Strengthening our Knowledge on Bear Trade Through Collaboration Between TRAFFIC and the BSG

摘要

Globally, Asiatic black bears, Asian brown bears, sun bears, sloth bears and Andean bears are all reported in illegal international trade. Illegal trade is often surmised to be the primary threat to Asia's bears: declines in populations have been attributed to poaching for 4 of 6 Asian bear species (IUCN 2008). However, fully quantifying the extent and impact of poaching is problematic given inconsistent reporting rates and varying enforcement effort. Since 1994 there have been 4 major International Symposiums on the Trade in Bear Parts. During that time TRAFFIC has released a number of bear-focused publications that have documented and illustrated the grave nature of the international bear trade. In addition, there is a growing body of other scientific literature focused on bear trade (e.g. Livingstone and Shepherd 2014, Shepherd and Nijman 2007).