The Python Laundry - At least 80% of the green pythons exported each year from Indonesia are illegally caught in the wild and then "laundered" through farms that claim to breed the reptiles.
Conservation Magazine, David Malakoff | November 4, 2011
- It might sound like a joke: How do you launder a python? But the answer is no laughing matter. At least 80% of the green pythons exported each year from Indonesia are illegally caught in the wild and then "laundered" through farms that claim to breed the reptiles.
"Wildlife breeding farms have been promoted to aid biodiversity conservation by alleviating the pressure of harvest on wild populations," Jessica A. Lyons and Daniel J.D. Natusch of the University of New South Wales in Australia write in Biological Conservation. Indonesia, for instance, is the only nation where green pythons are found in the wild to allow the export of captive-bred snakes. They pythons (Morelia viridis) are "keenly sought after by reptile keepers" due to their brilliant colors - young snakes are born yellow or red, and then turn green when older. There has been widespread suspicion, however, that many Indonesian traders were mostly trafficking snakes caught in the wild, but there was "no direct evidence of the existence of an illegal trade."
To see if they could put a wrap on the python case, the researchers surveyed wildlife traders in the Indonesian provinces of Maluku, West Papua and Papua between August 2009 and April 2011. The sorties uncovered a total of 4,227 illegally collected wild green pythons, and found that "high levels of harvest [had]. depleted and skewed the demographics of some island populations." The researchers also traced snakes from their point of capture to breeding farms in Jakarta where they are to be exported for the pet trade, confirming the reports of wildlife laundering." The data suggest that "at least 5,337 green pythons are collected each year," or about 80% of python exports. Often, traders told them, foreign buyers personally identified and selected the wild-caught snakes to be laundered through the farms.
One way to combat laundering, they suggest, is to require breeders "to keep eggshells from the reptiles that are bred and to export them with each individual reptile as evidence of their provenance." Measurements taken by the researchers show that green python eggs have a distinctive size and shape, and that "with a little knowledge and the aid of reference guide, identifying the eggs of green pythons could be a relatively simple task." The "eggshell method could be very effective in reducing the laundering and export of wild-caught green pythons through Indonesian breeding farms," they write.
"Although green pythons are still relatively common in most of the areas in which they occur," they conclude, the illegal trade is causing "noticeable declines" in some populations. And the authors suggest that using breeding farms to help protect wild populations "needs to be re-evaluated." -
Source: Lyons, J.A., Natusch, D.J.D. Wildlife laundering through breeding farms: Illegal harvest, population declines and a means of regulating the trade of green pythons (Morelia viridis) from Indonesia. Biol. Conserv. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.10.002
Showing posts with label exotic pet trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exotic pet trade. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
When wild animals move in: New movie explores risks of exotic pets (Via Herp Digest)
By William Loeffler, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, April 3, 2011
In Pennsylvania, a permit is required to own exotic animals such as wild birds, big cats, bears and other mammals. The laws are enforced by he Pennsylvania Game Commission. Personal ownership of primates is illegal.
Applicants must provide proof that they have had two years of training handling a particular animal. They also must provide a letter from their municipality stating that their ownership of, say, a lion or wolf hybrid does not violate local laws. For example, Shaler has an ordinance that prohibits ownership of poisonous or constrictive snakes, as well as cheetahs and baboons.
Americans have a dangerous fetish for wild animals, says the filmmaker whose documentary on the subject opens in Pittsburgh on Friday.
Michael Webber spent nearly two years filming "The Elephant in the Living Room," a look at people who keep lions, tigers or venomous snakes as pets and the industry that supplies them, often by exploiting abundant legal loopholes.
"I didn't quite believe that this could be true, that there are areas in this country where you have to have a dog license but nothing for a lion or tiger," Webber says.
Venomous snakes can be purchased on the Internet. In the film, Webber visits an large exotic animal auction in Mt. Hope, Ohio, where bears and hyenas are for sale. He also visits the Northwestern Berks Reptile Show in Hamburg, Berks County, where puff adders and other deadly vipers are legally sold. This year's show is scheduled for April 30.
