New on the Menu: Tigers, Sharks, Turtles & Bears.

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Imagine walking into a new trendy restaurant to find the menu unlike any you have ever seen. Instead of chicken noodle soup, you have shark fin soup. And replacing steak is pangolin. No burgers or hot dogs on this menu - rather pig nosed turtles and bear paws. Hungry Yet? Maybe some elephant or civet cat would do the trick. This may sound strange or even disgusting to us, but that’s not the case in China.

Illegal wildlife trade has become the fastest growing industry in China and other parts of Southeastern Asia. Endangered species of all kinds are smuggled into China and sold as culinary delicacies, clothing and medicine. In fact, illegal wildlife trade in China has been valued at more than $10 billion dollars annually. To put that into perspective, it is now third on the list of illicit activities, behind only drug smuggling and arms dealing.

While the Chinese government has put bans on selling endangered wildlife, it has not deterred restaurants from selling these animals as delicacies. Between 1999 and 2003 the Chinese government seized 18,850 live endangered animals, including lizards, pythons, turtles and rare fish, estimated to be between 1% and 10% of smuggled animals.

China is not alone in this illegal industry. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Ecuador, and Brazil all share in this underground illegal trade, as well as dealers from America and Europe who travel the many regions and stock up on animals to sell. These other countries, however, pale in comparison to China. Up to 80% of animals smuggled out of Southeast Asia are headed for China. It also seems as if Malaysia is the hub for exporting most of the endangered animals to China. Many of the animals are shipped to middlemen in Malaysia, who then smuggle the animals to Thailand and on to China to be devoured.

Animals are being consumed at such an alarming rate in China and Southeast Asia - it could result in the extinction of certain species. Tigers and Javan Rhino have been hunted to near extinction in Southeast Asia. It was once easy to find pythons as long as seven or eight meters long, but now it’s rare to find one as long as four meters. Turtle and tortoise populations are being devastated by this trade, as well as local shark populations.

The shipment of endangered animals into China as a delicacy will eventually decline; that is inevitable. The only question is how it will decline. Will it be from stronger controls? Stronger law enforcement of bans? Stronger penalties? Or will it be a case of supply drying up, due to a rapidly shrinking, and possibly even reaching extinction, animal population…