Feature

Thieves are plundering our heritage

By Melissa Wray

Environmental crime units around the country are waging a war against an intelligent and often unseen enemy - plant, animal and insect thieves.

South Africa's great biodiversity is a magnet for unscrupulous collectors around the world who crave the exotic and unusual, and its national parks are seen as an obvious place to find concentrations of unusual flora and fauna.

Illegal trade in elephant tusks and rhino horn is well-publicised as a lucrative business, but a growing overseas market is also hungry for reptiles, insects and plants.

'Tortoises, lizards, snakes, spiders, dung, beetles, birds, butterflies, cycads, aloes, ferns - the list of illegally and traded living material is almost endless'. It is estimated that the illegal trade in plants and animals is the third largest illegal activity in the world, only surpassed by the arms and drug trade.

Paul Gildenhuys, manager of the environmental crime unit for the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board, describes the thieves as "vacuum cleaners" who are well-equipped, have specialised knowledge, and keep to themselves.

Recent arrests of foreign nationals involved in reptile smuggling have revealed that the smugglers have extensive maps, Global Positioning System (GPS) co-ordinates of likely areas to find animals, specialised reference books on specific species and even itineraries of their theft schedule.

Germans, Japanese and nationals from the Czech Republic and Slovakia have all been arrested in recent years for stealing endangered reptiles and plants from South Africa. One set of international thieves was on at least their second mission to pillage South Africa's wildlife.

Their equipment included empty specimen bottles, precisely labelled with dates, places and species names of reptiles and beetles collected in KwaZulu-Natal's national parks.

Reptiles can survive longer without food than mammals and tend to be quieter, and are thus relatively unlikely to arouse suspicion.

The muti trade within South Africa also accounts for a considerable amount of illegal harvesting of plants and animals.

According to Shaun McGuone, wildlife investigation officer for the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, the problem is compounded by the fact that the reptile-collecting community around the world tends to be tightly-knit. This means that rumours do not easily reach the ears of nature conservation officials, especially as only a few individuals can conduct a sizeable trade.

Reptiles are growing in popularity as pets, especially in places where dogs and cats are not allowed, as they can survive in small spaces, are quiet, and usually do not eat much food. As more people keep them, so the desire for unusual specimens grows.

Mike Tyldesley, the Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) permit officer in Durban, says that collectors often give smugglers a type of "wish list".

The well-informed smuggler then comes to South Africa to search for specific species, but will also take anything interesting they find along the way.

International collectors also liaise with local collectors, who will swap exotic species for indigenous ones. Two Germans were caught with 56 exotic snakes lying in cloth bags nestled in their luggage, and were obviously intending to trade or sell the snakes.

According to Tyldesley, 90% of the species smuggled out of the country can be purchased from legal breeders.

The illegal trade in plants is also thriving. Cycads are being taken out of the veld. A single rare cycad that is extinct in the wild (Encephalartos woodii) was sold for R425 000 when a legal collection was auctioned in Durban, indicating the value that collectors place on rare specimens.

The Cape area has the responsibility of caring for the endemic fynbos species, with the illegal harvesting of proteas and ericas to supply the cut flower market being a major concern.

A truck was recently stopped with 90 000 stolen proteas on board. Illegally harvested plants are often ripped out of sandy soils or cut off at ground level and then cleaned up later for their flowers.

Nearly all proteas are protected species under the Nature Conservation Act, and the sale or transport of the flowers and plants requires a permit. People also hunt for ferns, orchids, arum lilies and buchu.

As people are planting more indigenous plants in their gardens, there is also an increasing demand for aloes, especially those of the genus Haworthia.

Nature conservation officials around the country are trying to make the general public more aware of the importance of not buying indigenous plants from people who do not have a permit to trade in them. - Kruger Park Times

More information: 

This article courtesy of Kruger Park Times. Image courtesy of Cape Nature Conservation.

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