"The Elephant in the Living Room" follows police officer and animal handler Tim Harrison, who has helped capture stray cougars, pythons and tigers in the Dayton, Ohio, area. He wrote two books about his wild times and close calls. Harrison has pulled pythons from ceilings, snared 10-feet-long alligators and intervened in time to save two young boys who were handling a snake that turned out to be a West African gaboon viper, one of the deadliest snakes on Earth.
Harrison blames this pet roulette on a culture that depicts wild animals as cuddly or cool. Chimps and leopard cubs are a sure-fire crowd pleaser on late-night talk shows. The April issue of Vanity Fair features "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson with an alligator draped around his neck. "The Crocodile Hunter" featured the late Steve Irwin handling crocodiles and poisonous snakes. "The last tiger I took off the street of Dayton, Ohio, I asked, 'Why on earth did you get this?' " Harrison says. "They said, 'I saw it on Animal Planet.' "
People who buy a critter on a whim don't realize the time, expense and expertise required to care for them, Harrison says. Owners frequently abandon animals when they become too large and dangerous to care for, leaving a problem for law enforcement or humane officers to handle. "When you buy something like this you're signing a death warrant," he says. "One of you is going to be killed. Ninety percent of the time, it's the animal."
He's seen the other 10 percent. When Amber Mountain, 8, of Irwin was suffocated by her father's Burmese python in 2002, Harrison says he helped counsel some family members.
"A car accident, that's something you can wrap your mind around," Harrison says. "You can't wrap your mind around your daughter or granddaughter or niece being constricted to death by a python from Asia."
The glut of abandoned exotics can overwhelm shelters, sanctuaries and humane societies. There are an estimated 7,000 captive tigers in the United States, more than the total number of wild tigers in Asia, according to Debbie Leahy, captive wildlife regulatory specialist of the Humane Society of the United States.
"It's a huge problem across the country," says William Sheperd, a veterinarian and founder of the Western Pennsylvania National Wild Animal Orphanage, a sanctuary in Redstone, Fayette County, where abandoned tigers, cougars and lions are cared for. "It's so varied from state to state as to what is allowed and not allowed. It would shock you to know what somebody has in their basement next door to you -- an alligator, a gaboon viper, a cougar. "
During its 25-year lifetime, a lion or tiger could cost its owner a quarter of a million dollars to feed, Sheperd says.
Humans who live in close contact with animals also risk contracting such diseases as salmonella or Herpes B virus, which is carried by some primates and can be fatal to humans. Making "The Elephant in the Living Room" required Webber to tramp through animal feces and crouch in cages near animal carcasses. He says he contracted a virulent skin disease in 2009 that baffled doctors and confined him to his house for six months.
"It was awful. I looked like the Elephant Man," he says.
His body finally returned to normal after he was treated by a veterinarian.
"You go into this, and you're worried about being attacked by a tiger or constricted by a python or bitten by a poisonous snake. But in a sense, it was something more sinister."
Exotic animal dangers aren't always obvious
Whenever a tiger or bear kills its owner, a common reaction is for some to ask what went wrong. Michael Webber, director and producer of "The Elephant in the Living Room," thinks he knows. "I'll tell you what went wrong," he says. "Someone took a chimpanzee in their house and raised it like a boy. Someone put a tiger in the basement and raised it like a domestic cat. Someone took a python and kept it in their home."
Born Free USA, an animal advocacy group, recorded a total of 1,474 exotic animal escapes or attacks from 1990 to 2010. That includes 75 deaths, including at least three in Pennsylvania.
Among them: In 2006, Sandra L. Piovesan of Salem, Westmoreland County, was attacked and killed by her nine pet wolf-dog hybrids. Piovesan had a license to keep the animals.
