AR-News: (UK) Small Ecuador seen sacked by illegal wildlife trade

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

By Brenda Sempertegui 
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador's exotic species of orchids, parrots and 
monkeys have won the small, mountainous country on the west coast of South 
America fame among conservationists and nature-loving tourists. 
But its exuberant environment is also a target for the illegal wildlife 
trade. 
Last year, authorities seized 1,521 animal and plant specimens in mainland 
Ecuador, according to officials at Green Surveillance, a partnership for species 
and forestry control between environmental groups and the government. 
More than 25,000 shark fins and sea cucumbers -- an ocean critter considered 
an Asian delicacy and aphrodisiac -- were smuggled from the country's pristine 
Galapagos islands. 
"It's a tiny country, with good roads, weak controls, a lot of corruption and 
a tremendous diversity of species. So, it's a country that stokes a lot of 
interest among collectors," said Bernardo Ortiz, director for South America of 
Traffic, an international wildlife trade-monitoring program.




full story:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10152011.htm 

"The world is a dangerous place,
not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing."
Albert Einstein
      /\   /\         
>' .' <   
                              
There is no justice, just us!  








    
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