5,000 rare animals found floating off the coast of ChinaJonathan Watts in Beijing
Saturday May 26, 2007
Endangered, hunted, smuggled and now abandoned, 5,000 of the world's rarest animals have been found drifting in a deserted boat near the coast of China.
The pangolins, Asian giant turtles and lizards were crushed inside crates on a rickety wooden vessel that had lost engine power off Qingzhou island in the southern province of Guangdong. Most were alive, though the cargo also contained 21 bear paws wrapped in newspaper.
According to conservation groups, the haul was discovered on one of the world's most lucrative and destructive smuggling routes: from the threatened jungles of south-east Asia to the restaurant tables of southern China.
The animals were found when local fishermen noticed a strange smell emanating from the vessel, which did not have any registration plates, on Tuesday, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
When coastguard officials boarded the 25-metre craft, it was reportedly deserted and stripped of identification papers. They found more than 200 crates full of animals, many so dehydrated in the tropical sun that they were close to death.
The animals - which weighed 13 tonnes - were taken to port, doused with water and sent to an animal welfare centre. "We have received some animals," said an office worker at the Guangdong Wild Animal Protection Centre. "We are waiting to hear from the authorities what we should do with them."
According to the local media, the cargo included 31 pangolins, 44 leatherback turtles, 2,720 monitor lizards, 1,130 Brazilian turtles as well as the bear paws. Photographs showed other animals, including an Asian giant turtle.
All of these south-east Asian species are critically endangered, banned from international trade and yet openly sold in restaurants and markets in China's southern province of Guangdong, which is famous for its exotic cuisine.
The accidental discovery highlights the negative impact that the growing power of Chinese consumption is having on global conservation efforts.
According to wildlife groups, China is the main market for illegally traded exotic species, which are eaten or used in traditional medicine. Pangolins are in great demand because their meat is consider a delicacy and their scales are thought to help mothers breastfeed their babies.
As a result of demand, the pangolin populations of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been wiped out. With traders moving further and further south, the animal is declining even in its last habitats in Java, Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. It is a similar story for many species of turtle, tortoise, frog and snake.
Despite China's international commitments to get to grips with this illicit activity, the trade is booming. Border controls are lax, and smugglers know that fines are usually far lower than the potential rewards. As a result, raids and seizures of banned products occur regularly. One recent raid on a restaurant in Guanghzou turned up 118 pangolins, 60kg of snakes and 400kg of toads.
Traffic - an organisation that monitors and tries to prevent the smuggling of endangered species - welcomed the fact that China's authorities had reacted swiftly to rescue the animals but said much more needs to be done to prevent similar cases.
"Unfortunately, this is all too common. This trade is a far bigger threat to these species than habitat destruction," said Chris Shepherd, senior program officer with Traffic Southeast Asia. "The vigilance on the border has to be improved, cooperation with source countries needs to be strengthened, there should be better monitoring of dealers, and the people violating the laws must be penalised severely."
Despite the ban on pangolins, many restaurants offer their meat. The Chaoxing restaurant in Shenzhen said yesterday that pangolin was available but was only suitable for large dining parties.
"The animal is very big - about 10kg," said a waitress contacted by telephone. "We serve it in hotpot. That is the tastiest way."
According to recent reports in the Chinese media, the price of 1kg of pangolin served in Guangdong or Yunnan is between 600 and 800 yuan per kilogram (between £43 and £50).
A Guangdong chef interviewed last year in the Beijing Science and Technology Daily described how to cook a pangolin.
"We keep them alive in cages until the customer makes an order. Then we hammer them unconscious, cut their throats and drain the blood. It is a slow death. We then boil them to remove the scales. We cut the meat into small pieces and use it to make a number of dishes, including braised meat and soup. Usually the customers take the blood home with them afterwards."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Along with the last few posts, this one is loooonnnng overdue since I bought this bag 2 months ago while I was vacationing in Hong Kong. I call this the "Fart Bag" for obvious reasons (see design). The mischievous looking creature on the bag has a name as with all other cool Japaneseeeee characters. His name is Suu-paawanpaku. Those of you who are Japanese know that "wanpaku" means naughty and "suu" means boy. In short, Suu-paawanpaku is a naughtly boy (even though I don't think he is human enough to be called a boy). There are lots of reasons why I like him: evil, cute, pointy tail, the crooked smile, bomb-shaped hands, etc... However, the main reason is that I can relate to him and that what he does for fun is definitely, FUN! (See him here).
My cousin Jenny gave me this Japanese voodoo doll as a souvenir from Japan. This stirred my interest in finding the true meaning of voodoo. Nowadays, many people associate the word "voodoo" with black magic and cult mysticism, in which the doll is commonly used as a torture medium. (This was demonstrated in Indiana Jones.) However, voodoo is actually a religious tradition that originated from West Africa. The word "voodoo" comes from the West African word "Vodun", meaning spirit. Contrary to the modern belief, voodoo is a deeply spiritual process that involves healing and dieties. When the Europeans enslaved Africans of different ethnic groups, they came together as a community and shared a common faith - voodoo - in the misery of slavery. This makes me a little sad :(
I absolutely adore Leandro Barbosa. He is fast, handsome, and Brazilian! His accent is so cute too. Even though I am from CA and I should be rooting for the Warriors, I really want the Suns to advance. I love every single player on that team. Go Suns go!
