Smuggling of rhino parts goes online

Channel NewsAsia 5 Sep 11;

SINGAPORE: Rhinoceroses are a protected species, and it is illegal to import their horns here. However, some traders allegedly get round the law by taking the transactions online.

In a correspondence via email, a Channel NewsAsia reporter contacted a seller, allegedly based in Singapore, who claimed to be able to ship the horns over in two days.

This, the seller said, could be done via an international mailing service, disguising them as art pieces.

The demand for horns exists, as some believe they can treat cancer.

But practitioners of traditional chinese medicine said there is no scientific evidence to prove this.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority said it has not seized any illegally-smuggled horns since 1995.

But a local animal welfare group said the illegal acts are still going on.

Mr Louis Ng, executive director at the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society said: "Sometimes they are smuggled in powder form, which is the same property as our fingernails, so it's hard to detect with our current measures in place. But what we really need to do now is employ sniffer dogs, that can sniff out rhino horns, bear parts, tiger parts, (and) live animals. That would be a more effective deterrent."

- CNA/cc

Activists flood RWS site with messages
Straits Times 6 Sep 11;

ANIMAL rights activists have flooded Resorts World Sentosa's (RWS) Facebook page with hundreds of messages calling for it to release its captive dolphins.

The barrage of posts by supporters of a Singapore-based pressure group forced RWS to block some users and disable the page's comment function.

Yesterday, a spokesman called the activists' behaviour 'premeditated cyber harassment'.

He said blocking users was 'never an ideal response', but added: 'We cannot and will not tolerate any misuse of our Facebook page with spam, repetitive or abusive messages.'

The mass messaging session was carried out last Saturday and Sunday by supporters of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society.

One supporter inundated the page with the same post asking RWS to join her 'dolphins killers team' as it is 'extremely well known for torturing and murdering dolphins'.

Yesterday, the pressure group's executive director, Mr Louis Ng, said comments like these were unfortunate because he had called for the posts to be polite.

But he vowed not to give up the campaign until the dolphins are released. 'We will not budge as long as they have them.'

RWS has 25 of the mammals in captivity in the Philippines and intends to feature them in its planned Marine Life Park. Two other dolphins died of a bacterial infection last October.

Mr Shashi Nathan, director of Inca Law, said that while online campaigns like this may not be good Internet etiquette, there is little RWS can do as its Facebook page is meant to be open for public discussions.

He added that the company 'would have legal remedies if there are messages that are obscene or defamatory, but otherwise, beyond deleting the messages, there is nothing much it can do'.

NG KAI LING