaks of endangered hornbills were also prominently displayed.

    Behind the counter, a manager casually held several wads of $100 bills half-an-inch thick – a graphic visual indicator of the monies involved in the business.

    I was the only Westerner there, posing as a British tourist looking for an unusual present, accompanied by a local Chinese-speaker. The sellers were wary about my presence, but they allowed me to take photographs of items on sale so that I could show them to a friend who was advising me on my purchase.


    Chinese writing on the signage outside the shops in the market CREDIT: PHILIP SHERWELL FOR THE TELEGRAPH


    With the guide, they showed no such inhibitions, immediately offering to befriend him on WeChat, a messaging application popular in China and widely used to conduct illicit wildlife trades.

    When I asked whether I needed an export certificate to bring the items through customs, the sellers laughed. After all, as there is no legal cross-border trade in ivory, then there can be no paperwork to authorise it.

    “No problem,” said on vendor, deploying her only language, then patting her pockets and telling the guide that I should just carry any smaller purchases with me.

    There are also websites offering helpful hints on how to carry them on flights – one tip is to wrap the ivory in tinfoil to throw off X-ray machines.
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
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  3. #48
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    Continued from previous post


    Some of the ivory products on sale at the market including a $3,729 figurine CREDIT: PHILIP SHERWELL FOR THE TELEGRAPH


    Laos, a small landlocked communist-ruled state, has become such a hub due to its strategic location in South-East Asia, weak law enforcement and widespread corruption. Located down a street less than a mile from the Mekong river, San Jiang is conveniently close to the city’s airport for Chinese shoppers.

    “Almost all of the ivory on sale in Laos comes from elephants slaughtered in Africa,” said Mr Newman of EIA. “The failure of Lao authorities to honour their international obligations and clamp down on the open sale of ivory is appalling.

    “The situation for Africa’s elephants is dire. About 30,000 are being poached for their tusks every year, and the scale of the loss is outstripping natural replacement, threatening the long-term survival of the species.

    “For Africa’s endangered rhino populations, the outlook is even more parlous. Since 2008 5,940 have been poached, out of a wild population of about 25,000. In 2015 alone 1,338 were killed, the sixth year in a row the number has increased.

    “This slaughter is being driven by escalating prices for rhino horn in the main markets of Vietnam and China for pseudo-health benefits, black markets that Laos is culpable of openly supplying.”

    In a report entitled Sin City, the EIA and Education for Nature Vietnam last year documented how a corner of north-western Laos, the so-called the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GT SEZ) in Bokeo Province, has become “a lawless playground” catering to the desires of visiting Chinese gamblers and tourists who can openly purchase and consume illegal wildlife products and parts.

    International records show that Laos was implicated in at least 11 major ivory seizures between 2009 and 2015. The combined weight for these seizures is more than 10 tons of ivory – representing the equivalent of more than 1,500 dead elephants.

    Laos has also gained global notoriety as the base for several wildlife-trading operations. Best-known is the one headed by a businessman known as Vixay Keosavang – the “Mr Big” of the international trafficking world.

    In 2013, the US government offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the dismantling of his syndicate, which is said had affiliates in South Africa, Mozambique, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and China.


    A Thai craftsman in the Surin province carves a Buddha figure CREDIT: JONAS GRATZER/GETTY IMAGES


    Mr Vixay remains a free man, his business intact, and told one journalist that he worked with Laotian officials.

    Laos has twice been sanctioned twice under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) the international agreement between governments governing such activities.

    The country has acknowledged the challenges. In a speech to mark the UN-designated World Wildlife Day last month, Sommad Pholsena, the minister for natural resources and the environment, pledged that Laos would implement CITES and crack down businesses trading endangered wildlife.

    Also last month, Vientiane hosted a meeting of law enforcement officials from border areas of Laos, Vietnam and China to discuss regional moves to tackle wildlife smuggling.

    But there have so far been no significant prosecutions or convictions or major seizures, unlike in neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.

    As the state-run Vientiane Times noted: “While governments in the region have provided a political voice to combatting wildlife trafficking networks, this is yet to translate on the ground and trafficking networks continue unabated.”

    Additional reporting by Gordon Rayner in Assam
    The very notion of Buddhist figures carved in ivory is ironic and sad.
    Gene Ching
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  4. #49
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    The plight of the Scaly Anteater

    This species known as the Pangolin or Scaly Anteater is often overlooked in the discussions of endangered species which usually focuses on elephants, rhinos and tigers and sharks.... but this humble animal is easy prey for poachers, and their scales, known as Chuan Shan Jia, are prized for their blood-invigorating properties, treating diseases of the skin like boils and carbuncles, promoting lactation and regulating the menses. Chuan Shan Jia is salty in taste and cool in temperature, going to the Liver and Stomach. There are plenty of plant based herbs that can treat these conditions without endangering this species! However, the trade is surreptitious, and awhile back, I was contacted by someone on Faceb00k trying to sell me some. She stated emphatically that she had a "special permit" for "farmed pangolin scales" - BS!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/26549963

    13 March 2014 Last updated at 07:20
    'Shocking' scale of pangolin smuggling revealed
    By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

    Pangolin
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    Official records show that pangolins are being illegally traded on a "shocking" scale, according to a report.

    The globally threatened animals are sought for their scales which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

    Annual seizures have been estimated at roughly 10,000 animals but experts warn the illegal trade is far greater

    Chinese enforcement officials worked with researchers from the UK to assess the extent of the problem.

