Stop the Curio Trade Campaign
Donation protected
STOP THE CURIO TRADE CAMPAIGN
PLEASE HELP THE SEAHORSE TRUST IN ITS CAMPAIGN TO END THE SEASIDE CURIO TRADE
The curio trade, every year causes death and destruction to millions of species and because of this a breakdown of the habitats they live in.
This trade is on an industrial scale around the world, forcing so many species and habitats nearer to extinction, with many never being able to come back from that brink and it is entirely possible seahorses could be one of those species.
Our friends at Save our Seahorses in Ireland have done undercover work and discovered that the official figures do not show the true scale of the seahorse trade and SOS estimates that every year in excess of 150 million seahorses were caught for the curio and medicine trades, which means that as a species SEAHORSES could be extinct in 25 to 30 years. This has to STOP !!!!
It is a devastating, cruel trade that has far reaching consequences worldwide and is often seen as an ‘innocent’ memento of a seaside trip, a trinket to have in the bathroom or office, a unique curio but in reality it is a cruel, indiscriminate, devastating trade.
In recent years we successfully lobbied E-bay to have seahorses banned from sale on the internet shopping channel, not just in the UK but throughout Europe, America and Australia (different rules apply on each continent).
This was an amazing success due to our volunteers who have all contributed to the reporting of illegal items and we now have a permanent volunteer who monitors the shopping channel to check what is happening. They can be contacted on [email redacted] if you see any for sale.
As time allows we will also target other shopping channels, not just for seahorses but for other species as well, such as shells and corals.
In 2014 one of our volunteers spotted dead seahorses being sold in a shop in Torbay and so we reported them to the Wildlife Crime Unit of the Police and successfully had over 10,000 dead seahorses, shark parts (including a whole shark, see below), corals, shells and a Philippine Crocodile confiscated from this shop; this led on to a successful prosecution of the shop owner who received a caution and had all the seahorses and other illegal items confiscated.
As well as this successful raid we have persuaded other shops to stop selling endangered seahorses and other natural curios, helping to reduce the outlets that sell these sorts of creatures.
We intend, starting in the UK, to do something about this and so we have launched this Stop the Curio Trade Campaign .
You can help us to make a difference. We need to generate £5,000 to start the project (it will cost almost £48,000 a year but we need to get going as a matter of urgency) and get started, so please help pledge to make this trade a thing of the past here in the UK and when we have suceeded here in the UK we will spread in partnership with others around the world.
The public are going to be able to help us in this campaign and we will encourage them to visit shops (peacefully and unobtrusively) selling these sorts of items and report them to us through our illgeal trade e-mail address [email redacted]
We will then investigate and report the shop and items to the Wildlife Crime Unit.
We also aim to compile a database of this appalling trade and lobby the government to crack down on it and to make it entirely illegal.
As the campaign progresses and working with partners such as Wild Aid (UK) who specialise in environmental education and with our friends at Save Our Seahorses and Birders Against Wildlife Crime ,we intend to make this a major National and International Campaign and to make difference.
PLEASE DIG DEEP AND HELP US TO HELP THEM. THIS IS AN URGENT CAMPAIGN AND WE CAN ONLY DO IT WITH YOU. MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE.
PLEASE HELP THE SEAHORSE TRUST IN ITS CAMPAIGN TO END THE SEASIDE CURIO TRADE
The curio trade, every year causes death and destruction to millions of species and because of this a breakdown of the habitats they live in.
This trade is on an industrial scale around the world, forcing so many species and habitats nearer to extinction, with many never being able to come back from that brink and it is entirely possible seahorses could be one of those species.
Our friends at Save our Seahorses in Ireland have done undercover work and discovered that the official figures do not show the true scale of the seahorse trade and SOS estimates that every year in excess of 150 million seahorses were caught for the curio and medicine trades, which means that as a species SEAHORSES could be extinct in 25 to 30 years. This has to STOP !!!!
It is a devastating, cruel trade that has far reaching consequences worldwide and is often seen as an ‘innocent’ memento of a seaside trip, a trinket to have in the bathroom or office, a unique curio but in reality it is a cruel, indiscriminate, devastating trade.
In recent years we successfully lobbied E-bay to have seahorses banned from sale on the internet shopping channel, not just in the UK but throughout Europe, America and Australia (different rules apply on each continent).
This was an amazing success due to our volunteers who have all contributed to the reporting of illegal items and we now have a permanent volunteer who monitors the shopping channel to check what is happening. They can be contacted on [email redacted] if you see any for sale.
As time allows we will also target other shopping channels, not just for seahorses but for other species as well, such as shells and corals.
In 2014 one of our volunteers spotted dead seahorses being sold in a shop in Torbay and so we reported them to the Wildlife Crime Unit of the Police and successfully had over 10,000 dead seahorses, shark parts (including a whole shark, see below), corals, shells and a Philippine Crocodile confiscated from this shop; this led on to a successful prosecution of the shop owner who received a caution and had all the seahorses and other illegal items confiscated.
As well as this successful raid we have persuaded other shops to stop selling endangered seahorses and other natural curios, helping to reduce the outlets that sell these sorts of creatures.
We intend, starting in the UK, to do something about this and so we have launched this Stop the Curio Trade Campaign .
You can help us to make a difference. We need to generate £5,000 to start the project (it will cost almost £48,000 a year but we need to get going as a matter of urgency) and get started, so please help pledge to make this trade a thing of the past here in the UK and when we have suceeded here in the UK we will spread in partnership with others around the world.
The public are going to be able to help us in this campaign and we will encourage them to visit shops (peacefully and unobtrusively) selling these sorts of items and report them to us through our illgeal trade e-mail address [email redacted]
We will then investigate and report the shop and items to the Wildlife Crime Unit.
We also aim to compile a database of this appalling trade and lobby the government to crack down on it and to make it entirely illegal.
As the campaign progresses and working with partners such as Wild Aid (UK) who specialise in environmental education and with our friends at Save Our Seahorses and Birders Against Wildlife Crime ,we intend to make this a major National and International Campaign and to make difference.
PLEASE DIG DEEP AND HELP US TO HELP THEM. THIS IS AN URGENT CAMPAIGN AND WE CAN ONLY DO IT WITH YOU. MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Organizer
Neil Garrick-Maidment
Organizer