Shadowy exotic pet trade thrives in Pacific island nation

That hasn’t stopped traders looking to cash in on the lucrative exotic pet market.
They target species already considered at risk and actively threaten the future of others, said Solomons ecologist Patrick Pikacha.
“There are no studies. No tracking.
The Solomon Islands have a stunning ecological diversity and are teeming with brightly colored parrots, tree-dwelling lizards, roosting mega bats and more.
But it is the only Pacific island that participates in the legal wildlife trade, and its most unusual species are increasingly popular as pets.
Trade in the reptile, which has been designated as near-threatened, was suspended in 2001 under an international conservation treaty overseen by the United Nations.
But UN export figures show the market is booming.
More than 2,000 monkey-tailed skinks have been taken from the Solomon Islands in the past eight years, including about 1,300 sent to the United States, according to the data.
Online listings checked by AFP show that a single young specimen can sell for up to $1,500.
Last October, UN officials urged the Solomon Islands to “address compliance issues” in wildlife trade, including the continued export of monkey-tailed skinks.
“The Secretariat has learned that specimens … that are in suspended trade from the Solomon Islands continue to appear … as being traded for commercial purposes,” the UN letter said.
The Solomon Islands Environment Department did not respond to requests for comment.
However, it has previously described the “sustainable wildlife trade” as an “important source of income” for the developing country.
In the capital, Honiara, clouds of flies buzz around plastic fish containers at a busy seaside market.
A faded sign overhead warns against the live wildlife trade and singles out dolphins as a species that must not be sold.
Foreign dealers targeted the Solomon Islands in the early 2000s, paying coastal communities to capture live dolphins for theme parks overseas.
The Solomon Islands pledged to end the trade in 2011 after a dolphin transported to Mexico died, sparking international outrage.
However, exports seem to have quietly recovered after the furore died down.
Trade records compiled by the UN show that China alone imported 56 live bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands between 2016 and 2018 for zoos or “commercial” purposes.
Solomon Islands environmental activist Lawrence Makili said “foreigners” were taking advantage of the “small, struggling” nation.
“It was only at the beginning of this year that I got some information that there was a group trying to catch dolphins,” he told AFP.
There are also indications that the Pacific state is a transit point for endangered birds smuggled in from elsewhere.
However, UN trade records show that around 390 of the striking red-and-green birds arrived in Oman and Bangladesh via the Solomon Islands between 2016 and 2020.
Pikacha said the birds, designated a vulnerable species, likely arrived on logging ships that travel via Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Environmentalists believe Solomon’s wildlife trade is linked to powerful logging interests that own vast tracts of rainforest across the country and wield enormous political influence.
Many birds sold from the Solomon Islands are said to be captive-bred, a designation that attracts less attention than wild-caught animals.
But the Solomon Islands do not have aviaries large enough to breed the birds on a commercial scale, conservationists said.
“There are absolutely zero captive breeding facilities in the Solomon Islands,” Pikacha said.
“And so what is stated in these business records are essentially lies.
“It is a big problem that these so-called breeding centers in the Solomon Islands are still facilitating species laundering,” he told AFP.
Conservationists also warn that baseline data on species in the Solomon Islands is so thin that it is difficult to even be sure of the state of the country’s wildlife.