CAPE ARGUS (Cape Town, S Africa) 21 April 04 'Loving' Japanese fined R110 000 for poaching (John Yeld)

Two more Japanese nationals have joined the growing list of wildlife poachers nabbed by Cape conservation officials while trying to smuggle wildlife or indigenous plants out of the country.

This week Terutoshi Terada and Masato Araki were each convicted in the Vredendal regional court of three charges under the Cape Nature Conservation Ordinance for poaching tortoises and other reptiles, and sentenced to a fine of R110 000 or four years in jail.

The pair were arrested in Vredendal on March 14, and were found in possession of five angulate tortoises, 51 armadillo girdled lizards, one Karoo girdled lizard and one Bribron's thick-toed gecko.

These reptiles are all protected in terms of the conservation ordinance, and are also listed in Appendix 2 in the Convention for the International Trade in Endangered Species, which means any trade in these species is strictly by permit only.

The court found the two men had collected the reptiles expressly for the illegal commercial trade, without permits.

Their fine was based on the foreign currency value of the reptiles to collectors, as the penalty clause stipulates a fine three times the commercial value.

Terada, a building material adviser, acknowledged in an affidavit that he had been a lizard collector for the past 10 years.

"I love these lizards and study them. I have written about this subject, although my work has yet to be published," he said.

In his affidavit, Araki, who manages a rice farm in Indonesia, said he had not visited South Africa previously and had come on the trip at the invitation of Terada, his friend.

He was not a reptile collector or enthusiast and had not known Terada had planned any collecting, although he admitted having helped him and knew that to do so without a permit was illegal.

The pair were arrested by Cape Nature Conservation's environmental crime unit.

"Since its inception three years ago, the unit has enjoyed a 100 percent success rate in prosecuted cases," said Kas Hamman, the unit's director of biodiversity.

"This is largely due to our committed partners and excellent public co-operation."

The Japanese men join several other foreigners fined for poaching in recent years, including:

In January three Japanese men were each fined R106 000 or six years in jail after being found with 14 angulate tortoises near Graafwater on the West Coast.

In February four Germans were each fined up to R61 500 after being arrested near Ceres and found with 211 highly endangered colophon (stag) beetles and more than 600 other insects.

In 2001 two Slovakians were each fined R150 000 after being caught with 113 angulate tortoises, and for attempting to bribe a police officer to release them.

Also in 2001, two Czechs were each fined R169 000 after being stopped near Worcester and found with a number of protected plant and animal species.

Again in 2001, German orchid specialist Heinrich Beyrle was fined R8 000 for poaching 57 plants from Western Cape nature areas, including 23 protected species from the orchid, iris and protea families.

A form has been posted on Cape Nature Conservation's website, www.capenature.org.za, where people can report anonymously any suspected environmental crimes.
'Loving' Japanese fined R110 000 for poaching

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