In 2009, Kelly Ann Walz of Saylorsburg, Monroe County, was killed by Teddy, a 350-pound bear she had raised from a cub. It attacked her while she was cleaning its cage. The attack, witnessed by Walz's two young children, prompted state Rep. Ed Staback (D-Lackawanna/Wayne) to introduce legislation on March 14 to ban the personal ownership of exotic animals, including big cats, bears, wolves and nonhuman primates, as pets in Pennsylvania.
Tim Harrison, a police officer and animal advocate who is featured in "Elephant," founded Outreach for Animals, a group dedicated to educating people about the hazards of keeping wild animals. Most owners genuinely love their exotic pets, Harrison says. But they're not doing them any favors. "People are loving these animals to death. He's not supposed to be in your house. He's supposed to be running on the Serengeti plain."
Owners of exotic venomous snakes shouldn't count on getting anti-venom if they're bitten. Most hospitals stock anti-venom that can treat bites from species of snakes native to the state, such as copperheads and rattlesnakes. But someone who is bitten by their pet green mamba, as happened in Penn Township in 2002, may have to wait until anti-venom is flown in from another city.
In 2003, Harrison's friend, Dayton firefighter Michael Peterman, was bitten by an African rhino viper he kept as a pet. Anti-venom was flown in from Florida but Peterman, 48, died before it could be administered.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Reptile Food May Have Sickened People in 17 States (Via HerpDigest)
Reptile Food May Have Sickened People in 17 States
By MARY CLARE JALONICK (AP)
WASHINGTON - Reptile owners who have been feeding rats, mice and chicks to their pets may be at risk for salmonella poisoning. The company that sells the reptile food, Mice Direct, announced a recall of the frozen rats, mice and chicks Tuesday, saying that 30 human illnesses possibly related to the frozen reptile feed have been reported in 17 states.
The company says the recall is based on Food and Drug Administration sampling of the frozen mice. The products were shipped to all states except Hawaii, and the feed was available for purchase through pet stores, mail order and direct delivery.
A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control said the agency is investigating the illnesses, which began in January. The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.
By MARY CLARE JALONICK (AP)
WASHINGTON - Reptile owners who have been feeding rats, mice and chicks to their pets may be at risk for salmonella poisoning. The company that sells the reptile food, Mice Direct, announced a recall of the frozen rats, mice and chicks Tuesday, saying that 30 human illnesses possibly related to the frozen reptile feed have been reported in 17 states.
The company says the recall is based on Food and Drug Administration sampling of the frozen mice. The products were shipped to all states except Hawaii, and the feed was available for purchase through pet stores, mail order and direct delivery.
A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control said the agency is investigating the illnesses, which began in January. The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Pssst... Wanna buy a puma? (Via Paul Cropper)
Pssst... Wanna buy a puma?
The Sunday Times has exposed the scale of the underground trade in rare and dangerous animals in Ireland, reports John Mooney
21 February 2010
The Sunday Times
(c) 2010 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
THE young man who drove into the car park of the Outlet shopping centre in Banbridge, Co Down, last Friday morning may have looked like a typical shopper, but he was there to sell, not to buy. Richard Potter, a pet-shop owner who has a lucrative sideline selling rare and endangered species, had arrived to seal his latest deal.
The focus of investigations by law-enforcement agencies in Ireland, Britain and other European countries, Potter had arrived to meet a "client" who had agreed to buy four lemurs, an endangered primate native to the tropical jungles of Madagascar.
Potter, who describes himself as an animal broker, did not suspect that the client, by whom he expected to be paid 6,146, was a Sunday Times journalist. A deposit of 116 had already been paid. "Here they are," he said, opening the door of his van. Inside were two dirty pet carriers each containing a pair of rare lemurs that cowered in the darkness. "I gave you the worst pet carriers I had, as I knew I wouldn't be getting them back," said Potter. He refused to reduce his asking price and produced documents that he claimed entitled him to sell the animals.
