In recent years, the Indonesian capital of Jakarta has become a focal point for the pet trade in tortoises and freshwater turtles. Alarmingly, observed trends indicate much of this trade is illegal and includes a growing number of threatened species. Regular monitoring of wildlife markets is essential to keep abreast of current trade dynamics and aid enforcement efforts at strategic points along the trade chain.

Poaching and illegal trade of bears, driven largely by the demand for bile, used in traditional medicine and folk remedies continues unabated across Asia on a large scale, a report by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, has found.

This report presents an assessment of the trade in gibbons and orang-utans in Sumatra, Indonesia, including the islands off Sumatra’s west coast (most notably, the Mentawai Islands). Until recently Sumatra and its off-lying islands harboured one of the largest expanses of lowland evergreen rainforest in Southeast Asia.