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    Pangolins


    Zhao-Min Zhou, from the Public Security Bureau for Forests in China's Yunnan province, worked with researchers from the University of Oxford to analyse official records of pangolins seized from smugglers.

    The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

    "The numbers of pangolins traded are shocking, and all the more so considering the pharmaceutical pointlessness of the trade. This trade is intolerably wasteful," said Prof Macdonald, director of the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), and a co-author of the paper.

    He praised the leadership of Mr Zhou in the study, which gives conservationists the first glimpse of official records of seizures.

    The research team uncovered records that 2.59 tonnes of scales, representing approximately 4,870 pangolins, along with 259 intact pangolins (220 living; 39 dead) have been seized since 2010, resulting in 43 enforcement cases.

    There are eight species of pangolin, four of which are found in Asia and four of which live in Africa.

    Chinese and Sunda pangolins are listed as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Indian and Philippine pangolins are considered Near Threatened, as are Africa's giant and white-bellied species.

    The animals roll into a ball for protection but this only makes it easier for poachers to collect and transport them unnoticed.
    Surveying the bodies of trafficked pangolins Mr Zhou examines the bodies of seized pangolins

    In traditional Chinese medicine, roasted pangolin scales are thought to detoxify and drain pus, relieve palsy, and stimulate lactation.

    Rapid economic growth in Asia has resulted in soaring demand in recent years.

    Pangolins by post


    In addition to smuggling whole animals, traffickers use the postal system to transport their contraband.

    In the report, Prof Macdonald and colleagues highlight that last November, Beijing customs officials intercepted five parcels of pangolin scales weighing 70kg each.

    They subsequently discovered a further tonne of scales had been shipped in this way since April, the equivalent of 1,660 individual animals.

    Prolific smugglers have received prison sentences from 11 years to life but with demand out-stripping supply, the trade is only becoming more lucrative.

    According to the report, pangolin scales are currently worth £360 ($600) per kilo, twice the amount they traded for in 2008.

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    Mr Zhou examines the bodies of seized pangolins

    Pangolins only give birth to one offspring per year and conservationists warn that current declines are unsustainable.

    Richard Thomas, from the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, described the animals as "overlooked" in comparison with the more "charismatic" targets of smugglers.

    "Poor old pangolins are a bit of a forgotten species. There's been a lot of attention to the big iconic animals: elephants, rhinos, tigers but not much attention to pangolins."

    He explained that Asian species of pangolin are protected under CITES legislation and have a "zero quota", meaning their removal from the wild for international trade is illegal.

    TRAFFIC staff in Asia are helping to train customs and postal workers to help them detect smuggling attempts and raise awareness of the animals' plight.

    "We've uncovered a disastrous situation and currently all the omens for the pangolin are bad but hopefully by drawing attention to this useless trade, international opinion may contribute to changing the situation of the pangolin," said Prof Macdonald.

  5. #50
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    Giant Salamander

    Not just endangered, but overpriced.

    Restaurant fined for serving giant salamander that was too expensive



    Authorities cracked down hard on a restaurant in Guangxi for trying to sell its customers a dish of giant salamander... at too steep a price.
    The restaurant has been fined 500,000 yuan and its business and service licenses have been revoked after a tourist surnamed Wang complained about being charged 5,000 yuan for a 1.65-kg giant salamander.
    According to Wang she was taken by a taxi driver to the restaurant, where the waiter recommended he try the giant salamander, without mentioning the price. Only after the animal had been killed did the waiter inform Wang that it would be 3,200 yuan a kilo -- though she could get a discount if he didn't ask for a receipt.
    Wang was outraged. "The highest price I have heard people paying for a giant salamander in Guilin was 1,400 yuan per kilo,” she said, according to a Xinhua report.
    She then protested to police... who helped him get the price down to a more reasonable 1,500 yuan a kilo.
    However, the restaurant has rejected Wang's account of the events, claiming that the price of the dish was clearly labeled on the menu and Wang had accepted both the weight and price. Additionally, the restaurant manager told Xinhua that their giant salamanders were purchased from a local market at 700 yuan per kilo.
    But, police agreed with Wang, punishing the restaurant under China's Pricing Law -- which is apparently a thing that exists and states that restaurants must not overcharge customers. Like billing them for 38 yuan per prawn or 5,000 yuan per endangered fish/giant salamander, for instance
    While the fine is nice and all, we think that police may be missing the larger issue here. The giant salamander is a Class II Protected Species in China due to critical endangerment. Once widespread across central, south-western and southern China, they have become increasingly rare because of habitat loss, pollution and (especially) over-hunting. The giant salamander is considered a delicacy in China and it is also used in traditional Chinese medicine.



    Late last year, a 1.4-meter-long, 52 kg one was discovered lurking in a cave outside of Chongqing. Honestly, we are a little worried about the little guy now.

    Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
    By Alex Linder in News on Apr 27, 2016 5:59 PM
    Gene Ching
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  6. #51
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    Here's where TCM makes me sick

    Traditional Chinese medicine risks extinction if the endangered animals it abuses go extinct.

    Sat Jul 2, 2016 2:55pm BST Related: ENVIRONMENT
    China defends use of wild animals in traditional medicine
    BEIJING | BY BEN BLANCHARD


    A police officer carries a stuffed lynx specimen as he arranges confiscated rare wild animal products displayed at the courtyard of a police station in Kunming, Yunnan province, China January 22, 2014.
    REUTERS/WONG CAMPION/FILE PHOTO

    Traditional Chinese medicine risks extinction if there is a push by the government to completely replace the wild animal parts now used with substitutes, a senior Chinese lawmaker said on Saturday.

