Examining the international bushmeat traffic in Belgium: A threat to conservation and public health

Autor: Anne-Lise Chaber, Georgia Kate Moloney, Veronique Renault, Sandrella Morrison-Lanjouw, Mutien Garigliany, Lucette Flandroy, Daniel Pires, Valeria Busoni, Claude Saegerman, Philippe Gaubert
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: One Health, Vol 17, Iss , Pp 100605- (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2352-7714
DOI: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100605
Popis: The carriage of bushmeat into the European Union is an infringement of EU Animal Health and Wildlife Trade legislation and poses a threat to biodiversity and public health. To explore the nature and scale of the international bushmeat trade, seized leaking luggage and passengers arriving at Brussels Zaventem airport from sub-Saharan Africa between 2017 and 2018 were searched for “meat” (bushmeat and livestock) by border control authorities. Visual identification, radiography and genetic analysis were applied to derive information from seized specimens, including at least ten CITES-listed species. We estimate that an average of 3.9 t of bushmeat is smuggled monthly through Brussels. The average consignment of meat seized per passenger was 2.8 kg and 4 kg of bushmeat or domestic livestock meat, respectively. The international trafficking of bushmeat is evidently active, yet penalties are rarely enforced; hence we provide suggestions to simplify law enforcement procedures.
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