We reported on the growing trade in geckos earlier in the year, in particular the trade revolving around the false claims of tokay geckos curing HIV and AIDS. Unfortunately things are no better – if anything it’s getting worse. This has lead to the TRAFFIC coalition of wildlife groups to call for CITES protection of the tokay gecko.
No evidence for gecko curing AIDS.
The unsupported claims of a cure has lead to this colourful nocturnal lizard being hunted in numbers that can run literally into the thousands for each hunting expedition. This uncontrolled hunting is causing a real potential threat to the existence of the tokay.
The tokay has always been traded for the pet trade and also for the traditional Chinese medicine market but the HIV claims which started to surface about 5 years ago have brought a new market of desperate people seeking a cure which just is not found in the gecko.
This new market has led to the price of a good tockay gecko reaching over £20,000 for a good specimen – that’s over 50 time more than just a couple of years ago.
Tokay gecko body parts to cure HIV keep changing because it’s all just a scam.
The false claims about the gecko means that there’s lots of different rumours around concerning the cure. Initially it was that the gecko spit had the essential ingredients, then it was the heart that contained the enzymes and now the claims are that it is the gecko tongue which is the part of the lizard that cures HIV. The reality is that no part of the gecko cures AIDS and it is just a rumour that is put out by scammers and criminals to take large sums of momey from ill people.
Customs intercept illegal gecko traders.
Some countries are beginning to crack down on the illegal trade and according to TRAFFIC some notable seizures have been made;
- In Thailand a couple were arrested after trying to smuggle tokay geckos worth almost a million dollars into Malaysia,
- In Indonesia a customs operation managed to prevent smugglers from exporting over 6.7 tonnes of dried tokay geckos out of Java. Imagine how many gecos were needed to produce 6.7 tonnes of dried lizard.
Calls for tokay gecko to be protected through CITES.
TRAFFIC highlight that there are now reports coming from the rainforests of Java island that the tokay in getting increasingly harder to find. The wildlife group are worried that the same reduction in numbers of the lizard is being replicated elsewhere in the tokays homerange.
“TRAFFIC is alarmed at the massive increase in trade of these geckos,” said Chris R. Shepherd, Deputy Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia. “If the trade continues to mushroom, it could take years to repair the damage currently being inflicted on gecko populations. Protection under CITES should urgently be considered as a stitch in time for the Tokay Gecko.”
External sites:
TRAFFIC: Tokay gecko trade booms.
Incoming search terms:
- Gecko new market price
- gekko gecko million dollar
- menghalau cicak / tokek
- price of dried tokay gecko
- tokay cites
- tokay gecko smugglers
- tokay gecko worth
