An international conference on species protection is taking place in Bangkok, Thailand these days. The animal welfare experts present have to decide on more than 70 applications for animals and plants or determine whether their protection worthiness should be upgraded.
Two Seychelles giant tortoises — Image: Shutterstock / KKulikov
The focus of the species protection conference in Thailand are five animal species that have been increasingly threatened in recent years due to the partly illegal trade and pure trophy hunting. Specifically, it’s about polar bears, sharks, rhinos, turtles and crocodiles.
Trade in polar bear products should be curbed
The request to better protect polar bears from poaching comes from the USA. The bear enjoys strict protection in the United States, while bear skins are traded in Canada and other countries. The aim of the application is to completely ban the trade in polar bear products: the polar bears are already threatened by the melt, according to the American camp.
Proposed ban on hunting white rhinos
Kenya would like to have the hunting of white rhinos completely banned in South Africa and Swaziland, after all it is already banned in all other countries in the world. The application to at least restrict the trade in sharks comes from several countries. In particular because of the fins, the animals are brutally killed in droves. Turtles and crocodiles are also on the agenda of the international species protection conference. It remains to be hoped that the applicants will ultimately be able to assert themselves and that the criminal animal trade will at least be partially stopped.
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