Canadian company fined $45,000CAN for trading tiger parts.

A notable ruling from a Canadian court will see an admitted illegal trade help fund monitoring of the illegal wildlife trade. © WWF-Canon / Edward Parker.

February 2009. A Canadian company specializing in Chinese traditional medicines has been fined $45,000 Canadian dollars for trading illegally in tiger parts, the bulk of which will go to TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network that helped secure its conviction.

Wing Quon Enterprises Ltd., pleaded guilty to possessing and attempting to sell medicines containing parts from Tigers and other protected species. TRAFFIC, whose expertise helped secure the conviction, will receive some CAN40,000 (USD 32,000) of the total.

Bear, pangolin, deer and rhino parts also found
The company was also ordered to forfeit seized medicines and products made from other endangered species, including costus root, agarwood, bear, pangolin, musk deer and rhinoceros. All are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which imposes strict controls on listed plants, wildlife and their derivatives.

TRAFFIC, which operates globally, was established as a partnership between WWF, the world's leading conservation organization, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a global consortium of government, scientific and civil society organizations.