Exotic pets swarming into China bring risks
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E-mail Xinhua, January 23, 2014
"In addition, young people feel that these special pets are unique, making them distinctive among their peers who keep regular pets like cats and dogs," Li said.
Though keeping exotic insects as pets has become a new fad, quarantine and customs officials frown upon the trend.
Zhang Xiao, deputy director of the animal and plant quarantine service with the Guangxi Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said that the imported pets could seriously damage biodiversity in the country.
"Without predators, many of these species could possibly reproduce on a large scale, threatening local species and causing damage to humans and domestic animals," Zhang said.
Zheng Yaka, deputy director of the Nanning Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said that among confiscated imports in 2013, 52 were living animals believed to pose health hazards or threats to the environment, the highest number in recent years.
China's laws are very strict on imports of foreign species. Still, it can be difficult to tackle the imported exotics as efforts involve many departments, which have very limited cooperation on the problem, according to Peng Shaolin, director of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution at Sun Yat-Sen University.
"It will take the joint efforts of various departments to battle the possible invasion of foreign species," Peng said.
Peng added that a comprehensive mechanism should be put in place to tackle the problem.
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