Sometimes it's not so great to have the worlds greatest this or that. Highest building or longest river, ok, most notorious wildlife trafficker, not so much.
According to the New York Times the US State Department has offered a cool million USD for information in helping to dismantle one of Asia's largest wildlife trafficking syndicates.
unattributed photo from Global Animal that came up when I searched images for Vixay Keosavang. Doesn't look like him to me but he is Asian and that is a dead rhino.
The syndicate stretches out into the source countries of Africa (rhino horn, ivory) and South East Asia (tiger, pangolin, elephant etc), but is led by one man, Vixay Keosavang. The State Department seemed to be saying they weren't focusing strictly on the head of the operation but on,
The people who ordered that the poaching be done, the people who accept bribes along the way, the people who forge customs documents, the people who receive the products
I'm sure many people would love to get a million dollars, I'm not so sure that's enough money to bring down this wildlife trafficking syndicate.
For one thing it's pretty hard to arrest someone or stop his business when they enjoy not only the acquiescence of local authorities but more than likely the support and lifelong friendship. Every single person in Laos older than 30 years old grew up eating a large and diverse amount of wild meat and vegetables. Just about every single male hunted every creature they could see when they were children. Everyone knows how to roast lizards and fish, prepare squirrel and snail, how to identify and pick the scores of wild herbs and vegetables. Lacking an urban city the eating of wildlife until very recently was universal.
Most people just don't see the trade in wildlife as immoral. It's hard to arrest someone in a country where they have long and close ties with people in high places and they are involved in a business that while illegal is not considered unusual. Every market in every town has people selling leaves and herbs and roots from the forest, as well as water bugs, grasshoppers, crickets and ants eggs, sometimes you will see bats, squirrels, bamboo rat, and civet. I'm sure Vixay travels around Laos, China, and Vietnam, at ease and unhindered, though most wealthy VIPs seldom have need to leave their home province anyway. Their world revolves around family, friends, and their businesses.
Above one of America's first conservationists, Teddy Roosevelt. Don't ask me why I posted the photo, I've had it on my desktop for a while and it shows another person posing in front of a large African animal in a very different context.
In the newspaper the reporter had phoned both Vixay and a high ranking official of the Forestry department and both were unaware of the reward. That too is not unusual. They do not spend their days on the internet reading the news. They might tune in once an evening to the Thai TV news which is full of the recent demonstrations in Bangkok, that's about it.
Why the forestry department? In the south they are the power brokers deciding who is given the permits to cut the forest. Logs still are much bigger business than hydro or rubber.
Vixay's name, both first and last identify him as being low land ethnic Lao. Lao Lum in official parlance. Not ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, or any minority. He's a southern Lao, the folks who seem to often be appointed to politburos and get logging concessions.
Geographically it makes sense that a wildlife trader exists in Southern Laos. There is easy access to the very busy international shipping and air ports in Bangkok with it's very corruptible police and customs. Laos also has a land border with Burma one of the last large sources of all the various snakes, anteaters, large cats, and what have you. Other land borders are with Vietnam and China the world's largest consumers of endangered species. Laos enjoys very close relations with both countries not only because all three of them constitute 3/4 of the remaining Communist countries in the world but also Vietnam and China are the major players in the rape of what's left of the great natural resources of Laos.
Will the US be successful? I can't predict. They seem to want not just Vixay but to roll up his entire operation, so that others, others in the business that would naturally emerge to replace his, wouldn't operate with such impunity.
What would be the Lao way to handle this? Via face to face friendly meetings with mutual friends and with much time spent. Lao activities including drugs and other illegal businesses are marked by a complete lack of violence and much amicability and reaching of consensus. There are no large criminal organizations operating without the blessings of authorities, it would be impossible.
Similar to drugs, the wildlife trade seems to reflect demand, not transportation, and until the Chinese and Vietnamese (same same) decide eating exotic animal parts is not cool, wildlife populations will pay the price.