May 26, 2006

EU Suspends Imports of wildlife from Asia

In February of 2005, The European Union released a list of wildlife that may not be imported into the Europe from Asia.  Five turtle species were listed on the restriction including:

Painted terrapin (Callagur borneoensis)
Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)
Burmese star tortoise (Geochelone platynota)
Asian brown tortoise (Manouria emys)
Impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa)

The suspension on imports of Malayan box turtles (Cuora amboniensis) is limited to Malaysia only.  The suspension on imports of brown tortoises (Manouria emys) is limited only to Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.  The ban does not apply to tortoises collected and exported from Malaysia, an important source state for this species and major transit point for the illegal trade of wildlife from throughout the region.  The brown tortoise is not native to Cambodia.

Oddly, suspension on imports of impressed tortoises (Manouria impressa) includes bans on imports from all countries throughout the species’ native range except Vietnam.

The importation bans apply only to wild-caught animals and include both live animals and parts or products made from wild-caught animals.  

For more information contact:

Ms. Le Thanh Thuy
Asian Turtle Program Officer
C/o Education for Nature – Vietnam
PO Box 222
Hanoi

Email:  atcnetwork@fpt.vn
Website:  www.asianturtlenetwork.org