It was yesterday that I finally felt the fresh start of new year 2007...with a little sacrifice, of course. At mid-day around 2PM, I made a smashing discovery in my own research coupled with a new model that I re-created. After 2 hours of fiddling with my newly discovered theory, I went to Kapiolani Park to play European Football (Soccer). It was intense, fun, and painfull. I was battling to gain possession of the ball but got pushed down. I landed really hard on my left wrist and now I could barely type or move my hand. Two hours of kicking and screaming did wonders on my legs which are now sore btw (ouchy). So what do you think came next on the agenda after burning all those calories? FOOD of course, gotta replenish those precious fat calories! I ordered the Chicken Tan Tan Ramen at Goma Tei Ramen Restaurant. It was delicious, especially the chicken which was cooked in sake. I also tried the Chicken Tatsutage (so tender and juicy) and the Gyoza (normal). After dinner, my friends and I went to see the chinese movie, Curse of the Golden Flower. I knew it would be graphic, sad, and lots of blood. However, I didn't expect it to be weird. The design of the palace was unreal. The exterior was gorgeous but the interior was RETRO! The colors clashed and the palace was glowing with all the colors on the color wheel. Yes, lots of gold but come on, hot pink, retro green, MSN blue??? Aiyaaa, not good! Then there was the ambiguous ending. I wanted to see everyone go coo coo but NO, they showed the stupid but beautiful dinner table with all the delicious chinese food. If only I could smell them, Doh! What else? The youngest brother who suddenly went crazy at the end and tried to kill his dad. He was happy throughout the movie, or maybe too happy... Anyway, everyone was coo coo from beginning to the end. My friend got sad after the movie (because of the blood) so we had to eat desserts to cheer her up, which was fun. I guess we can call it a night yeah?
I have been testing the new camera by taking random pictures. This picture of cutie oranges is very nice. They also taste super sweet and easy to peel. Snack sized fruits are the best when you are trying to avoid junk food.
This is a picture of Don Pens, the mascot for Don Quijote. I refer to it as Daiei because it was Daiei before it was bought. Since the one and only 99 Ranch in Hawaii is closing soon, this will become my major source of Asian foods. ~sigh.
We finally did it! Since our old camera kinda went coo coo, we have been looking for a replacement. Our old camera was the Canon A70 that takes 4 AA batteries (Yeah, kind of a HUGE camera but we love it). It went lots of places with us and had a great life until one day, it bonked its head on the ground and went coo coo. If you are lucky, you may be able to get its lazy butt to work for 5 minutes. So we found a camera that we (or the whole world) love and that's the Canon SD800. It has wide angle, 3.8 optical zoom, a huge price tag, and NEVER in stock. It came out around December and the price never went down. There is even a shortage for this thing, can you believe it? Yesterday, we stumbled on a $40 off coupon at Circuit City. Since they told me on the phone that the SD800 was out of stock, we had to go there and reserve it. When we were at the store, the lady told me they had the camera in stock and I can pick it up immediately. I wanted to hug her and kiss her because after 2 months of taking fussy pictures with the coo coo camera, I went coo coo too myself! It was the best day of my life...maybe one of the best days x)
Hmmm, this little guy expresses my feelings really well. My workload has finally gone down. My giant poster just went into press today so a GIANT load off my shoulder. I studied most of the final materials, another load off. I have a presentation tomorrow but that should be a piece of cake since I have presented so much already. Then the paper to write...maybe on the plane ride to CA. After all that is over, I have to worry about the little things like paying my Spring 2007 tuition, register for classes, make appointment to clean teeth, etc... Then after conference I have to work on a grant that is due January 17th. Grrr, I am stressed again!
After 2 years of having this blog, I am finally brave enough to post a picture of me ... sort of. Well, she looks a little too green which speaks my alien instincts for food, whoahahahaha! And maybe a bit dead which is true by the way, especially now that I am super busy with school and research. The horns are, you know, the little big devil me :P Hmmm, no clue about the tongue. Maybe I am more dead and lethargic than I thought. I don't get it. I have two classes now and I am busier than when I had 4 classes in the first semester! One more week of school left and I still have a couple papers to write, two presentations, and a poster to design. How in the world am I ever going to graduate? I ask myself that everyday and I will continue to do so until the day I defend my thesis. Oh and sorry for not posting for a long long time ... because SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY HAVE WORK TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~ sniff x(
What is TiVo trying to do to me? After I bought the TiVo Series 2 DVR, they came up with Dual Tuner, and now HD with THX!!! Better yet, the promo is you can transfer current lifetime subscription to the new Series 3 DVR after you buy it for $799 + $200 transfer fee. Very attractive offer but expensive.