    China, where an animal-loving middle class has been trying to change old ways, has promoted substitutes for tiger bones, rhino horns and certain other wild animal products, but doubts persist about their usefulness even among some officials.

    Beijing in 1993 banned trade in tiger bones and rhino horns, both prized in traditional medicine, as part of global efforts to halt declining animal stocks. But illegal poaching continues, driven by illegal demand in an increasingly affluent country.

    Speaking after China amended its wildlife protection law, Zhai Yong, head of parliament's environment and resources protection committee legislation department, admitted using wild animals for medicine was highly controversial. But substitutes reduce the effectiveness of traditional medicine, he said.

    "If in the future original products from wild animals are all substituted, our Chinese medicine perhaps won't be of any use anymore. This issue needs to be discussed by us Chinese people," he added.

    Commercial tiger farms in China are legal and tiger parts from these farms often end up being made into tonics and going into other medicines, animal rights groups say.

    Substitutes exist for tiger bones and many other products from wild animals such as bear bile, the extraction of which from live animals rights groups condemn as barbaric.

    Yan Xun, chief engineer of the wildlife preservation department in the State Forestry Administration, said skin and bones from farmed tigers were "legal assets" but tiger bones could not be used in Chinese medicine since the 1993 ban.

    State media this week cited another lawmaker, Jin Hua, as saying the law should not ban the use of wildlife due to the importance of traditional Chinese medicine.

    "Some international forces use this as a pretext to attack the raw material requirements for traditional Chinese medicines, and often require China to forbid their trade," she was quoted as saying.

    The amendments to the wildlife protection law brought only small changes. It still permits the continued "utilisation" of wild animals for medicine and also allows for them to be used in public performances, something animal rights groups have expressed concern about as well.

    While the revised law bans mistreatment of wild animals, it contains no specific punishments for any violations.

    (Editing by Tom Heneghan)
    Gene Ching
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  7. #52
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    Totoaba fish

    China's demand for rare $50,000 'aquatic cocaine' fish bladder pushing species to extinction
    Rare organ now one of the most sought-after aphrodisiacs in the world

    Lucy Pasha-Robinson 20 hours ago


    Totoaba swim bladders are offered for sale in Shantou, China EIA

    China’s illegal trade in the rare totoaba fish bladder is driving an endangered species of vaquita fish to the brink of extinction, according to a new report.

    Numbers of the vaquita have been decimated by illegal poachers using gill nets to trap the totoaba fish, nicknamed “money maw” or “aquatic cocaine” for its staggeringly high price tag on the Asian market.

    While prices have fallen in recent years, some large totoaba bladders can still fetch more than $50,000 each on the Chinese black market.

    Both species are found only in the northernmost corner of Mexico's Cortez Sea and both are critically endangered, with only 60 vaquita thought to be left in the wild.

    The totoaba fish are highly sought after for their alleged health benefits in treating circulatory and skin problems and are believed by some to hold aphrodisiac properties.

    The Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA) are now warning of a “buoyant trade” in China, with “no attempt to curb the practice” despite repeated condemnation from environmental activists.

    EIA oceans campaign head Clare Perry said the Chinese government needed to acknowledge its vital role in saving the endangered vaquita species.


    A Chinese trader shows EIA investigators a rare, totoaba fish maw (EIA)

    "Trade is happening openly of the totoaba in mainland China despite it being illegal, and we actually found a whole new center for the trade in Shantou that had clearly seen no efforts from the Chinese government," she told The Independent.

    "Given the information out there, it's quite a shocking lack of law enforcement when you have the survival of a species at risk."

    Ms Perry also warned of a lack of incentive for Mexican smugglers to stop the poaching, warning it was a low risk alternative to cocaine smuggling, with high reward.

    She said: “The trade has been going on for over a century.

    "However, when Mexican fisherman started making a lot of money, the organised crime groups got involved, as they do with all of these wildlife products where they see quick profit.

    “That’s when the trade really exploded.”

    Julian Newman, EIA’s campaigns director said dual responsibility needed to be taken to effectively stamp out the trade between the Mexican suppliers of the maw and the Chinese market driving the fishing.

    In 2015, Mexican federal environment agency Profepa revealed the commodity was worth more than cocaine in the country, with one kilo of bladder selling for the same as 1.5 kilos of the drug.

    In an attempt to stamp out the practice, the Mexican military scours the 5,019-square mile stretch of Californian Gulf several times a day looking for poachers.

    Speaking to Mexican newspaper Reforma, one army chief, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Traffickers entered the business forcefully, applying their organisational structures and their corrupting influence.

    “Organised crime has established networks, routes, contacts, points of sale and padrinos, or sponsors, in official institutions.

    “What was once used to traffic drugs was implemented for the totoaba.”

    However, the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) reported that traffickers often camouflaged the bladders with other legally-fished maw.

    One environment official said: “The training of police agents isn’t enough, be it at the municipal, state or federal levels.

    “The situation is the same with the Army, Navy and customs personnel: they’re not trained to detect these crimes.”


    Two vaquita spotted in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico, with only 60 thought to be left in the wild (Todd Pusser)

    The vaquita is the smallest and rarest cetacean species, closely resembling the common porpoise.

    Ms Perry said it was not clear that China had a full understanding of the implications of the totoaba trade for the vaquita.

