7^{CITES AND ENDANGERED SPECIES}

Introduction
CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international intergovernmental agreement. The CITES treaty consists of the agreements made between 164 countries with respect to the protection of animal and plant species. Amongst other things, this treaty determines which animals are threatened with extinction and thus deserve protection. The rules in the treaty are clear, but the enforcement thereof leaves much to be desired. For example, every year millions of animals are transported across the globe illegally. Next to drug trafficking, the trade in endangered species is the most lucrative type of crime. Hardly any checks are made. In this regard, the Dutch government has failed miserably. Indeed, the Netherlands is at the very epicentre of the illegal animal trade.

Illegal trade
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of exotic animals enter the Netherlands annually. This varies from the ‘usual’ turtles to extremely rare parrots, both legally and illegally. The situation in the Netherlands has worsened since the disbanding of a team of specialised criminal investigators during the late 1990s. There is hardly any monitoring of the import of these animals. The warning signs given by the various animal sanctuaries in our country are both alarming and illustrative. They indicate that they seldom acquire animals that have been confiscated, yet are still providing shelter to a growing number of exotic animals. These are animals that have been, for instance, bought at one of the many animal trade shows and then ‘dumped’ by their owners over the course of time. The only effective way to really protect endangered animal species is specific and vigorous enforcement and penalties.

Measures

Bushmeat
The trade in the meat of endangered animal species, such as apes, poses a great threat to these species. Many of these animals are killed under the pretence of respect for the customs of local populations. Smoked or stewed gorilla and chimpanzees are delicacies in Africa. However, one can also find the meat of great apes on the menu in Europe (in, for example, Brussels and Paris). Moreover, bonobos are also hunted because people believe that they have medicinal or magical powers. Baby primates are caught and sold on the European market as pets. Their mothers are nearly always killed in the process. For every ape that survives its first year in captivity, it is estimated that ten to twenty members of its own species have been killed. Some great apes end up in poachers’ traps, which are intended for other wild animals and most of them have to deal with the consequences of human disease, civil war and hunting as a result of human poverty.

These primates have become increasingly more vulnerable as their living environment has diminished. Logging and forest fires have left increasingly less forest over for the great apes. Moreover, the flourishing trade in bushmeat has meant that these animals have become the favourite target of hunters in virtually all countries. The consumption of endangered animals contravenes the many agreements that have been made to prevent the extinction of animals.

Measures

Trophy hunting
Within CITES there are exemptions for hunting endangered animals. This renders it possible for hunters (from home and abroad) to shoot endangered species such as elephants, tigers and lions. This so-called trophy hunting is made possible if certain species must for whatever reason be ‘managed’. These exemptions are difficult to monitor and should, therefore, be abolished.

Measures

Seal hunt
The Canadian seal hunt is the largest commercial hunt of sea mammals in the world. Each spring, hundreds of thousands of seal pups of two weeks and above are clubbed to death on the ice floes. In the EU there is still a flourishing trade in seal pelts not only from Canada, but also from other countries such as Russia, Greenland and Norway.

Maatregelen

Whaling
Commercial whaling is banned. Nonetheless, countries, such as Japan, Norway and Iceland, have managed to ‘justify’ whale hunting under the pretext of scientific research. This contravenes international agreements.

Measures