Dendrobates auratus was the poison arrow frog species most frequently reported in international trade.
Credit: Wikimedia
LOS BANOS: Better reporting and more investigation are needed in threatened wildlife trading, say scientists who point to suspicious exports of frogs.
There is evidence that wild-caught specimens are being laundered under the guise of being captive-bred, they said.
Some endangered or threatened animals are traded internationally, depending on the level of threat deemed by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
Suspicious reporting of frogs
All species of colourful poison arrow frog from South and Central America are listed on Appendix II of CITES, so countries that signed the agreement have to report to the U.N. their trade of any of these frog species and remain within the agreed quotas of wild and captive-bred frogs.
However, scientists are not sure this solution is working, pointing to suspicious discrepancies on reporting.
“The popularity of poison arrow frogs as pets has led to some species being over-harvested in the wild,” said Vincent Nijman, from the Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, who co-authored the study a recent study in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation.
“Specimens declared as captive-bred could be wild-caught and ... laundered into the international trade,” he concluded.
63,000 frogs traded over 4 years
Nijman, together with Chris Shepherd of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, analysed international trade records of poison arrow frogs reported to CITES over the period 2004 to 2008; trade of more than 63,000 frogs was reported.
Thailand claimed to have imported more than 2,500 originating from Kazakhstan and travelling via Lebanon. Kazakhstan, on the other hand, did not report any trade in poison arrow frogs.
“Exports from Kazakhstan to Thailand went via Lebanon, a non-Party to CITES who, therefore, would be under no obligation to report the transfer," said Chris Shepherd, Senior Programme Officer with TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, a global non-government organisation which monitors illegal wildlife trade.
