It regulates the international trade of more than 35,000 species, with rules that go up for debate every three years at a global conference. As representatives from more than 180 countries in Johannesburg have been updating and tweaking the rules that govern the multibillion-dollar global wildlife trade, Canada has made three requests. The wood bison is on Canada’s Species at Risk Public Registry (SARA) as “threatened,” with discussions ongoing to further downgrade its status. Kremeniuk said Canada’s proposal could put wood bison on a level playing field with its counterpart. Canada says disease, not trade, poses the greatest threat to the wood bison.

Source: thestar October 02, 2016 23:03 UTC