Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations
Primate species have been increasingly threatened by legal and illegal trade in China, mainly for biomedical research or as pets and traditional medicine, yet most reports on trade from China regard international trade. To assess a proxy for amount of national primate trades, we quantified the numbe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PeerJ Inc.
2018-12-01
|
| Series: | PeerJ |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/6069.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827605971543785472 |
|---|---|
| author | Qingyong Ni Yu Wang Ariana Weldon Meng Xie Huailiang Xu Yongfang Yao Mingwang Zhang Ying Li Yan Li Bo Zeng K.A.I. Nekaris |
| author_facet | Qingyong Ni Yu Wang Ariana Weldon Meng Xie Huailiang Xu Yongfang Yao Mingwang Zhang Ying Li Yan Li Bo Zeng K.A.I. Nekaris |
| author_sort | Qingyong Ni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Primate species have been increasingly threatened by legal and illegal trade in China, mainly for biomedical research or as pets and traditional medicine, yet most reports on trade from China regard international trade. To assess a proxy for amount of national primate trades, we quantified the number of reports of native primate species featuring in unique web news reports from 2000 to 2017, including accuracy of their identification, location where they were confiscated or rescued, and their condition upon rescue. To measure temporal trends across these categories, the time span was divided into three sections: 2000–2005, 2006–2011 and 2012–2017. A total of 735 individuals of 14 species were reported in 372 news reports, mostly rhesus macaques (n = 165, 22.5%, Macaca mulatta) and two species of slow lorises (n = 487, 66.3%, Nycticebus spp.). During the same period, live individuals of rhesus macaques were recorded 206 times (70,949 individuals) in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Trade Database, whereas slow lorises were only recorded four times (nine individuals), indicating that the species originated illegally from China or were illegally imported into China. Due to their rescued locations in residential areas (n = 211, 56.7%), most primates appeared to be housed privately as pets. A higher proportion of ‘market’ rescues during 2006–2011 (χ2 = 8.485, df = 2, p = 0.014), could be partly attributed to an intensive management on wildlife markets since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003. More than half (68.3%, 502 individuals) of the primate individuals were unhealthy, injured or dead when rescued. Thus, identification and welfare training and capacity-building should be provided to husbandry and veterinary professionals, as well as education to the public through awareness initiatives. The increase in presence of some species, especially slow lorises, with a declining population in restricted areas, also suggests the urgent need for public awareness about the illegal nature of keeping these taxa as pets. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:31:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-785ddcea65a14c77a375a88575fcae06 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:31:05Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-785ddcea65a14c77a375a88575fcae062023-12-03T11:05:46ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592018-12-016e606910.7717/peerj.6069Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscationsQingyong Ni0Yu Wang1Ariana Weldon2Meng Xie3Huailiang Xu4Yongfang Yao5Mingwang Zhang6Ying Li7Yan Li8Bo Zeng9K.A.I. Nekaris10College of Animal Sciences and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Animal Sciences and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaNocturnal Primate Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UKCollege of Life Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Yaan, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Animal Sciences and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Animal Sciences and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Animal Sciences and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaCollege of Animal Sciences and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, ChinaNocturnal Primate Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UKPrimate species have been increasingly threatened by legal and illegal trade in China, mainly for biomedical research or as pets and traditional medicine, yet most reports on trade from China regard international trade. To assess a proxy for amount of national primate trades, we quantified the number of reports of native primate species featuring in unique web news reports from 2000 to 2017, including accuracy of their identification, location where they were confiscated or rescued, and their condition upon rescue. To measure temporal trends across these categories, the time span was divided into three sections: 2000–2005, 2006–2011 and 2012–2017. A total of 735 individuals of 14 species were reported in 372 news reports, mostly rhesus macaques (n = 165, 22.5%, Macaca mulatta) and two species of slow lorises (n = 487, 66.3%, Nycticebus spp.). During the same period, live individuals of rhesus macaques were recorded 206 times (70,949 individuals) in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Trade Database, whereas slow lorises were only recorded four times (nine individuals), indicating that the species originated illegally from China or were illegally imported into China. Due to their rescued locations in residential areas (n = 211, 56.7%), most primates appeared to be housed privately as pets. A higher proportion of ‘market’ rescues during 2006–2011 (χ2 = 8.485, df = 2, p = 0.014), could be partly attributed to an intensive management on wildlife markets since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003. More than half (68.3%, 502 individuals) of the primate individuals were unhealthy, injured or dead when rescued. Thus, identification and welfare training and capacity-building should be provided to husbandry and veterinary professionals, as well as education to the public through awareness initiatives. The increase in presence of some species, especially slow lorises, with a declining population in restricted areas, also suggests the urgent need for public awareness about the illegal nature of keeping these taxa as pets.https://peerj.com/articles/6069.pdfRescuingWelfareRecognitionMass mediaSpatial variation |
| spellingShingle | Qingyong Ni Yu Wang Ariana Weldon Meng Xie Huailiang Xu Yongfang Yao Mingwang Zhang Ying Li Yan Li Bo Zeng K.A.I. Nekaris Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations PeerJ Rescuing Welfare Recognition Mass media Spatial variation |
| title | Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations |
| title_full | Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations |
| title_fullStr | Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations |
| title_short | Conservation implications of primate trade in China over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations |
| title_sort | conservation implications of primate trade in china over 18 years based on web news reports of confiscations |
| topic | Rescuing Welfare Recognition Mass media Spatial variation |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/6069.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT qingyongni conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT yuwang conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT arianaweldon conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT mengxie conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT huailiangxu conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT yongfangyao conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT mingwangzhang conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT yingli conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT yanli conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT bozeng conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations AT kainekaris conservationimplicationsofprimatetradeinchinaover18yearsbasedonwebnewsreportsofconfiscations |