http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2007/03/inside-bangkoks-illegal-wildlife-trade.html
Monday, March 19, 2007
Inside Bangkok's illegal wildlife trade
I haven't been to Bangkok, Thailand, in more than 10 years, and a lot has
changed since then. This city's growth has been explosive. There are now
highways built on top of the old highways I remember, though the roads still
seem clogged through much of the day, just as they were 10 years ago.
We've come to Southeast Asia this week to focus on trafficking. When most
people hear that word, they probably think about drug trafficking, and that is
clearly the major item being trafficked around the world, but many of the
criminal enterprises that smuggle drugs use the same routes to traffic women
and children and also animals.
We'll head to Cambodia later this week to investigate the trafficking of women
and children in the sex industry, but tonight, we are investigating the illegal
wildlife trade in Thailand. Bangkok has become a major hub for the buying and
selling of endangered and threatened species.
Over the weekend, our hidden cameras captured several endangered primates and
turtles being sold in shops in the market. Today, my crew and I went along with
Thai police as they raided the main animal market here in Bangkok. It was an
interesting experience, though also a frustrating one for police and animal
welfare workers.
When the police arrived, many of the shops were locked-up, and under Thai law,
the police couldn't break-in. They did manage to recover more than 100 birds.
The conditions in which they were kept were pretty depressing. A bunch of the
birds were dead, lying in the bottom of dirty, cramped cages. But it wasn't a
big find, and no arrests were made.
We are traveling this week with wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin, who also joined
us recently in the Amazon rainforest. We also are working with Steve Galster,
who is helping Thai police on behalf of a conservation organization.
This past weekend, Jeff and Steve crossed the border into Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma, and tonight, Jeff will show you the illegal trade in animal
parts and skins. A lot of animals are being killed for "medicinal" use in Asia.
Rhino horns and tiger claws and all sorts of body parts are dried and ground
up. It's a multi-billion dollar business, and a number of species are nearly
extinct because of it.
Tonight's program will be broadcast from the main animal market in Bangkok, so
it should be a pretty colorful show.
The other major focus tonight will be Iraq. We'll talk to Michael Ware, who has
been covering this war from the beginning, and we'll also hear from New York
Times reporter Michael Gordon. See you soon!
Posted By Anderson Cooper: 2:54 PM ET
Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College Park,
(Washington D.C. Metro Region)
MD 20740
1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
website: www.gse.harvard.edu/iep
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