Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom.
Department of Geography, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 May 15;19(5):e0299783. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299783. eCollection 2024.
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.
不可持续的大型猫科动物贸易影响了 Panthera 属的所有物种，是它们保护面临的首要威胁之一。为了更深入地了解旨在解决这一问题的政策干预措施的影响，我们研究了韩国（南韩）的案例，该国在 20 世纪 90 年代初是世界上最大的老虎（ Panthera tigris ）骨头进口国之一，也是老虎衍生药物的主要制造商。1993 年，韩国成为《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（CITES）的缔约方，并在一年后对 CITES 附录 I 所列大型猫科动物的商业贸易实施了禁令。我们使用了基于专家的问卷调查和对 CITES 贸易数据库的探索，来调查自那时以来韩国大型猫科动物贸易的情况。专家意见表明，由于贸易禁令和广泛的社会经济变化，自 20 世纪 90 年代初以来，大型猫科动物贸易可能已经大幅减少。然而，非法贸易并未完全根除，我们能够确认，据称源自大型猫科动物的产品仍在韩国一系列在线市场上公开出售。受访者报告的、并得到专家主导的证据支持的最常见物品是老虎和豹子（ Panthera pardus ）的皮和虎骨酒。虽然韩国可能为历史上重要的老虎消费国提供了一个有用的案例研究，该国在短时间内为解决大型猫科动物贸易不可持续的问题取得了重大进展，但仍需解决顽固的小规模非法贸易。我们还建议进一步调查有关韩国国民参与东南亚地区非法老虎衍生产品贸易的报告。
