Professional background of expert respondents.

Unsustainable trade in big cats affects all species in the genus, Panthera, and is one of the foremost threats to their conservation. To provide further insight into the impact of policy interventions intended to address this issue, we examine the case study of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), which in the early 1990s was one of the world’s largest importers of tiger (Panthera tigris) bone and a major manufacturer of tiger-derived medicinal products. In 1993, South Korea became a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and introduced a ban on commercial trade in CITES Appendix I-listed big cats a year later. We used an expert-based questionnaire survey and an exploration of the CITES trade database to investigate what has since happened to big cat trade in South Korea. Expert opinion suggested that big cat trade has likely substantially reduced since the early 1990s, as a result of the trade ban and broad socioeconomic changes. However, illegal trade has not been eradicated entirely and we were able to confirm that products reportedly derived from big cats were still publicly available for sale on a range of Korean online marketplaces, sometimes openly. The items most commonly reported by respondents from post-1994 trade and supported by expert-led evidence were tiger and leopard (Panthera pardus) skins and tiger bone wine. Although South Korea may provide a useful case study of a historically significant consumer country for tiger which has made strong progress in addressing unsustainable levels of big cat trade within a short period of time, there remains a need to address recalcitrant small-scale, illegal trade. We also recommend further investigation regarding reports of South Korean nationals being involved in illegal trade in tiger-derived products in Southeast Asia.大型猫科动物的不可持续贸易会对豹属（Panthera）下的所有物种造成影响，也是其保护面临的首要威胁之一。为深入了解旨在解决该问题的政策干预措施所产生的影响，本研究以大韩民国（韩国）为案例开展分析。该国在20世纪90年代初期曾是全球最大的虎（Panthera tigris）骨进口国之一，同时也是虎源医药产品的主要生产国。1993年，韩国加入《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（CITES），并于次年颁布禁令，禁止对《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》附录I所列的大型猫科动物开展商业贸易。本研究通过基于专家意见的问卷调查以及对CITES贸易数据库的调研，探究了此后韩国大型猫科动物贸易的发展态势。专家意见表明，受贸易禁令以及广泛的社会经济变革影响，自20世纪90年代初以来，韩国的大型猫科动物贸易规模已大幅缩减。但非法贸易并未完全绝迹，本研究证实，据报道源自大型猫科动物的制品仍在韩国多家线上平台公开售卖，部分情况下甚至毫无掩饰。1994年后的受访者报告中最常见的、且经专家证据佐证的交易商品为虎及豹（Panthera pardus）皮毛，以及虎骨酒。尽管韩国作为曾在虎贸易中占据重要地位的历史消费国，已在短时间内取得显著进展，有效遏制了大型猫科动物的不可持续贸易，但仍需解决顽固存在的小规模非法贸易问题。此外，针对有报道称韩国公民参与东南亚地区虎源产品非法贸易的情况，本研究建议开展进一步调查。