The spiny freshwater turtle population is less than 1000 according to Canadian reports, but they found a windfall of dozens of the turtles recently. The problem is that they were dead and on a Chinese menu. Yet, the Chinese owner will face only a relatively small fine for this violation. In killing and sell these turtles for soup (and contributing to the possible loss of a species) the owner will face less of a penalty than a car theft or bad check.
The gruesome find was made at the Fortune Seafood Restaurant. Da Zhao Jian, owner of Fortune Seafood Restaurant on Midland Ave., had the soft-shell turtles on the menu for consumption. He was convicted of unlawful possession of the spiny softshell turtles under the Endangered Species Act and of listing a protected species for sale under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. However, these two charges only bring a $5000 fine each so he will walk with just a $10,000 fine. No jail time.
He has refused to tell people where he got the threatened turtles. That explains the lack of deterrent for the black market of turtles which are particularly valued by Chinese consumers.
We have discussed the loss of species and reduction of populations to feed the Chinese market. About 20 years ago, I was on a delegation to Taiwan and one of my areas of discussion was environmental protection. On the flight over to Taipei, our government sanctioned the Taiwan government for the sale of endangered species body parts in medicines and products. When I arrived, that is all the President and ministers wanted to discuss. They were quite angry and insisted that you could not buy such things as tiger bone on the island.
After days of denials, I decided to investigate the matter myself. I left the meeting early and got into a cab. The Justice minister had just denied that such products were openly sold in Taiwan so I asked the cab driver where I could buy tiger bone. He immediately said “Snake alley.” He offered to drive me that night and I accepted. After driving through the city that night, he walked me down a narrow alley with underaged girl prostitutes on either side behind thin curtains. It was horrible with some girls who looked as young as ten. We then emerged in Snake alley — so named because people often came to drink snake blood as an aphrodisiac. I watched as one large snake was killed and drained into a pint cup and given to a young man. The snake’s beating heart was placed on the table in front of him. He paid a wad of money and drank the blood and was served a snake soup. In addition to open sex acts on display, there was a wide array of endangered species body parts for sale from dozens of open tables. I bought a few and took them to the meeting the next day. I explained that it took me literally minutes to find a place to buy these. The minister looked shocked and then had an interesting response. Instead of again denying the availability of such products, he said that the Chinese culture is ancient and that he can personally attest that these ancient remedies work.
The preference for exotic animals in the Chinese market has deep cultural roots. I have been to China and spoken with environmentalists who have bravely fought not just the government but this cultural insensitivity of such issues. However, the Canadian case shows the continued disconnect between environmental crimes and other crimes. We still do not treat these violations as seriously as they warrant. When the low sanctions are put next to the strong cultural preferences, the result is inevitable. Even with only 1000 such turtles recorded by the government, selling these turtles is treated as little more than a cost of doing business by some.
What is particularly alarming is that there is no indication that the owner supplied information on the dealers or trappers of these turtles. He was just fined and sent on his way sans his hoard of dead threatened turtles.
Source: The Star
Bron and Gene,
Good point. We’ll blame that last bit on lack of sleep.
pete:
Joe Pesci is great. I hope it doesnt include flaccid, dried penis. Although at Joe’s age . . .
i need to see if nick knows joe pesci. i’ve got a movie idea i want to pitch to him.
Gyges,
In Bron’s defense, I think it’s clear he was being a smarta$$. The flaccid-dried penis thing was actually kind of funny. However, in your defense, it did create a perfect opening to explain precisely what was wrong with nick’s joke. I’m saying win-win.
Gyges:
I think you are taking my response too seriously.
Bron,
Pete didn’t say that. Pete’s joke was bad, but a) he didn’t start the joke, and b) it’s playing on a well established joke that you’re hungry again soon after eating Chinese food.
Nick’s joke on the other hand only makes sense as a play on the stereotype that people from Asia have small penises. I mean, if he was implying that as a general rule it takes 30 human penises to make a meal, why include the Chinese? If he was saying that they had unusually large penises, he would have included “Only” as a modifier. So the only way that his statement makes any sort of sense is if he was referencing that particular stereotype.
I know you like to play devil’s advocate, but do you really want to be the guy that goes around defending racist jokes about genitalia?
Bron,
He’s not chastising pete. Read closer.
Gyges:
how do you know he is saying that? Honestly how big is a penis when it is taken from a body and there is no blood in it? Maybe pete is talking dried penis, who knows.
Is it bad to have a small penis? Do the Chinese mind, if all Chinese have small peni they wouldnt know their’s was small? There are a good many things we dont know. So I am not sure you should be chastising pete, at least before all the data is in.
“pete, Great idea since we all know it takes 30 Chinese penises to feed one person.”
What the hell? What thought process leads too “Hey, you know what’ll be a great joke? I’ll say that Chinese people all have small penises. THAT’S comedy”?
pete, LOL!
I think the tar sands partnership deal between Canada and China played a part in getting the restaurant owner a break. Just a hunch, but it’s likely that the restaurant was popular with Chinese nationals based in Canada and some of them would be influential, depending on their involvement in the resource trade. The notion of saving face is important to the Chinese and the Canadians probably wouldn’t want to offend such a valuable trading partner.
bron,
Maybe you should wait until the blog is written about climate change before you post your bogus denial nonsense in order to avoid exposing yourself as a right-wing shill; there is no credible evidence that contradicts Prof. Manning’s hockey stick graph showing the effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 on global warming. Last year a climatologist on the Koch Bro.s payroll conceded as much. So…whatever.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/28/a-misinterpreted-claim-about-a-nasa-press-release-co2-solar-flares-and-the-thermosphere-is-making-the-rounds/
Yes, of course the upper atmosphere is going to deflect and re-radiate the energy of solar storms, that’s why we don’t burn to a cinder when they happen. There’s nothing new here, this is what the upper atmosphere (thermosphere) does. CO2 (and other greenhouse gases – GHG’s) in the lower atmosphere also re-radiates long wave infra red energy (LWIR) as backradiation coming up from the surface of the Earth as it dumps the shortwave solar energy absorbed returns as LWIR (heat) and makes its way to the top of the atmosphere.
Over at Principia Scientific International (PSI) greenhouse gas effect (GHE) critic, Alan Siddons is hailing the findings. Siddons and his colleagues have been winning support from hundreds of independent scientists for their GHE studies carried out over the last seven years. PSI has proved that the numbers fed into computer models by Hansen and others were based on a faulty interpretation of the laws of thermodynamics. PSI also recently uncovered long overlooked evidence from the American Meteorological Society (AMS) that shows it was widely known the GHE was discredited prior to 1951. [2]
http://principia-scientific.org/supportnews/latest-news/163-new-discovery-nasa-study-proves-carbon-dioxide-cools-atmosphere.html#.UVYwRz4bXF4.facebook