Demise of coral, salamander show impact of Web (AP)

[Frog News]

Yahoo News (USA) March 21st, 2010 04:36 AM: Demise of coral, salamander show impact of Web (AP)


DOHA, Qatar – Conservationists say the Internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats fueling the illegal wildlife trade, making it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones, conservationists said Saturday.
The web's impact was the focus Sunday at the meeting of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES.
Iran proposed a trade ban on the Kaiser's spotted newt which the World Wildlife Fund says has been devastated by the Internet trade.
The United States and Sweden propose regulating the trade in red and pink coral which is crafted into expensive jewelry which is advertised on the web.
Surveys by environmental groups found thousands of ads for endangered wildlife on the web mostly in the United States.


Original Article

[John]

Hurray for one-sided, low information media articles. I particularly like "Surveys by environmental groups found thousands of ads for endangered wildlife on the web mostly in the United States" - a totally meaningless statement. For example, there are regularly adverts for axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum), a critically endangered species, on Kingsnake.com, yet none of the animals are sourced from the wild. Thank you for the incredibly biased and misleading "disinformation". It amazes me how some pieces of valid information can be used to justify massively sweeping statements like the one quoted above.

[SludgeMunkey]

Too bad they did not research the topic themselves instead of reading and re-writing the exact same wire feed everyone else used.

[SludgeMunkey]

Just heard from Nate Nelson over on Caudata.org that Neurergus kaiseri was unanimously voted into Appendix 1.

Anyone have or know of a point of contact at USFW? I do not plan to take this sitting down. I refuse to let this species go extinct because of a horribly thought out law driven by biased, uninformed media coverage based on inconclusive evidence hype. I do not feel Iran will do much if anything to save this species based on what little lack of protection they have provided in the past.

[John]

Luristan Newt receives full CITES protection - Caudata.org Newt and Salamander Forum