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The pet trade and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) consumption are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Tokay geckos, the second largest in the world (Gekko gecko) are among the most traded reptile species worldwide.

I watched on as a man said he was suffering with a skin infection, what looked like to me was a kind of ringworm. He then purchased two tokays, proceeded to cut them up into pieces, and then took them home to cook to treat his rash.

Tokay geckos are nocturnal lizards that live in Southeast Asia. While there is some demand for them as pets, the real demand is for their use as traditional Asian medicines—everything from an aphrodisiac and energy drink to treatments for diabetes, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. There’s no proof of their efficacy in any of these uses. The animals are captured, gutted, dried on sticks in kilns, and exported, mainly to China but also to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that so-called captive-breeding facilities are being used to launder large numbers of wild-caught animals into the global market. Indonesia exports exceptionally high numbers of animals declared as captive-bred, with Tokay geckos being among the most numerous. So numerous, in fact, that it’s very hard to believe
In most cases, enforcement authorities don’t scrutinize shipments declared as captive bred. The general thinking is that captive breeding is a good thing. Yet in many cases captive breeding operations pose a major threat to the conservation of a species because they’re not breeding animals but laundering huge volumes of wild-caught animals. In short, much of the international trade in captive-bred animals is a scam.
While Tokay geckos are widespread in Asia, few if any species could stand this level of demand for traditional medicine. It’s only a matter of time before the Tokay gecko becomes yet another species on the long, and ever growing, list of species threatened with extinction.

Copyright
(c)Paul HILTON
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Keywords
Contained in galleries
Traditional Chinese Medicine
The pet trade and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) consumption are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Tokay geckos, the second largest in the world (Gekko gecko) are among the most traded reptile species worldwide.<br /> <br /> I watched on as a man said he was suffering with a skin infection, what looked like to me was a kind of ringworm. He then purchased two tokays, proceeded to cut them up into pieces, and then took them home to cook to treat his rash. <br /> <br /> Tokay geckos are nocturnal lizards that live in Southeast Asia. While there is some demand for them as pets, the real demand is for their use as traditional Asian medicines—everything from an aphrodisiac and energy drink to treatments for diabetes, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. There’s no proof of their efficacy in any of these uses. The animals are captured, gutted, dried on sticks in kilns, and exported, mainly to China but also to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Indonesia. <br /> <br /> It’s becoming increasingly obvious that so-called captive-breeding facilities are being used to launder large numbers of wild-caught animals into the global market. Indonesia exports exceptionally high numbers of animals declared as captive-bred, with Tokay geckos being among the most numerous. So numerous, in fact, that it’s very hard to believe<br /> In most cases, enforcement authorities don’t scrutinize shipments declared as captive bred. The general thinking is that captive breeding is a good thing. Yet in many cases captive breeding operations pose a major threat to the conservation of a species because they’re not breeding animals but laundering huge volumes of wild-caught animals. In short, much of the international trade in captive-bred animals is a scam.<br /> While Tokay geckos are widespread in Asia, few if any species could stand this level of demand for traditional medicine. It’s only a matter of time before the Tokay gecko becomes yet another species on the long, and ever growing, list of species threatened with extinction.