Officers start crash course on identifying rare reptiles

Oct 4, 2007, 1:00 GMT

Singapore - Officers are undergoing a crash course on identifying rare reptiles aimed at stopping the illegal wildlife trade through Singapore, news reports said on Thursday.

Jointly organized by Traffic Southeast Asia and the Singapore Zoo, the course's focus is on four main groups of animals - snakes, turtles and tortoises, lizards and crocodiles.

The workshop teaches wildlife enforcement officers from the Agri- Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) to recognize colours and patterns unique to the different reptiles, the differences between young and adult species and scale shapes.

The black market animal trade has grown over the years, with reptiles the most heavily traded of all species groups in the region, Dr Mark Auliya, a scientific officer, told The Straits Times.

'People get bored with cats or dogs or budgies,' he was quoted as saying. 'They want something more exotic.'

Rare pets such as Komodo dragons and tomistomas, an endangered type of crocodile found in Malaysia and Indonesia, cost several thousand US dollars, the report said.

An Angola python, one of the world's rarest, can cost 21,000 Singapore dollars (14,000 US dollars).

These exotic pets have become status symbols, said Auliya, with Traffic Southeast Asia, part of an international network that monitors wildlife trade.

Since 2000, 7,153 live reptiles have been seized in Singapore while in transit. More than 10 times that number of dead animals were also seized during the same period, the AVA said.