Rare frogs lab-grown

EXPORTS: COLOMBIAN'S LEGAL RESPONSE TO EXOTIC WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING

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Down a dirt track in Colombia, deep in a forest, conservationists are breeding prized exotic frogs to try to undercut traffickers who are plundering the country's jungles of its amphibians.

A critically endangered harlequin poison-dart frog (Oophaga histrionica) is among the 14 species bred for sale at the Tesoros de Colombia (Treasures of Colombia) laboratory near Bogota – one of several schemes worldwide to combat the illegal trade in wildlife by supplying specimens bred legally in captivity.

The illegal trade in wild flora and fauna is the fourth-most profitable illicit business in the world, with annual revenues of $23 billion (about R404 billion), according to the UN.

At the UN COP16 biodiversity conference starting on Monday in the Colombian city of Cali, delegates will discuss ways to combat the poaching of everything from elephant ivory to pangolin scales.