Fortunately, the lower
two selling deer parts. The
It was a little disconcerting to see and
Yangtze River Basin, to which
only guy who didn’t like me
it is now confined in the wild,
parts of CRITICALLY ENDANGERED taking photos had a shop full
is isolated and unsuitable for
of a number of types of dried
farming. This habitat has been WILDLIFE displayed openly for sale caterpillars, although incredi-
enhanced and protected and
bly, he wasn’t fazed when I
more recently wild numbers have
which of the two possible species they took a photo of his alligator foot!
slowly but steadily increased.
derived from. Nevertheless it was a
However, captive breeding facilities
little disconcerting to see parts of
I was able to confirm that some of the
have produced thousands of animals, critically endangered wildlife
images dried snakes etc. in the market
being so successful that in addition to displayed openly for sale.
were quite dated, and certainly the
reintroducing animals to the wild,
huge trade in Tokay Geckos seems to
some have been sold in the pet trade
An extensive tour of the remainder of have abated since word spread a few
and also for human consumption.
the market failed to yield any other
years back that they are not in fact a
reptiles. I may have missed some-
miracle cure for AIDS and cancer.
So both species are probably safe due thing, and it is possible that some
Perhaps the general lack of endan-
to captive populations, and the two
protected wildlife is only sold ‘under gered wildlife at Qing Ping is
feet I found in Qing Ping (I spotted a the counter’, but I’m pretty sure it’s
consistent with changing attitudes in
second a while later) may have been
safe to say that the market is not full
China. WildAid ambassador Jackie
obtained from entirely legal commer- of tiger paw or the like. I did find a
Chan has actively campaigned against
cial breeding operations, no matter
total of three shops selling dried frogs shark fin soup, and must take some of
‘
.’