    She said: “Domestically, China must stamp out the illegal trade, but also some very swift awareness raising needs to happen among business traders and consumers to save this critically endangered species.”
    Now who the heck even thought that this would be a good aphrodesiac in the first place?
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  8. #53
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    Global wildlife summit banned all trade of pangolins

    A ranger, poacher and investigator explain pangolin trade


    In this Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 photo, park ranger Denis Odong stands in an open area in Kidepo Valley National Park in northern Uganda. Although a global wildlife summit banned all trade of pangolins, doubts remain whether that will stop their illegal traffic in Africa fueled by growing demand from Asian consumers, particularly in China. (Helene Franchineau/Associated Press)

    By Helene Franchineau | AP October 5 at 11:12 AM
    KAMPALA, Uganda — Commercial trade in the pangolin, a scaly anteater with a distinctive coat of hard shells, is now forbidden following decisions made last week at a conservation meeting in Johannesburg.

    The pangolin is the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal, with rampant poaching driven by demand for its meat, considered a delicacy in Vietnam and some parts of China, and its scales, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

    The Associated Press spoke to a former pangolin poacher, a park ranger trying to curb poaching, and an undercover investigator about the trade.

    ___

    THE FORMER POACHER

    Michael Ojara, a 20-year-old farmer, said police arrested him in April after he caught a pangolin near his village in northwestern Uganda and tried to sell it. Ojara, whose village of Lagaji is located near Murchison Falls National Park, said he was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

    “I don’t want to engage in poaching anymore, because I feel that if I do again, I will get arrested,” Ojara said in an interview late last month. Ojara said he had also killed an elephant a few years ago that wandered into his village from Murchison Falls because it was ruining his crops.

    ___

    THE RANGER

    Denis Odong, 30, is a Ugandan ranger who said he has only spotted a pangolin once in his eight years on the job. Odong, who works at the Kidepo Valley National Park, bordering South Sudan, said local villagers need to be provided with incentives to preserve wildlife.

    But buyers of pangolin scales, which are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, play a greater role, he added. “Even the Chinese themselves, they know that poaching the pangolins will endanger the species,” Odong said.

    ___

    THE UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATOR

    Rebecca T. works as an undercover investigator into the trade of pangolins for the Natural Resource Conservation Network, a Ugandan nonprofit group. The 27-year-old agreed to an interview on condition of partial anonymity because revealing her identity could undermine her investigations.

    Posing as a potential buyer, Rebecca connects with traffickers and travels across Uganda to meet them, see the products — usually live pangolins or scales — and negotiate prices. Once a deal and meeting has been set up, the group works with police to mount an operation and arrest the traffickers.

    “They have big people behind them, they are not alone,” the investigator says of the traffickers. “They use expensive dogs, sometimes guns, and if you trace these guns you find that they come from the authorities.”

    ___

    The International Women’s Media Foundation supported Franchineau in her reporting in Uganda as part of its Africa Great Lakes Initiative.

    Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
    TCM just likes pangolins because their weird looking.
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  9. #54
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    More than 3.4 tons of illegally trafficked pangolin scales

    Approximately 5,000 to 7,500 pangolins. ******.

    China Announces Its Largest-Ever Seizure Of Trafficked Pangolin Scales
    December 28, 20168:06 AM ET
    CAMILA DOMONOSKE


    An undated photo, released Wednesday, shows Shanghai customs officers checking pangolin scales at a port in Shanghai. Chinese customs seized over three tonnes of pangolin scales, state media said, in the country's biggest-ever smuggling case involving the animal parts.
    STR/AFP/Getty Images

    Chinese officials have seized 3.1 tonnes (more than 3.4 tons) of illegally trafficked pangolin scales from a port in Shanghai, according to state media.

    It's the largest such seizure China has ever made, Xinhua News Agency reports.

    Pangolins are the world's most widely trafficked mammals — their meat is a delicacy and their scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

    All eight species of pangolin are facing extinction.

    "The pangolin is about the size of a raccoon and looks like an artichoke with legs," NPR's Jackie Northam wrote last year. "Its head and body are covered with an armor of t***** scales, giving it the appearance of a reptile. When a pangolin is scared, it curls up into a tight ball."

    This fall, commercial trade of the pangolin was "officially banned by the international body responsible for regulating the international trade of endangered species," as NPR's Rebecca Hersher reported.

    Pangolins are now covered by "the strictest protections available under international law," she writes.


    A game reserve guide in Zimbabwe holds a female pangolin at Wild Is Life animal sanctuary outside Harare on Sept. 22. Pangolins are the world's most heavily trafficked mammal; demand for pangolin meat and body parts is driving the secretive scaly ant-eating mammals to near extinction.
    Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images

    Rebecca continued:

    "In a statement following news of the international commercial ban, Elly Pepper, the deputy director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's wildlife trade initiative, wrote that the trade ban would 'give the world's most-trafficked mammal a fighting chance at survival.' "
    The pangolin scales seized in Shanghai were mixed in with wood products shipped from Nigeria, Phys.org reports, citing state broadcaster CCTV.

    The illicit animal parts were discovered on Dec. 10, the South China Morning Post reports, and authorities accuse the suspects of smuggling pangolin scales from Africa to China since 2015.

    Approximately 5,000 to 7,500 pangolins must have been killed to produce the more than 3 tons of pangolin scales, Xinhua reports.

    Based on reported black-market prices for the scales, the seized scales would have been worth more than $2 million, Phys.org says.

    "The scales are nothing more than keratin, the same substance that makes up fingernails," the science news service writes. "Yet it has been falsely touted as a cure for multiple ailments, including cancer, among some practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine."
    Gene Ching
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  10. #55
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    Angelababy & pangolins

    It's AngelAbaby, not Angelbaby (as an editor, I feel the pain of a misspelled headline, and maybe just a shade of schadenfreude )

    Good ol' WildAid. This is why we support them.