Before the deal was concluded, Potter was approached by animal-welfare inspectors and members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), who surrounded his van. He did not try to leave, but remained calm. A check of his "paperwork" by the Ulster Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Uspca) revealed that it was irregular, allowing the police to confiscate the lemurs.
Jungle World, a pet shop in Ballymena, Co Antrim, which Potter uses to trade in endangered species, was among the premises raided afterwards. When a search party entered a converted shed at the rear, which Potter calls a "jungle park", they found another lemur, a young ring-tailed specimen. The menagerie of exotic creatures astounded officials. A family of pygmy African mongooses was found living in an empty aquarium. A small colony of marmosets screeched when the police came too close. Other cages contained meerkats, spider monkeys, skunks and sugar gliders, tiny marsupials from Indonesia.
Inside a black bin-liner, the search team found a dead Asian short-clawed otter. The animal, which Potter had offered to sell for £1,000 the previous day, had climbed out of its cage and strangled itself on a cable.
Unlike the lemurs, many of the animals found in Potter's shop are not listed as "endangered", so the police had no powers to seize them. Instead, Potter will be asked to show where he bought them. If he cannot produce receipts, the menagerie may be seized. If he can produce receipts and prove their origins, he will be free to sell the animals.
How is it that endangered and dangerous wild animals, including species protected by international law, are being sold from the backs of vans to buyers in Northern Ireland and the republic? And is Ireland a destination of choice for unscrupulous animal dealers? THE scale of the trade in endangered species in Ireland has been uncovered by the Sunday Times, after an investigation in which a reporter posed as an animal collector seeking dangerous and rare wildlife.
It found a secret but vibrant trade in vulnerable species in contravention of international and European legislation.
Potter is known as by far the biggest player in the burgeoning trade. He is among a handful of wildlife dealers who can source some of the world's rarest creatures from zoos, animal parks and private collectors in Britain, mainland Europe and farther afield.
It is a highly profitable business for Potter, who boasts that he can obtain most species for the right price. Nothing is off-limits. As he walked between the cages in his "jungle park", which the public can visit, Potter pointed to a selection of primates that he is selling, among them a pair of large spider monkeys, before discussing the possible sale of an exotic cat.
"We can get anything. I have been offered prides of lions in the past," said Potter, who let three macaque monkeys out of their concrete cage to run free along the roof of an adjoining building. "The guys I work with give me commission on the price that you pay," he said, adding that he could arrange delivery to any location, north or south of the border. The apparent ease with which Potter could source a large cat was impressive. Two days after the first meeting, he sent an email offering a selection of exotic, but dangerous, felines.
"There is an albino tiger at £15,000, a white lion, price unknown, pair of pumas, awaiting price, and some ocelots and servals," he wrote. Days later, in another email, he offered to supply a pair of European lynx, a threatened species of large cat that is native to the forests of northern Europe.
He wrote: "Female 08 and male 09. Are in Europe, but you could have them by this weekend.
£6,500 delivered. Unbelievable price. Hope you will give this your immediate attention. Many thanks, Richard."
To proceed, he asked for a 50% deposit upfront and 50% on delivery. In an attempt to secure the sale, he said the purchase of a lynx, which had been sourced from a dealer in Belgium, could be profitable should they produce young in the spring.
"If they breed, you'd be sitting on a small fortune if they had a litter of kittens. You would be able to sell them off, no problem," he said. Other species offered included a variety of primates, Asian otters and skunks.
So how does a pet shop owner import and sell rare and dangerous creatures like a lynx.
THE trade in endangered wildlife is governed by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
In the European Union, it works by impsoing strict conditions on the trade in creatures that are facing extinction in the wild. The import, export, and sale of all species covered by the convention is regulated through a licensing system that is enforced throughout the EU. Species that are particularly vulnerable are listed on three appendices, known as Cites I, II and III, according to the level of protection needed.
