On video: lizards and snakes (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)
An attempt to smuggle animals into the territory of the State of Israel was thwarted a few days ago by customs inspectors in Israel. Thus, in the bag of a young man who returned from Hungary, three lizards and two snakes were found hidden in socks, a plastic box, bags and foil. Bringing animals into Israel without a license and permit By law, it is considered a crime, since this may harm public health, cause dangerous disease agents to enter the country, harm nature, and often also involve cruelty to animals. Therefore, legal proceedings have been opened against the smuggler and the reptiles will be returned to the country of origin.
The phenomenon of illegal trade in animals and plants is growing worldwide And it directly affects the field of nature conservation. Just recently, an international operation to prevent the phenomenon led by Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO) ended. Nature conservation organizations from 125 countries participated in the operation, including the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
The international operation, called "Thunder 2022", during which the smuggling of 119 cats, 136 monkeys, 750 birds, 1,190 turtles, nine pangolins and more were caught around the world.
Trade in animal parts or organs is also included in this huge market and during the operation 516 ivory weighing 780 kg, half a ton of reptile parts and a host of other animal parts were seized. During the operation 934 suspects were arrested or detained for questioning around the world.
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The phenomenon of illegal trade in animals and plants is growing worldwide.
Documentation from the catch in Netav (photo: official website, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)
The Secretary General of Interpol, Jürgen Stock, was quoted on the organization's website as saying that "the operation was important for global security because trade in plants and wild animals are not only issues of conservation - people are killed, livelihoods are destroyed, diseases are spread, governments are weakened and entire economies are destroyed.
The reason for this is that the huge financial profits attract armed organizations of terrorism and organized crime, which grease the wheels of crime."
Ben Rosenberg, director of the animal and plant protection division in the enforcement division of the Nature and Parks Authority said that "the purpose of the operation was to create cooperation between countries to detect and enforce trafficking Illegal in animals and plants, including smuggling.
This operation is of great importance and beyond the immediate goal of catching the contraband, there is also the goal of increasing international awareness of the harm and trafficking of animals."
Rosenberg noted that "one of the advantages of such an operation is the creation of international relations with parallel bodies, which allows us to better enforce and prevent such attempts as much as possible, for example, an incident in which Israelis were caught by the local enforcement authorities, with parrots bought in Europe and intended for smuggling and trade in Israel" .
Rosenberg also explained that "as a general rule, the place of wild animals is in the wild, and therefore the Nature and Parks Authority prohibits the maintenance and breeding of local protected wild animal species. However, when you request to import and breed non-native species that are common in international trade, the request is examined by the professionals at the Nature and Parks Authority according to four principles".
The 4 principles for importing animals to Israel
"The first principle is local nature conservation, therefore, any species that you want to import to Israel must undergo a risk assessment to make sure that it does not become an invasive species here. Invasive species are a significant harm to nature. They may crowd out and harm local species, are a nuisance and usually cause significant damage to agriculture."
"The second principle is global nature conservation. In accordance with the CITES Convention, the Convention for the Regulation of Trade in Natural Values, we do not allow the introduction of species whose populations are at risk in the countries of origin."
"The third principle is that we do not allow the entry of dangerous species that may cause harm to a person, such as poisonous snakes or predatory species."
"The fourth principle is that we do not allow the trade and maintenance of species that require special knowledge or that there is complexity in their maintenance, which may lead to severe damage to their well-being and even animal suffering, such as monkeys of various kinds."
Any species that you want to import to Israel must undergo a risk assessment to make sure that it does not become an invasive species" documentation from the catch in Israel (photo: official website, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)
"Unfortunately, quite a few animals are smuggled into Israel and there is an extensive trade in them. What we catch is a small part of all the smuggling. The volumes we are talking about are large and we have a limited team that is weak in the field, but we try to maximize our capabilities through a variety of means," continued Rosenberg.
"Recently, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, an attempted smuggling of freshwater trigon was caught. This is a poisonous and dangerous species that lives in the Amazon, and only recently the Brazilian government asked to raise its level of protection and rating, in order to limit and monitor the trade."
The Director of the Animal and Plant Protection Division in the Enforcement Division of the Nature and Parks Authority also said that "in a seizure that took place at the border with Jordan, a man was discovered who tried to smuggle six to seven individuals in a bag. Most of them died, two survived. It should be understood that the sale of such an individual can reach even thousands of shekels. Beyond For the offense of nature conservation and all its derivatives there are also additional offenses against other laws, economic offenses and money laundering, cruelty to animals,
"We learned firsthand the importance of preventing the spread of diseases from animals to humans."
Documentation from the catch in Netav (photo: official website, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development)
Rosenberg summarized his words and added that the Nature and Parks Authority works in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture, Customs and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The pets are not aware that there are animals that are sold illegally."
Dr. Tamir Geshen, director of veterinary services and health at the Ministry of Agriculture, said that "in recent years we have learned firsthand the importance of preventing the spread of diseases from animals to humans. Our duty in the veterinary services To make sure that the importation of the animals is done legally, and does not pose a danger to public health, as well as to animals in the country while maintaining their well-being during transportation."
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