    Angelbaby teams up with WildAid and Wunderman Shanghai to save Endangered Pangolins
    It is estimated that over 1 million pangolins have been killed and illegally trafficked in the last decade to supply rising demand for their meat and scales in China and east Asia.

    By Staff - Jan 12, 2017



    WildAid, an environmental organization that focuses on reducing the demand for wildlife products, together with Wunderman Shanghai have just launched a China-based integrated activation campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the plight of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked and least understood wild mammal.

    It is estimated that over 1 million pangolins have been killed and illegally trafficked in the last decade to supply rising demand for their meat and scales in China and east Asia.
    WildAid has enlisted celebrity spokesperson, Angelababy, to serve as the organization’s ambassador and have recently launched a campaign with her to promote awareness of the plight of these endangered pangolins.


    The might pangolin

    This phase of the campaign, created by Wunderman Shanghai, includes metro and airport advertising in major Chinese cities and an interactive WeChat platform that encourages conservation awareness of these gentle creatures through an interactive game.

    The interactive game involves players going on a search for pangolins in a forest. Once they are able to spot and catch a pangolin, they are given a choice of what to do with their catch: sell, cook or bring home. All responses receive a personal reply from Angelababy encouraging them to stop the killing of these defenseless creatures, delivering the message of “when the buying stops, the killing can too.” Users are then prompted to spread the word of protecting pangolins on social media.



    “We found that even with a superstar power like Angelababy, Chinese consumers are more likely to want a digital interactive platform that engages them in the message,” said Bryce Whitwam, CEO of Wunderman China.

    Pangolins, the only known mammal with scales and are found in China as well as southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. These shy and harmless nocturnal mammals are the most heavily trafficked and poached for their meat and scales, believed in traditional Chinese medicine to cure rheumatism, asthma and other diseases.


    Chinese-born Hong Kong model, actress, and singer, Yang Ying, better known as Angelababy.

    All 8 global pangolin species were recently uplisted at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to appendix 1 status, meaning international trade in pangolins will be banned. But more awareness is still needed to further reduce demand for their products.

    WildAid’s acting chief representative in China Steve Blake says “this partnership between WildAid and Wunderman gives us an exciting new way to deliver the message of protecting pangolins. Campaigns like these have already proven to decrease demand for wildlife products, and we believe it is only a matter of time before we can start seeing this for pangolins.”
    Gene Ching
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  11. #56
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    More pangolin problems

    THAILAND SEIZES RECORD HAUL OF PANGOLIN SCALES INTENDED FOR TRAFFICKING
    BY JACK MOORE ON 2/2/17 AT 1:12 PM

    THAILAND
    Thai authorities revealed almost 3 tonnes of pangolin scales Thursday, in what they said was a record haul of the trafficked animal part.

    The scales, made out of keratin, the same protein that fingernails consist of, were shipped from the Congo, through Turkey, before authorities seized two air cargo deliveries at Bangkok’s Suvarmabhumi Airport.

    The hauls, worth more than $800,000, were intended to reach Laos. Poachers would have killed some 6,000 pangolins to create that amount of scales, according to customs chief Kulit Sombatsiri, Reuters reported.


    A vet from Save Vietnam Wildlife (SVW), holds an injured pangolin, as part of its Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program in Cuc Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh, October 22, 2016. Thai authorities seized a record 3 tonne haul of pangolin scales, they said Thursday.
    HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/GETTY

    “This is the biggest lot (of pangolin scales) that we have seized,” Police Major General Worapong Thongpaiboon, acting commander of Thailand’s Natural Resources and Environment Crime Division, told AFP news agency. Thai police showed the haul, packed into white bags, to journalists at Bangkok airport.

    Pangolins, shy in their nature, are the world’s most-trafficked mammal. Demand for their scales has risen because of the belief in some Asian countries, Vietnam and China for example, that they have medicinal benefits.

    They are viewed as a delicacy in the region and pangolin fetus soup is believed to improve male fertility. As with other exotic animal parts, such as elephant tusks, they are mostly garnered in Africa and sold in Asia.

    The harmless animals have sticky tongues that allow them to eat ants and termites. The animal recedes into a ball when it feels threatened.

    The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the global body that sets wildlife trade legislation, banned the global trade of eight species of pangolins in January. The animal is critically endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
    Why is it that any creature that is unusual and unique is believed to help with male virility?
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  12. #57
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    More pangolin news

    I'm going to copy out all the pangolin items to their own indie thread off the Endangered Species in TCM thread.

    ‘In love with the taste of wildlife’ – probe launched after officials hold 'endangered pangolin feast' in China


    Pangolin's carry their offsprings on their tails CREDIT: AP

    Neil Connor, beijing
    7 FEBRUARY 2017 • 12:21PM

    China has ordered an investigation after online images showed local officials holding a lavish banquet of meat of endangered pangolin, the most trafficked animal on earth.

    The meat of the elusive creature - which is often likened to a tiny dinosaur – is seen as a delicacy by some in China, and feasts are considered an extravagant show of hospitality.

    But Beijing banned the trade in pangolins more than ten years ago, amid fears that the insect-eating animal was being hunted to extinction.

    The alleged feast in the southern province of Guangxi became a hot topic on the Chinese Internet this week after an online post went viral from a businessman who was present.

    “This is the first time I have eaten it (pangolin), and it tasted great,” said the comment, which was posted alongside images of cooked meat and bones.