The two species of lemurs seized from the back of Potter's van last week, are at the top of the Cites list on its appendix I, as they are endangered, so dealing in wild specimens is banned. But few realise that dealing in captive-bred lemurs, can be permitted if a Cites permit, known as an article 10, is issued.
These allow zoos and animal sanctuaries to sell and exchange captive-bred animals for use in breeding-programmes once they have been registered with a Cites authority, usually a government department in the animal's country of birth, and implanted with a microchip, the details of which are listed on the specimen's own article 10 certificate.
Most EU countries pride themselves on the strict enforcement of Cites, but the system is open to abuse. Article 10 permits can be faked, doctored, switched or duplicated. In Potter's case, some of the lemurs were found to have no microchip implanted. Some of the article 10 papers that Potter produced when confronted by the police were irregular.
Rob Parry-Jones, the regional director of Traffic Europe, a wildlife trade-monitoring group, said document fraud of this kind was one of the biggest challenges in regulating the wildlife trade.
"Traffic is aware of a number of instances where reptiles have been imported with documentation claiming they were bred in captivity, when in fact they were collected from the wild," he said.
"In other instances, permits have been used to import specimens legally, but are then copied and used to launder smuggled specimens," he said. The number of lemurs and other protected species that Potter has sold is unknown. In one conversation, he admitted to supplying six white-fronted brown lemurs, which are unique to the rainforests of eastern Madagascar, to a collector in Cork and a ring-tailed specimen to another "customer" from the republic. In Northern Ireland and Britain, the purchase and sale of such animals is governed by the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act. It was introduced in Northern Ireland in 2004 to stop people keeping dangerous species such as lemurs and lynx in their gardens after several big cats were seized from "private keepers", but pet shops, zoos and circuses were exempted from the law.
Potter appears to use the exemption afforded to his pet shop to import dangerous creatures and sell them to customers south of the border, no questions asked. A loophole in the law permits him to register dangerous animals in his own name, but sell them on without having to alert the authorities. "It's all above board," he said.
When he offered to supply the Sunday Times with a lynx, he offered to register the animal in his own name with the Belgian authorities if they asked for details of the person buying the cat.
"No one would know that you have it, just me, you and the wall," he said.
As there is no legislation in the republic, the owners of dangerous or protected species are not required to register them with any authority. Stephen Philpott, the Uspca's chief executive, said the exemption afforded to Potter made a "mockery" of laws designed to protect the public from dangerous animals. "The DWA exemption to pet shops is best described as a joke," he said. "This man is importing all types of dangerous animals and endangered species and selling them to the highest bidder, particularly to people in the republic, where it's legal to keep a tiger in your back garden."
Will Travers, the chief executive of the Born Free Foundation, which campaigns against the trade in wildlife, said exotic animals required special care, as such creatures retained all the necessary "aggression, fear and behavioural characteristics" that would allow them, potentially, to exist in the wild. "Many of these animals have extremely complex environmental and social needs that are impossible to meet in a private or domestic environment. Without a complex physical environment, the welfare of these animals is always compromised," he said.
Potter's activities are now the subject of a full investigation by the police, the Uspca and Cites enforcement agencies in Europe. Yesterday, the Uspca and police continued to search for a number of lemurs which they suspect are in the hands of unlicensed keepers in Northern Ireland.
The whereabouts of lemurs and other animals sold to collectors from the republic are likely to become the focus of investigation in the coming weeks. ''
The Sunday Times has exposed the scale of the underground trade in rare and dangerous animals in Ireland, reports John Mooney
21 February 2010
The Sunday Times
(c) 2010 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
THE young man who drove into the car park of the Outlet shopping centre in Banbridge, Co Down, last Friday morning may have looked like a typical shopper, but he was there to sell, not to buy. Richard Potter, a pet-shop owner who has a lucrative sideline selling rare and endangered species, had arrived to seal his latest deal.
The focus of investigations by law-enforcement agencies in Ireland, Britain and other European countries, Potter had arrived to meet a "client" who had agreed to buy four lemurs, an endangered primate native to the tropical jungles of Madagascar.
