Both Thailand and Vietnam have been identified during the past decade as centres of concern in ivory trade surveys and analyses undertaken for CITES by ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System). Thailand was one of the most important sites of illegal ivory trade at the global level and Vietnam was shown to have a moderate sized and largely unregulated ivory market.
The trade in Hawksbill Turtles Eretmochelys imbricata, medium-sized cheloniids with a pan-tropical distribution, has been recognized as a key threat to their conservation in the wild, and has greatly contributed to the species being listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List.
The object of this study was investigation of the trade in skins of Leopards and Snow Leopards. Over a period of four years-2004 to 2007-surveys were conducted at the bazaars of some of the country's major cities to investigate the sale of furs of spotted wild cats, in particular Leopards and Snow Leopards.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has an active pet trade market which, owing to the extreme weather conditions experienced in the country, is mainly limited to species that can be kept indoors, such as birds, reptiles and freshwater and marine aquarium species.
The hunting of songbirds for consumption as a delicacy in restaurants, principally in Italy, is an issue of serious conservation concern. This activity, which involves highly organized criminal activity in South-east and Central Europe, has received insufficient attention to date, however. Hunters are illegally shooting birds and smuggling them to northern Italy and Malta.
The hugely popular Indonesian pastime of keeping wild birds as pets is threatening the long-term survival of many songbird species on the islands of Java and Bali (BirdLife International, 2001; Jepson and Ladle, 2006). In response to this threat, the authors have been working with leaders of the songbird-keeping fraternity to develop a non-State, market-based governance