    'Pangolin meat' CREDIT: WEIBO/GLOBAL TIMES

    “I have fell deeply in love with the taste of wildlife,” added the post, which was reputedly made by a businessman from Hong Kong who was describing a trade trip to Guangxi.

    Pangolin smugglers in China can be served with prison sentences of ten years.

    But there is huge demand for the nocturnal creature as its scales are highly-prized in Chinese traditional medicine as an ingredient which some believe can improve blood circulation.

    Scales can sell for up to £2,000 on the black market, while a pangolin dish at Chinese restaurants would be expected to cost hundreds of pounds.



    Thai customs officials arrange African pangolin scales at the Customs Department headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, after they seized their biggest haul ever of African pangolin scales CREDIT: SAKCHAI LALIT/AP PHOTO

    Animal protection campaigners believe up to 90,000 dead and alive pangolins have been seized by customs officials over the last ten years in China and Hong Kong.

    Heather Sohl, chief adviser of wildlife, at WWF-UK, said: “Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world and this is having a devastating impact on populations across Africa and Asia.”

    The pangolin banquet, which was reported to have taken place in July 2015, had “violated Chinese law”, said Keith Guo, regional spokesman for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

    “In China, some people still believe the meat of wildlife can improve health, and this has no scientific basis,” he added.


    A Malayan pangolin is seen out of its cage after being confiscated by the Department of Wildlife and Natural Parks in Kuala Lumpur CREDIT: JIMIN LAI/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

    Comments on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, expressed outrage towards officials, who are often critisised for their extravagant lifestyles.

    Beijing ordered provincial authorities to investigate the alleged feast, news site thepaper.cn said. Local authorities did not respond to a request from The Telegraph for comment

    “So officials entertain themselves by eating endangered wildlife,” said one post. “No wonder I am concerned about the future of the country.”

    Additional reporting by Christine Wei
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  13. #58
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    Ivory

    I'm copying all the ivory posts off the Endangered Species in TCM to make an indie Ivory thread. Illegal Ivory poaching is not really a TCM thing. It just got posted there because that's been our illegal animal poaching thread.

    London investigators say obscure Chinese town is world’s biggest hub for illegal ivory
    By Asian Correspondent Staff | 4th July 2017 | @ascorrespondent



    The EIA says it found a massive ivory smuggling syndicate operating out of a small town in China. Source: AP

    INVESTIGATORS from London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) have discovered how a little-known town in southern China has become a global hub – the world’s biggest, in fact – for the smuggling of ivory tusks poached from African elephants.

    Following what it describes as an “exhaustive investigation” spanning three years, the EIA said a syndicate member told undercover investigators that Shuidong town in Guangdong province is the destination for a staggering 80 percent of all poached ivory smuggled into China from Africa.

    Shuidong, EIA said, is home to a network of ivory trafficking syndicates whose reach extends to East and West Africa, including the elephant poaching hotspots of Tanzania and Mozambique.

    After years of painstaking undercover work during which investigators infiltrated one of the leading syndicates, the EIA detailed the inner-workings of the syndicate in its new report entitled, The Shuidong Connection: Exposing the global hub of the illegal ivory trade.

    In its investigation, the EIA tracked a shipment of more than two tonnes of tusks from northern Mozambique to Shuidong. The investigation, it said, provided insights into the workings of an active ivory smuggling ring.

    EIA Executive Director Mary Rice said the smuggling of ivory was still rampant in China despite the Chinese government’s laudable decision to close its domestic ivory market, leading to a fall in price for ivory tusks in the country.

    Rice said although they had been identified in the past, the smuggling group was still active until late June 2017, extending its operations to West Africa to source lucrative tusks poached from forest elephants.

    “The Chinese Government’s decision to shut its domestic ivory market by the end of 2017 is an admirable response to mounting international pressure to end the industrial-scale slaughter of Africa’s elephants,” Rice said in a statement.

    “What EIA discovered in Shuidong, however, clearly shows transnational criminal networks are operating with near-total impunity.”

    Rice added it was vital that enforcement agencies in Africa and China “put these criminals out of business immediately.”


    Customs officers stand guard in front of confiscated ivory in Dongguan, southern Guangdong province in 2014. Source: AP

    The EIA said its first encounter with the Shuidong smugglers was in September 2014 during an investigation into elephant poaching in Tanzania.

    In Zanzibar, the main gateway for shipments of tusks flowing out of Tanzania, the EIA found that a single group from the syndicate had sent out 20 shipments of ivory tusks to China in just one year.

    “They formed part of an international network of people from Shuidong supplying the booming Chinese market for sea cucumbers; with their knowledge of working in Africa and supply routes to China,” the EIA said.

    “Their presence in strategic coastal towns and their business cover, the Shuidong traders in East and West Africa were ideally positioned to move into the illegal ivory trade.”

    As a result of improved enforcement efforts and prosecutions, the EIA in April 2016 found that ivory traffickers were switching their focus from Tanzania to Mozambique.

    In Pemba, a port town, the EIA said investigators posed as potential ivory traders and logistics specialists and gradually gained the trust of the syndicate partners.

    Over the span of a year, investigators found African-based “fixers” who consolidated ivory shipments in secure locations as well as key Chinese syndicate players travelling to Africa to inspect tusks for quality.

    The EIA also alleged key customs and border enforcement personnel, as well as freight agents, had taken bribes to turn a blind eye to the illegal activity.