Potter, who describes himself as an animal broker, did not suspect that the client, by whom he expected to be paid 6,146, was a Sunday Times journalist. A deposit of 116 had already been paid. "Here they are," he said, opening the door of his van. Inside were two dirty pet carriers each containing a pair of rare lemurs that cowered in the darkness. "I gave you the worst pet carriers I had, as I knew I wouldn't be getting them back," said Potter. He refused to reduce his asking price and produced documents that he claimed entitled him to sell the animals.
Before the deal was concluded, Potter was approached by animal-welfare inspectors and members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), who surrounded his van. He did not try to leave, but remained calm. A check of his "paperwork" by the Ulster Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Uspca) revealed that it was irregular, allowing the police to confiscate the lemurs.
Jungle World, a pet shop in Ballymena, Co Antrim, which Potter uses to trade in endangered species, was among the premises raided afterwards. When a search party entered a converted shed at the rear, which Potter calls a "jungle park", they found another lemur, a young ring-tailed specimen. The menagerie of exotic creatures astounded officials. A family of pygmy African mongooses was found living in an empty aquarium. A small colony of marmosets screeched when the police came too close. Other cages contained meerkats, spider monkeys, skunks and sugar gliders, tiny marsupials from Indonesia.
Inside a black bin-liner, the search team found a dead Asian short-clawed otter. The animal, which Potter had offered to sell for £1,000 the previous day, had climbed out of its cage and strangled itself on a cable.
Unlike the lemurs, many of the animals found in Potter's shop are not listed as "endangered", so the police had no powers to seize them. Instead, Potter will be asked to show where he bought them. If he cannot produce receipts, the menagerie may be seized. If he can produce receipts and prove their origins, he will be free to sell the animals.
How is it that endangered and dangerous wild animals, including species protected by international law, are being sold from the backs of vans to buyers in Northern Ireland and the republic? And is Ireland a destination of choice for unscrupulous animal dealers? THE scale of the trade in endangered species in Ireland has been uncovered by the Sunday Times, after an investigation in which a reporter posed as an animal collector seeking dangerous and rare wildlife.
It found a secret but vibrant trade in vulnerable species in contravention of international and European legislation.
Potter is known as by far the biggest player in the burgeoning trade. He is among a handful of wildlife dealers who can source some of the world's rarest creatures from zoos, animal parks and private collectors in Britain, mainland Europe and farther afield.
It is a highly profitable business for Potter, who boasts that he can obtain most species for the right price. Nothing is off-limits. As he walked between the cages in his "jungle park", which the public can visit, Potter pointed to a selection of primates that he is selling, among them a pair of large spider monkeys, before discussing the possible sale of an exotic cat.
"We can get anything. I have been offered prides of lions in the past," said Potter, who let three macaque monkeys out of their concrete cage to run free along the roof of an adjoining building. "The guys I work with give me commission on the price that you pay," he said, adding that he could arrange delivery to any location, north or south of the border. The apparent ease with which Potter could source a large cat was impressive. Two days after the first meeting, he sent an email offering a selection of exotic, but dangerous, felines.
"There is an albino tiger at £15,000, a white lion, price unknown, pair of pumas, awaiting price, and some ocelots and servals," he wrote. Days later, in another email, he offered to supply a pair of European lynx, a threatened species of large cat that is native to the forests of northern Europe.
He wrote: "Female 08 and male 09. Are in Europe, but you could have them by this weekend.
£6,500 delivered. Unbelievable price. Hope you will give this your immediate attention. Many thanks, Richard."
To proceed, he asked for a 50% deposit upfront and 50% on delivery. In an attempt to secure the sale, he said the purchase of a lynx, which had been sourced from a dealer in Belgium, could be profitable should they produce young in the spring.
"If they breed, you'd be sitting on a small fortune if they had a litter of kittens. You would be able to sell them off, no problem," he said. Other species offered included a variety of primates, Asian otters and skunks.
