The online shopping boom has resulted in a increase of seizures of illegally imported products containing wildlife.
Some of that is protected or endangered – although the Department of Conservation says it’s mostly accidental.
1News accompanied the Department of Conservation’s CITES team on its weekly visit to the Auckland International Mail Centre, which screens thousands of parcels a day.
While there are some more shocking items discovered, it’s often things like medicine that catches people out. (Source: 1News)
CITES (The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international treaty the aims to manage and regulate the trade of 36,000 species – many of those highly threatened or endangered.
To import a CITES listed product the buyer or importer needs strict documentation to prove it was created sustainably.
Some wildlife is so endangered trade is prohibited except in exceptional circumstances.
To illustrate, DOC officer Clinton Turner showed 1News an elephant foot that had been cut off and turned into a footstool.
"This is one of our more unusual items," he said.
"We even see this occasionally made into other items - even rubbish bins."
While these were not commonly found, some of the most seized items were medicinal products – and Covid-19 had a big impact on that.
"We've seen quite an increase over Covid as people haven't been able to go out and do traditional styles of shopping," said Turner.
Over the lockdown years – 2020 and 2021 – DOC made more than 2000 seizures in total at the border.
Some of that was traditional medicine from Asia, but also western products such as weight-loss medication.
"With medicine it's much more difficult to make the link between the endangered animal or plant and what they are importing," he said.
The latest data provided by DOC, which covers the years between 2017 and 2020, reveals the most commonly seized medical products contained endangered species of orchid (1531), American ginseng (2146), or the highly protected Costus root (1355).
But other medication contained animal products – most found during the same period were Saiga antelope (173), Musk deer (173), seahorses (61) or bears (61).
1News’ Logan Church was given unprecedented access to the Department of Conservation CITES team, that works to help manage the trade of endangered animals and plants. (Source: 1News)
Some of this could have been imported legally if the correct permits were obtained.
"If you're shopping online or getting things from family or friends - check what's actually in them first," said Turner.
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