Poaching in Afghanistan

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
Poaching, never well-controlled in Afghanistan, appears to
be more blatant than ever, freelance correspondent Jeff Hodson
reported for the Seattle Times in mid-January 2007.
“The skins of wolves and wild cats hang in fur shops in
Kabul,” Hodson wrote, “along with rabbit-skin rugs and full-length
fox coats, despite a nationwide ban on hunting and international
laws prohibiting their trade. Foreign soldiers and aid workers are
the main buyers, according to conservationists.”
Wildlife Conservation Society director of Afghanistan
programs Alex Deghan told Hodson that “he knows of one aid worker who
had a comforter made from two or three snow-leopard skins.”