Wildlife Trafficking: Bangladesh remains a transit hotspot

Patagonian Mara, a somewhat rabbit-like animal, is found in open and semi-open habitats in Argentina, including in large parts of Patagonia. This herbivorous mammal, which also looks like deer, is never known to be found in this part of the subcontinent.

But in March 2021, border guard members recovered seven of these near-threatened animals from some abandoned sacks in Tushkhali border area in Kolaroa upazila of Satkhira.

The following year, a large number of wild animals, including Hoolock gibbons, porcupines, fishing cats, leopard cats and Kalij pheasants were rescued from Lohagara upazila, Chattogram. Latest in January last year, two bear cubs were rescued from Chokoria, Cox's Bazar.

Earlier, law enforcers rescued nine zebras from a cow-shed near Sharsha border in Jashore in 2018, and two lion cubs and a leopard in 2017, also from Jashore.

This means, many exotic and endangered species continue to be smuggled into Bangladesh from Africa and South America, as the country remains a transit hotspot for wildlife trafficking.

Forest officials sent all these recovered and rescued animals to Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur, but could not identify the traffickers or the final destination of these animals.

Forest officials, wildlife crime control officials and researchers say that all those exotic animals from South America and Africa were rescued by the Indian border, indicating that they were brought into Bangladesh to be trafficked to India.

"Wildlife being smuggled out of Bangladesh is not a new thing. But analysing all those animals and information from our field research, we can clearly say Bangladesh is also being used as a wildlife trafficking route," Nasir Uddin, a leading researcher of wildlife trafficking in Bangladesh told The Daily Star.

He said Bangladesh now plays the role both as a source of and a transit route for wildlife trafficking. It is also a consumer of many wildlife species.

Wildlife trafficking from Bangladesh

A study by Nasir Uddin and other researchers titled "Exploring market-based wildlife trade dynamics in Bangladesh" found that different Asian countries, including Thailand, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar have a demand for Bangladeshi wildlife.

The study, published in Cambridge University Press journal in November 2022, surveyed 13 wildlife markets across Bangladesh and identified 421 traders selling wildlife.

Another research titled "Laundered alive? The transnational trade in wild felids through Bangladesh" published in December 2022 found that various Tiger-products are trafficked from Bangladesh to 13 countries in Asia, Europe and Australia.

Citing anonymous wildlife traders, the study report, co-authored by Nasir Uddin, said South Africa, India, Indonesia and Kenya are the four main countries that export live felids (mammals of cat families) to Bangladesh.

It also identified 15 countries that receive live wildlife from Bangladesh, including four countries in the Middle East, four in South Asia, four in Southeast Asia, and three in East Asia.

"India is the top destination of live felids from Bangladesh followed by Myanmar, China and Malaysia," the report said.

During interviews for the study, at least eight wildlife traders said traffickers smuggle both native and exotic felids to India from Bangladesh.

Citing wildlife traders, the study said traffickers sometimes use forged permits from CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to first smuggle wildlife into Bangladesh for eventually trafficking them to other countries.

Interviewees described live wildlife being imported and exported by air via Dhaka and Chattogram airports. But they use land border to traffic those to India and Myanmar.

Both the studies by Nasir Uddin and others identified 16 points along the Bangladesh-India and Bangladesh-Myanmar borders that are used to traffic wildlife to neighbouring countries. These points include Banglabandh, Bhurungumari, Benapole, Teknaf, Chattogram seaport and Tamabeel.

A separate study published in November last year by Wildlife Justice Commission found tiger cubs are brought to Bangladesh from Thailand.

"In the past, we knew tiger body parts are smuggled out of Bangladesh. Now we see even live tiger cubs are coming to Bangladesh. But we do not know what is happening to them," said Nasir.

An Interpol report released in 2016 said traffickers export different tiger parts to Myanmar, Malaysia, China and Korea through Dhaka airport with consignments of frozen food.

Nasir Uddin said he analysed export data from the CITES website in 2022 and found exporting countries declared 188 felids export to Bangladesh. of these, Bangladesh reported only four imports. On the other hand, Bangladesh declared 16 more imports that were not reported by any exporting countries.

He noted that most of these felids were trafficked to other countries via Bangladesh, and stressed the need for creating a digital database for legal wildlife imports.

Endangered species

Bangladesh has a fairly rich biodiversity, but wildlife trade amid loss of habitat is putting a huge pressure on wildlife in different sanctuaries of the country.

International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) latest report published in 2015 shows that the of 1,619 wildlife species that live in Bangladesh, 313 face threats of varied degrees. Of them, 17 types of mammal, 10 types of bird, 17 types of reptile, two types of amphibian and one butterfly species are critically endangered.

IUNC's assessment found that around 27.54% mammals, 6.9% birds, 22.76% reptiles, 20.41% amphibians and 61.63% butterflies are threatened.

One car, seven people

Wildlife Crime Control Unit Director Sanaullah Patawary admitted that Bangladesh is both a "source of and transit route for wildlife trafficking."

Asked how wildlife like Patagonian Mara, zebra or lion cubs could have entered the country, he said someone must have imported them with false declarations.

The Unit does not have any desk at Dhaka airport, making it easier for the traffickers to have the smuggled wildlife released.

"It is possible that dishonest importers declare cows while importing zebra from Africa," he said.

Also, officials at the airport or members of border guard are neither sensitised nor trained to identify endangered wildlife and prevent their trafficking.

The Unit has only one car, and that too without any budget for fuel, making it difficult to promptly conduct any drive or recovery operations.

Officials say if they want to conduct a drive or rescue operation, they need to pay for the fuel cost themselves first, and then submit the bill.

"Currently, the Wildlife Crime Control Unit is running with three inspectors, two scouts and two outsourcing officers under a director. That is the entire manpower we have," Sanaullah said.