"Hong Kong's lack of a positive list of acceptable exotic pets and failure to look behind imports of large numbers of animals from suspicious source countries, which should set off alarms for law enforcement agencies, encourages the importation of smuggled animals for the pet trade and is sending species that are at serious risk of extinction more quickly towards that fate" said HKU Associate Professor Amanda Whitfort. "Our current policies and laws undermine the objectives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity" she added.