World Wildlife Day: Is that a crime you're wearing?

Many traditional Asian medicines brought into New Zealand contain ingredients that come from a range of endangered animals - including tiger claws. Photo / Getty Images

Environmental policy analyst Fiona Gordon says New Zealanders need to be better aware that their seemingly innocuous overseas shopping could be fueling the illegal wildlife trade.

Being singled out for a fashion faux pas is never nice, but the real fashion crimes are the ones arriving steadily at New Zealand's international airports.

A 2013 report, published by the Transnational Environmental Crime Project at the Australian National University in Canberra, showed there were over 9000 incidents of illegal wildlife imported into New Zealand between 1980 and 2010 - almost twice that of the UK, and nine times more than our Aussie neighbors for the same period.

Is this something New Zealanders should be embarrassed about? Our nation is extremely well respected around the world for its effective border control. Such effectiveness may well be one of the reasons for the higher number of confiscations. But collecting illegal wildlife from other countries at our border is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for these animals and plants. We should be at least a little shame faced by the numbers and we should certainly be more savvy with our overseas purchases.

Farmed or from the wild, on your person or in your luggage; any product you have bought overseas that is made of animal or plant material, even the smallest amount, may be subject to strict international trade laws. And if it is, you'll need documentation to bring it to New Zealand.

Topping the list of wildlife products arriving here illegally are traditional Asian medicines. Many of these contain ingredients that come from a range of endangered animals and plants - from tiger claws, lion bones, rhino horn and musk deer, to plants such as hoodia, American ginseng and costus.

Other regularly confiscated items include leather products, coral, shells, seahorses and butterflies, along with various body parts of turtles, tortoises, and crocodiles. Amongst the more unusual items are the skulls of primates and alligators, the occasional leopard or tiger skin, and bits of the lesser known pangolin - the very cute but critically endangered scaly ant-eater - which happens to be the most illegally traded wild mammal in the world.

What might seem like innocuous overseas purchases can land you in seriously hot water at our border, with a hefty fine or even a court date to boot.

You are not expected to have a back-pocket list of the 34,000 species currently protected, or to memorize the multitude of products these species may end up in, but applying a bigger dose of caution before swiping your credit card while overseas is a reasonable expectation.

Steering well clear of purchasing any traditional Asian medicines, especially when these products typically bare no resemblance to their original life form, would be a responsible move too. Just knowing these products are highly likely to contain protected animal or plant material should be deterrent enough.

The average fashion crime is forgivable, but wildlife crime is serious. You would do well to avoid a fine or lawyer's fees just because of an ill-considered overseas purchase. More importantly perhaps, you could spare a thought for the thousands of species threatened with extinction that would rather you didn't buy them either.

March 3 is World Wildlife Day. First recognised in 2014, the day aims to raise awareness of the need to stop illegal wildlife crime. Find out more about the day here.

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