So how does a pet shop owner import and sell rare and dangerous creatures like a lynx.
THE trade in endangered wildlife is governed by the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
In the European Union, it works by impsoing strict conditions on the trade in creatures that are facing extinction in the wild. The import, export, and sale of all species covered by the convention is regulated through a licensing system that is enforced throughout the EU. Species that are particularly vulnerable are listed on three appendices, known as Cites I, II and III, according to the level of protection needed.
The two species of lemurs seized from the back of Potter's van last week, are at the top of the Cites list on its appendix I, as they are endangered, so dealing in wild specimens is banned. But few realise that dealing in captive-bred lemurs, can be permitted if a Cites permit, known as an article 10, is issued.
These allow zoos and animal sanctuaries to sell and exchange captive-bred animals for use in breeding-programmes once they have been registered with a Cites authority, usually a government department in the animal's country of birth, and implanted with a microchip, the details of which are listed on the specimen's own article 10 certificate.
Most EU countries pride themselves on the strict enforcement of Cites, but the system is open to abuse. Article 10 permits can be faked, doctored, switched or duplicated. In Potter's case, some of the lemurs were found to have no microchip implanted. Some of the article 10 papers that Potter produced when confronted by the police were irregular.
Rob Parry-Jones, the regional director of Traffic Europe, a wildlife trade-monitoring group, said document fraud of this kind was one of the biggest challenges in regulating the wildlife trade.
"Traffic is aware of a number of instances where reptiles have been imported with documentation claiming they were bred in captivity, when in fact they were collected from the wild," he said.
"In other instances, permits have been used to import specimens legally, but are then copied and used to launder smuggled specimens," he said. The number of lemurs and other protected species that Potter has sold is unknown. In one conversation, he admitted to supplying six white-fronted brown lemurs, which are unique to the rainforests of eastern Madagascar, to a collector in Cork and a ring-tailed specimen to another "customer" from the republic. In Northern Ireland and Britain, the purchase and sale of such animals is governed by the Dangerous Wild Animals (DWA) Act. It was introduced in Northern Ireland in 2004 to stop people keeping dangerous species such as lemurs and lynx in their gardens after several big cats were seized from "private keepers", but pet shops, zoos and circuses were exempted from the law.
Potter appears to use the exemption afforded to his pet shop to import dangerous creatures and sell them to customers south of the border, no questions asked. A loophole in the law permits him to register dangerous animals in his own name, but sell them on without having to alert the authorities. "It's all above board," he said.
When he offered to supply the Sunday Times with a lynx, he offered to register the animal in his own name with the Belgian authorities if they asked for details of the person buying the cat.
"No one would know that you have it, just me, you and the wall," he said.
As there is no legislation in the republic, the owners of dangerous or protected species are not required to register them with any authority. Stephen Philpott, the Uspca's chief executive, said the exemption afforded to Potter made a "mockery" of laws designed to protect the public from dangerous animals. "The DWA exemption to pet shops is best described as a joke," he said. "This man is importing all types of dangerous animals and endangered species and selling them to the highest bidder, particularly to people in the republic, where it's legal to keep a tiger in your back garden."
Will Travers, the chief executive of the Born Free Foundation, which campaigns against the trade in wildlife, said exotic animals required special care, as such creatures retained all the necessary "aggression, fear and behavioural characteristics" that would allow them, potentially, to exist in the wild. "Many of these animals have extremely complex environmental and social needs that are impossible to meet in a private or domestic environment. Without a complex physical environment, the welfare of these animals is always compromised," he said.
Potter's activities are now the subject of a full investigation by the police, the Uspca and Cites enforcement agencies in Europe. Yesterday, the Uspca and police continued to search for a number of lemurs which they suspect are in the hands of unlicensed keepers in Northern Ireland.
The whereabouts of lemurs and other animals sold to collectors from the republic are likely to become the focus of investigation in the coming weeks. ''
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