900 Oven-Ready Owls, 7,000 Live Lizards Seized in Asia

[Dave Houston]

More than 7,000 live monitor lizards, almost 900 owls—plucked and plastic wrapped for easy cooking—and other wild animals were seized in two raids in a single week by Malaysian officials earlier this month.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081118-owls-lizards.html

China was the suspected destination for the haul.

[Dave Houston]

The consumption of threatened species is on the rise in China again following a brief hiatus owing to fears surrounding the SARS virus in 2003.

A survey of five southern Chinese cities by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, found that 13 of 25 markets and 20 of 50 restaurants had wild animals for sale. A total of 56 species were found and, of these, eight are protected under Chinese law and 17 are protected under CITES, which prohibits or strictly controls international trade.

http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=149941