    Julian Newman, EIA Campaigns Director, said: “EIA has shared, in confidence, the detailed intelligence unearthed during the course of the Shuidong investigation with relevant Government departments and enforcement agencies and looks to them to use it.

    Newman added action is needed to end the criminal enterprise which is “devastating Africa’s elephant populations.”
    Gene Ching
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  14. #59
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    Rhino horn again

    What is it with horns?

    Despite Ban, Rhino Horn Flooding Black Markets Across China
    The country is pledged to end the trade in elephant ivory this year, but will it take steps to help save rhinos?


    An attack by a poacher left this rhino in South Africa hornless. More than a thousand rhinos there have been slaughtered for their horns annually during the past four years.
    PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON, GETTY IMAGES, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

    By Laurel Neme
    PUBLISHED JULY 18, 2017

    How do you disrupt the illicit rhino horn supply chain from Africa to Asia? That’s the question spurring a new investigation into rhino horn trafficking in China and Vietnam undertaken by the Elephant Action League (EAL), a Los Angeles-based conservation NGO.

    Rhinos are being decimated by poaching. In South Africa, home to almost 80 percent of the world’s rhinos, more than a thousand have been slaughtered annually during the past four years. That’s 8,000 percent more than were killed a decade ago, in 2007. Last year rangers in Kruger National Park were called out to stop more than 2,800 incursions by poachers—roughly eight every day.

    It has generally been thought that Vietnam is the main market for rhino horn, although little has been known about the traffickers and their links to countries of origin and transit. Until now, that is.

    The EAL report confirms that much of the horn winds up in Asia—but that China, not Vietnam, is the black market behemoth.

    EAL’s investigation, conducted from August 2016 through June 2017, involved off-site research, intelligence analysis, and multiple undercover field missions to key locations in Vietnam and across China, with a focus there on provinces along the southern border: Guangxi, Guangdong, and Yunnan, as well as Henan, Fujian, and the capital, Beijing.

    This confirmation that rhino horn is ubiquitous in China underscores how important it is for the country to take steps to shut down the trade, which is illegal, just as it has made strong moves to end trade in elephant ivory.


    A new report details how China is driving the illegal trade in rhino horn, carved into artwork and used in traditional medicine.
    PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON, GETTY IMAGES, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

    “As in the case of the elephants, the future of the rhino lies in the hands of China, and its willingness to enforce the law, and in the hands of the international community to apply pressure on China and Vietnam to stop this madness,” says Andrea Crosta, director of EAL and the author of the report.

    “Unlike the illegal ivory trade, where to make real money you have to smuggle or sell hundreds of kilos of ivory, in the case of the rhino, with a wholesale price for raw horn of roughly 40 times more per kilogram than raw ivory, you need much less to make good money,” Crosta says. “So overall the volume of the rhino horn illegal trade in terms of pure quantity is much smaller than for ivory, yet the profits for traders are much higher.”

    The hundred-page report, released today, reads a bit like a spy novel, with numerous quoted conversations (unattributed in this publicly available document) that give insights into the minds of rhino traffickers.

    EAL details a web of traffickers, transporters, wholesale dealers, and traders that shows—by its very complexity—why stopping the trade is so difficult.

    The investigators found that dealers in China typically don’t maintain an inventory but rather supply it on-demand to avoid detection. Dealers also use WeChat to connect with buyers and Alipay to process payments.

    The names of key suspects and other evidence have been handed over to relevant authorities. “They can’t arrest these people just because it’s in our report, but it’s more than enough to trigger their own investigation,” Crosta says.

    Some highlights of the report:

    Although trading rhino horn has been illegal in China since 1993, it’s ubiquitous in the country. “It’s shocking to see how widespread and easy it is to find,” Crosta says. Given China’s huge, increasingly affluent population and the fact that fewer than 30,000 rhinos remain worldwide, this represents a serious threat to the survival of rhinos in the wild.
    China appears to be the largest consumer of illegal rhino horn, and Vietnam is a key enabler. While nobody knows for sure, Crosta estimates that “several hundred rhino horns go through Vietnam to China every year—which may be up to half the total trade.”
    The black market for rhino horn in China is stable and strong. “It’s not a market that is going down,” Crosta notes. That contrasts with EAL’s earlier ivory trade investigation, which found that Chinese traders didn’t want their children to go into the ivory business because it was a dying market. “You don’t feel that here,” Crosta says.
    One of the most important routes for smuggled rhino horn is across the mountains from Vietnam into southern China. That’s a choke point that authorities could target. Often, rhino horn is smuggled from Vietnam to either Guangxi or Yunnan Provinces, then moved on to primary retail markets in cities in the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, or in Beijing. Traders often hire individuals, including children, to transport the contraband across the border because they can more readily avoid detection or inspection.
    Rhino horn traders generally also deal in other illicit wildlife products—most commonly elephant ivory and pangolin scales, but investigators also found large quantities of tiger parts (teeth, skins, and bones), as well as bear paws, bile, and gall bladders, hawksbill turtle shells, helmeted hornbill beaks, snow leopard skins, civet cats, king cobras, wolf skins and teeth, and corals. “China is still the largest market for illegal wildlife products,” the report says, “and this was evident in nearly all locations investigated by the EAL team. Vietnam is not far behind—most likely only because it is a smaller country.”
    Based on the investigation’s findings, Crosta thinks current rhino horn awareness campaigns don’t resonate with the public. “Traders and buyers are concerned about only one thing: law enforcement. Nothing else.” He suggests a campaign focused on law enforcement that says, “If you buy or sell rhino horn, you go to jail”—provided it’s followed up with action.

