afrol News: Eurooppaan tuodaan lihaa matkalaukuissa

[Janix]

Pariisissa tutkittiin laitonta lihan maahantuontia. 17 päivänä tarkastettiin matkatavaroita yhdellä lentokentällä. Suurin yhdeltä matkustajalta löydetty lihaerä painoi 51 kiloa. Kaiken kaikkiaan lihalajikkeita tunnistettiin 11 erilaista, joukossa mm. kädellisien ja krokotiilin lihaa. Lihasta 39 prosenttia oli peräisin uhanalaisista lajikkeista. Tutkijat UK Royal Veterinary Collegesta arvioivat tutkimuksen perusteella, että jopa 270 tonnia lihaa voi tulla maahan kyseisen lentokentän kautta vuosittain. Tarkastamattomassa lihassa on myös terveysriski.

4 kiloinen apina maksaa Kamerunissa 5 euroa, mutta Pariisissa siitä saa jo 100 euroa.

afrol News, 1.6.2010

More than five tonnes of illegal bushmeat is being smuggled in personal luggage each week through the Paris airport alone. Most bushmeat comes from Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Congo Kinshasa (DRC). British and French researchers identified eleven bushmeat species from confiscated luggage, including species of primate, crocodiles and pangolins.

134 passengers were searched from 29 flights over a period of 17 days. The single largest confiscation was of 51 kg of bushmeat carried by a single passenger with no other luggage.

"Our results estimate that around 270 tonnes of potentially contaminated illegal bushmeat is passing unchecked through a single European airport per year, posing a huge potential risk to public health," says Anne-Lise Chaber, from the UK Royal Veterinary College (RVC).
The researchers spoke with three traders in Paris revealing that, as well as street trading, traders take orders in advance and arrange delivery of the goods to the customer.

Marcus Rowcliffe from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) says that the study had shown that "this is a lucrative, organised trade feeding into a luxury market; a 4kg monkey will cost around € 100 in France, compared with just € 5 in Cameroon."

"Importing bushmeat is relatively easy as customs officials are given no financial incentives to uncover illegal meat imports, compared with the bonuses they are awarded for drug and counterfeit seizures. Also, penalties are very low for people caught carrying illegal meat," Mr Rowcliffe added.

39 percent of the confiscated bushmeat was identified to stem from animals being listed as threatened species, "highlighting the unsustainable nature of the trade and its potential impact on species of conservation concern," according to the researchers.

In addition to wildlife conservation concerns, the illegal trade of such large quantities of bushmeat was raising "serious questions" about the importation of dangerous diseases into Europe.

"Surveillance methods need to be more robust and deterrents more severe if we are to have any chance of halting this illegal trade," says Andrew Cunningham, from ZSL.

Compared to the bushmeat trade in Central Africa, the meat smuggled to Europe however still is minimal. Researchers estimate that the current harvest of bushmeat in Central Africa is more than 1 million tonnes annually, the equivalent of almost 4 million cattle.

[hiltunen]

Kaikkea sitä viitsitäänkin salakuljettaa, tuotto/kilo ei varmaankaan ole päätähuimaavaa verraten huumeisiin/väärennöksiin/yms.

[MaisteriT]

4 kiloinen apina maksaa Kamerunissa 5 euroa, mutta Pariisissa siitä saa jo 100 euroa.

Tämä uutinenhan sopisi hienosti Vihreään Lankaan. Uusi aluevaltaus Hommalta. :-)