Turning the tide on big cat trade: Expert opinion on trends and conservation lessons from the Republic of Korea.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science
    • Subject Terms:
      Commerce*/trends ; Conservation of Natural Resources*/legislation & jurisprudence ; Conservation of Natural Resources*/trends ; Endangered Species*/legislation & jurisprudence ; Endangered Species*/trends ; Endangered Species*/statistics & numerical data; Republic of Korea ; Animals ; Tigers ; Panthera ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Cats
    • Abstract:
      Unsustainable trade in big cats affects all species in the genus, Panthera, and is one of the foremost threats to their conservation. To provide further insight into the impact of policy interventions intended to address this issue, we examine the case study of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), which in the early 1990s was one of the world's largest importers of tiger (Panthera tigris) bone and a major manufacturer of tiger-derived medicinal products. In 1993, South Korea became a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and introduced a ban on commercial trade in CITES Appendix I-listed big cats a year later. We used an expert-based questionnaire survey and an exploration of the CITES trade database to investigate what has since happened to big cat trade in South Korea. Expert opinion suggested that big cat trade has likely substantially reduced since the early 1990s, as a result of the trade ban and broad socioeconomic changes. However, illegal trade has not been eradicated entirely and we were able to confirm that products reportedly derived from big cats were still publicly available for sale on a range of Korean online marketplaces, sometimes openly. The items most commonly reported by respondents from post-1994 trade and supported by expert-led evidence were tiger and leopard (Panthera pardus) skins and tiger bone wine. Although South Korea may provide a useful case study of a historically significant consumer country for tiger which has made strong progress in addressing unsustainable levels of big cat trade within a short period of time, there remains a need to address recalcitrant small-scale, illegal trade. We also recommend further investigation regarding reports of South Korean nationals being involved in illegal trade in tiger-derived products in Southeast Asia.
      Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
      (Copyright: © 2024 Elves-Powell et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
    • References:
      PLoS One. 2017 Oct 26;12(10):e0187060. (PMID: 29073202)
      PeerJ. 2020 May 12;8:e8900. (PMID: 32435529)
      Data Brief. 2021 Feb 08;35:106848. (PMID: 33644272)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240515 Date Completed: 20240515 Latest Revision: 20240518
    • Publication Date:
      20240518
    • Accession Number:
      PMC11095708
    • Accession Number:
      10.1371/journal.pone.0299783
    • Accession Number:
      38748670