This May the World Wildlife Fund formally mandated the ROC's Society for Wildlife and Nature to serve as an "ecological policeman" for the Asian area—to supervise and record illegal trafficking in wildlife, particularly animals, and to take action to stop it or to notify the fund so that it may adopt countermeasures of its own.

The World Wildlife Fund, whose membership includes scientists, zoologists, ecologists, and environmentally concerned people from around the world, has a 26-year history and an influence of global proportions. The fund has rescued some thirty or forty species of wild animals from extinction and has facilitated the establishment of nearly 300 national parks around the world.

Under the WWF is an organization called TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce) which is specially charged with suppressing illegal trade in wildlife and which has branches distributed in strategic locations on every continent. The organization's Asian head-quarters is in Japan. The ROC is the second Asian country after Japan to be asked to serve as an ecological policeman.

Why were we picked? Some people think it's like making the naughtiest pupils in class monitors. Japan is the largest trafficker in illegal animal trade in Asia, and since Singapore clamped down on illegal wildlife trade last year, a lot of business has been funneled to Taiwan.

However, many environmentalists believe that the ROC's positive efforts in recent years—its continuing ecological research, its taking the initiative to make contacts with international conservation organizations, and other steps—have also been an important reason. Two years ago, Great Britain's Prince Philip, head of the WWF, commended the R.O.C. for its efforts. Local conservation groups have long been supplying TRAFFIC with information on wild life transshipments, and the ROC's ongoing conservation work has also produced a favorable impression.

One major reason for the improved image, according to Chang Feng-hsu, minister of state in the Executive Yuan, is the ROC's prohibition two years ago of the importation of rhinoceroses and rhinoceros horns, a prized ingredient in certain Chinese medicines. Rhinos have declined in number by seventy percent in the past decade, and have been internationally designated as a protected animal. The ROC also prohibited the importation of tigers and three other endangered animals, and restricted the importation of Chinese medicine containing rhino horns, tiger bones, and other ingredients.

International trade in wildlife has been going on for centuries. During the Dutch occupation of Taiwan, over 100,000 pelts of Formosan sika, or "plum-blossom deer," were exported a year. Today the animals are facing extinction.

Wildlife trade soared in the 1960's. During that decade around 10 million crocodile hides were sold each year; the U.S. imported nearly 160,000 tiger and leopard skins in 1967; and in 1972 Kenya exported 150 tons of elephant tusks.

The monetary figures are equally astounding. U.S. trade in wildlife in 198l reached nearly US$1 billion; one South American puma skin fetches as much as US$40,000 in West Germany; and an ounce of rhino horn may be more expensive than an ounce of gold in many Oriental medicine shops.

The result has been the gradual disappearance of wildlife around the world. Experts have estimated that 2,000 species of wild animals will become extinct by the year 2000, and flowering plants will decline in number by one-fourth.

It was facing this scenario that 21 nations in 1973 signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to establish regulations for international trade in endangered wildlife. Ninety-six countries have joined the organization to date.

CITES classifies protected wildlife into three categories. It prohibits all trade in first-category wildlife, controls trade in the second category by quota, and allows trade in the third category provided the importing and exporting countries have each granted a permit. The Board of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Economic Affairs has been charged with the responsibility for reviewing permit applications in the ROC

There are currently four or five large companies engaged in the animal trade on Taiwan and numerous smaller firms which import or export tropical fish, birds, ivory, or stuffed animals. In the past the companies have used loopholes in the regulations to carry on trade in restricted species. But this March the government implemented new regulations designed to close the loopholes and crack down on offenders.

Since then, the responsible agencies have been facing pressure from domestic traders demanding that they be allowed a grace period to adjust to the new system. And some dealers ask, "Formosan sikas long ago disappeared in the wild, but now that many are bred and raised, why can't they be exported?"

"Animal dealers must understand that trade in plants and animals is getting more and more difficult all over the world," says Wu Kuan ts'ung, of the Council of Agriculture's Resources Conservation Division.

For many undeveloped, impoverished regions, wild animals are a source of foreign income, and prohibiting their export is indeed difficult. For example, even though ivory-producing countries have established a quota of twenty tons a year, trafficking on the black market far exceeds that figure, with most of the profit going into the pockets of middlemen.

The driving force behind all the trade is, of course, the consumer.

At an ecological protection seminar held in Taipei this year, one speaker showed a slide of a pair of feet in elegant snakeskin shoes standing on a polished marble floor. The subtitle was, "An unwitting participant in crime!"

And ourselves? Are you wearing snakeskin shoes, carrying an alligator purse or wallet, or keeping a fur coat in the closet? If so, you too may be the murderer of an endangered species!

[Picture Caption]

Mankind continues to "refine" its ways of getting along with animals. At Leofoo Village Safari Park it's hard to tell just who's looking at whom.

Using rhinoceros horns as an ingredient in medicine has become a thing of the past in Taiwan.

Because of overexploitation, Formosan sika have practically disappeared in the wild.

This reproduction of Millet's The Gleaners has been made with butterfly wings.

Hunters like to hang up stuffed trophies, but how many animals are left to supply them?

A gorilla at the Taipei zoo makes a face at a visitor.

Wild plants have also been decreasing due to Man's encroachments.

Are furs needed on tropical Taiwan? (photo by Chung Yung-ho)

Using rhinoceros horns as an ingredient in medicine has become a thing of the past in Taiwan.

Because of overexploitation, Formosan sika have practically disappeared in the wild.

This reproduction of Millet's The Gleaners has been made with butterfly wings.

Hunters like to hang up stuffed trophies, but how many animals are left to supply them?

A gorilla at the Taipei zoo makes a face at a visitor.