Save the Margay from the Illegal Pet Trade
- by: Animal Advocates
- recipient: John M. Sellar, Chief of Enforcement Support in the CITES Secretariat, International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Found in the rainforests of Mexico and Central and South America east of the Andes mountains is a rare cat that resembles the ocelot,- the margay. It is legal protected through most of its range, and international trade is banned.
Despite the introduction of legal protection, illegal hunting is a continuing problem in some areas, and the margay is also taken illegally for the pet trade - they can be bought online.
SOURCE: http://www.classifiedspet.info/topics.php?id=798
There is also the possibility the cats are sold to be farmed for their fur. A few decades ago, the margay was one of the most heavily exploited Latin American cats for the international fur trade.14,000 margays were traded annually between 1976 and 1984, prompting the trade ban, but the status of the cat is still unknown.
The margay faces other threats, such as deforestation of its habitat, illegal poaching for its pelt, and a low birth rate. The illegal pet trade could be setting the rare cat on the path to extinction. We ask for enforcement on the illegal, international trade of the Margay as described by CITES.
Mr. John Macfarlane Sellar
Chief of Enforcement
CITES Secretariat
Maison Internationale de l’Environnement
Chatelaine-Geneva, Switzerland 1219
Tel: +41-229178293
E-mail: john.sellar@cites.org
Found in the rainforests of Mexico and Central and South America east of the Andes mountains is a rare cat that resembles the ocelot,- the margay. It is legal protected through most of its range, and international trade is banned.
Despite the introduction of legal protection, illegal hunting is a continuing problem in some areas, and the margay is also taken illegally for the pet trade - they can be bought online.
SOURCE: http://www.classifiedspet.info/topics.php?id=798
There is also the possibility the cats are sold to be farmed for their fur. A few decades ago, the margay was one of the most heavily exploited Latin American cats for the international fur trade.14,000 margays were traded annually between 1976 and 1984, prompting the trade ban, but the status of the cat is still unknown.
The margay faces other threats, such as deforestation of its habitat, illegal poaching for its pelt, and a low birth rate. The illegal pet trade could be setting the rare cat on the path to extinction. We ask for enforcement on the illegal, international trade of the Margay as described by CITES.
Mr. John Macfarlane Sellar
Chief of Enforcement
CITES Secretariat
Maison Internationale de l’Environnement
Chatelaine-Geneva, Switzerland 1219
Tel: +41-229178293
E-mail: john.sellar@cites.org