    EAL has handed a 200-page confidential intelligence brief to law enforcement agents in China, Vietnam, Interpol, and the United States. The brief contains case files on 55 rhino horn traders and traffickers in China and includes videos and other evidence.

    “This is the most important outcome of this investigation,” Crosta says. “We’re not talking about a guy selling a bracelet or cup, but high level traders—people capable of importing and selling many raw horns and products.”

    Laurel Neme is a writer covering wildlife trafficking and a frequent contributor to National Geographic. She is the author of Animal Investigators: How the World’s First Wildlife Forensics Lab is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species and Orangutan Houdini.
    Gene Ching
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    Hasma aka 'xue ha gao'

    The price of eternal youth: Protected frogs are DRIED TO DEATH so shops can make traditional Chinese medicine that's supposed to help women 'look beautiful'
    WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
    Hasma, a popular medicinal food in China, is made with frogs' fallopian tubes
    The frogs are dried to death so their tubes could be taken at the 'highest quality'
    The best Hasma is produced in north-east China from a rare type of wild frogs
    Hasma is rich in protein and can supposedly improve women's skin condition
    By Tiffany Lo For Mailonline
    PUBLISHED: 04:41 EST, 17 November 2017 | UPDATED: 08:18 EST, 17 November 2017

    Sometimes, beauty comes with a very hefty price.

    In China, protected wild frogs are being cruelly killed so traditional Chinese medicine vendors could turn them into a popular 'anti-ageing' food ingredient.

    Hasma, or known as 'xue ha gao' in Chinese, is made with the fallopian tubes of dried-up female frogs and is supposed to help consumers look young.


    Cruel: Hundreds of Asiatic grass frogs are hung and dried to death in Jilin, north-east China


    Dried to death: Asiatic grass frogs, once captured, are hung up for up to 30 days until they die

    The best hasma is made in the north-eastern part of China and comes from Asiatic grass frogs, a protected amphibian species from the forest in the region under the Regulation on Protection of Wild Medicinal Resources.

    Shocking pictures have emerged from Chinese media, capturing the production process of the popular medicinal food ingredient.

    The photos are taken in Changbai mountain, Jilin Province, on November 7.

    They show two full racks of frogs being hung up in front of a common grocery shop. The retailer pierced the frogs by a wire and hung them up until their death.

    After the animals are killed, their collagen-filled tubes would be removed from their remains and put on sale in the shop. Their remains are thrown to the bin.

    The shop owner told a reporter from iFeng.com: 'The hanging method can ensure that the hasma can be extracted at its best quality.'

    Hasma (pictured) is usually sold in boxes in grocery stores or Chinese medicine shops


    It's often cooked and eaten as Chinese dessert along with sugar and dried fruits (pictured)

    Chen Jianping, an associate professor from the School of Chinese Medicine at University of Hong Kong told HK Economic Times: 'Pure hasma should be made from the fallopian tubes of female Asiatic grass frogs.

    'However today, the hasma (on the market) might contain fallopian tubes, ovary or fat tissues from any frog families.'

    In addition to the air-drying process, extra steps are apparently taken to the frogs in order to produce the best hasma.

    According to Pixpo, when the frogs are captured they are cruelly knocked out with electricity before being hung up for about 20 to 30 days until they die.

    Female Asiatic grass frog store rich nutrients in their oviducts before they hibernate in winter


    Two full racks of frogs are hung up in front of a grocery shop in north-east China

    The same Pixpo report said female Asiatic grass frogs have rich nutrients in their fallopian tubes. The tubes, which contain high protein and oestrogen. In winter when the frogs hibernate, the nutrients become a vital source of energy for the animals.

    Hasma has become a precious health supplement for Chinese women, and can be dated back to Ben Cao Gang Mu, a 16th century Chinese herbology masterpiece written by legendary herbologist Li Shizhen.

    In particular, pregnant woman believe hasma could help them achieve wrinkle-free skin. In addition, it's thought that hasma could boost women's energy level and stop them from feeling tired during pregnancy.


    Hasma is considered as a precious health supplement that are favoured by Chinese women

    Regina Lo, 48, a mother of two from Hong Kong, told MailOnline that she consumed hasma as a health supplement during her pregnancy in 2002.

    'I used to have it once every week, boil them and pour in milk or sugar and eat it as dessert,' she said.

    However, she said she did not experience any obvious change.

    'I didn't see any difference, but psychologically I felt my skin got smoother and more glowing.'


    Chinese medicine doctors said that hasma has high protein, vitamins and oestrogen


    Female grass frogs were hung on wires for 20 to 30 days before being dissected for hasma

    Professor Cui Hequan from Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine said hasma contains very high medical value, according to a People's Daily Online report.

    'Hasma contains high collagen and amino acid which could help consumers get better metabolism, thus it could regenerate new skin and make women look youthful.

    'It can also help balance the hormones and boost energy level.'

    Professor Cui said hasma is suitable for pregnant woman who wish to provide extra nutrients to their babies, accelerate recovery from child birth and improve their skin condition.

    According to The Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, published by the Ministry of Health, hasma can cure people who suffer from cough, sweating and insomnia.

    The report recommended the food to people who have weaker health.

    However, Dr Sun Lihong, a professor from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine said though hasma could beautify the skin, eating too much of it might put the consumers under the risk of cancer.

    Dr Sun told a reporter from Yangtze Evening News: 'Medicinal foods of animal origin, such as hasma and propolis (a resinous substance produced by bees), we have to be cautious.'


    TCM & Beauty
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