Online sales exacerbate threat to endangered species in Japan：The Asahi Shimbun - Asahi Shimbun

-

The population of the endangered Tokyo salamander is being further depleted by a modern foe: online shopping.

Salamander eggs and rare animals are increasingly being sold over the Internet, drawing warnings from environmentalists that ecosystems in Japan could be irreparably damaged by the trend.

Japan’s endangered species conservation law prohibits trade in especially rare animals and plants.

But freshwater fish species, amphibians and other creatures not listed in the law or covered by regulations can be sold.

And the Environment Ministry’s Red List has no legal basis to stop individuals from selling species that it considers endangered.

Some local communities and Internet shopping sites have introduced restrictions to protect endangered species and the environment.

But overhunting and online sales continue, and experts say that if nothing is done soon, it may be too late.

AMPHIBIAN EGG MASSES

The Tokyo salamander, which inhabits mountain areas near human settlements, is one of the species recognized as endangered on the ministry’s Red List.

But that did not stop someone from offering many Tokyo salamander eggs on an online shopping site in March.

A Twitter user criticized the seller, posting: “Don't be ridiculous. Collecting so many eggs must have caused fatal damage to the local ecology.”

The post was retweeted more than 9,000 times and drew many comments, such as, “The seller has gone too far” and “Even just seeing them on sale is pitiful.”

In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, the Twitter user said, “It is really regrettable that some people engage in overhunting of endangered animals for their own benefit, destroying local ecosystems in mountain regions.”

Yoichi Kawakami, an official of the secretariat of the Tokyo salamander study society who is involved in the protection and research of the species, views online sales of salamander eggs as problematic.

“As people in nearby communities enter mountain areas less frequently, more raccoons and other non-native predators now live in the (salamanders’) habitat, making their situation even worse,” Kawakami said. “Overhunting of eggs would deliver the final fatal blow to them.”

Kawakami said that around 10 years ago, many salamander eggs were frequently taken from the Yokosawa Irisatoyama preservation zone in Tokyo’s Akiruno, where Kawakami engages in conservation efforts.

But the situation for the amphibians improved after an ordinance was introduced to penalize those who collect many eggs and citizen patrols started in the zone to protect the environment.

“Cooperation between authorities and citizens has been established, lowering the risk of eggs being stolen,” Kawakami said.

But few regions have taken such countermeasures.

Kawakami said many egg masses are still collected for sale in Chiba Prefecture and elsewhere.

He warned that excessive egg hunting could wipe out the amphibians.

Another problem that is already affecting local ecosystems are online sales of non-native species.

If purchased alien species are set loose or escape from their owners, they could crossbreed with native species that may have different genetic characteristics.

And if nonnative species have no natural predators in Japan, their populations could explode and wreak havoc on local animals.

For example, an invasive freshwater fish species called the rosy bitterling that can easily be bought online has now spread across Japan.

SITE OPERATORS CONSIDERING COUNTERMEASURES

The Asahi Shimbun asked four leading shopping site operators about how they handle sales of animals.

Mercari Inc. said it bans trades of any living creature on its website.

Yahoo Japan Corp., Rakuten Inc. and the Japanese subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. said they prohibit trade in mammals, birds, reptiles and other animals whose sales are banned by law.

However, endangered amphibians and alien freshwater fish were confirmed available on their sites.

Asked whether the company’s animal sales policy will be revised, a Yahoo Japan official said, “We will work with relevant ministries and agencies to consider countermeasures, taking into account the effects on species preservation and ecosystems.”

Rakuten also vowed to “weigh various steps, including the introduction of guidelines (on animal sales).”

Amazon simply noted that “almost all living creatures are prohibited from sales.”

Online sales of living creatures have drawn harsh criticism around the world at a time when conserving biodiversity and meeting the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are increasingly viewed as important global challenges.

Portugal in 2017, for example, enacted a law that bans online trades of wild animals.

Jun Nakajima, a researcher at the Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences, said shopping site operators should take further measures.

“Companies need to actively display a definite stance toward the handling of endangered species and invasive alien animals, such as voluntarily stopping sales of those species,” said Nakajima, an expert in loaches and biodiversity preservation.

He said consumers should also do their part.

“Buying endangered animals without due consideration is not good from the viewpoint of moral and natural conservation because it leads to overhunting in their habitats,” Nakajima said. “In addition, buyers of the living creatures must continue keeping the animals until they die.”



http://bit.ly/2JP3wvw

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All In The Family: Maine Mother & Son Charged in Massive Drug Bust

-
Image
corso dog :: Article Creator Woman Hospitalized After Attack By 2 Dogs At Same Edmonton Home Where Boy Died: Lawyer UPDATE: On April 15, 2024, the City of Edmonton provided an update on the fatal attack. It said that prior to the deadly incident on April 1, "the city had no lawful basis to remove the dogs from the home." The city added that "all prior complaints about the dogs involved in this incident were investigated thoroughly and appropriate action was taken in accordance with the applicable legislation." The city also said a review found that its staff "acted appropriately in accordance with our standard practices and in compliance with the relevant legal constraints given the nature of past complaints and reports." A woman was hospitalized after being attacked in February by two large Cane Corso dogs at the same home where an 11-year-old boy was killed last week, the woman's lawyer told Global News. "I
Read more

Rare Frogs And Illegal Drugs - Palisades Hudson Financial Group

-
Image
Colombian conservationist Ivan Lozano has hit on a brilliantly promising strategy to protect his country’s rare and endangered amphibians. His plan: Flood the market with them. Lozano is not hunting rare frogs in Colombia’s Andean forests. He is raising them himself and selling them at prices designed to undercut poachers and smugglers. If he can raise the frogs cheaply enough, and in large enough numbers, he might manage to drive down the market price to the point that poachers no longer find it worthwhile to harvest and smuggle the creatures onto the black markets. Lozano told The Associated Press that his company also encourages collectors to breed their own frogs. Picture yourself as a poacher. If the government toughens the legal penalties and steps up enforcement, you will shrug your shoulders; legal risks are a basic cost of doing business. Since the demand for your product already exists among foreign collectors and other buyers, tougher enforcement merely reduces supply a
Read more

Burn scars, winter storms threaten rare and endangered species in San Gabriel Mountains - The Bakersfield Californian

-
Image
LOS ANGELES — Up until a few weeks ago, the West Fork of the San Gabriel River was one of the most abundant wildlife habitats in Los Angeles County, a secluded and rugged area defined by its steep peaks, lush canyons and mixture of rare and endangered species. Recently however, a team of federal biologists and forest rangers was aghast when it visited the stream following the Bobcat fire, which has burned more than 115,000 acres in the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Terrain that once resembled a High Sierra granite gorge now looked like ground zero after a nuclear explosion, and the usually clean mountain air was sharp with the stench of smoke. Particularly unsettling were the bare and ashen slopes that were now primed to dissolve under pounding winter storms. A heavy mudslide, experts said, could reverse decades of conservation efforts by inundating the last outposts for such federally protected species as the Santa Ana sucker fish and Southern California m
Read more