Funding cuts have hamstrung the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service’s ability to fight wildlife trafficking
by Daniel M. Ashe
Almost
daily, it seems, there are new and credible reports about the senseless
slaughter of elephants, rhinos or other endangered species by
sophisticated wildlife-trafficking networks. Just this spring, news
filtered in about a slaughter of forest elephants in the Central African
Republic. We have video confirmation of nearly 30 elephants being
killed and more wounded. It is clear that poaching is epidemic and is
threatening some of the world’s most iconic and endearing species.
Although
foreign species may seem like other nations’ problem, nothing could be
further from the truth. The native species and ecosystems of our planet
support billions of people and drive the world’s economy. Everyone has a
stake in sustaining these fragile ecosystems and species. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS) plays an essential role in combating global
wildlife trafficking. Since the federal budget sequestration took effect
in March, however, our ability to carry out this mission has been
diminished, just as the situation for endangered species around the
globe has become increasingly critical.
The increase in danger to
elephants is no surprise. Rising prices for ivory have provoked a
skyrocketing level of poaching for African elephants in the wild,
resulting in an unprecedented threat to the survival of the species.
Thanks to conservation efforts in range countries and global
restrictions on ivory trade, elephants had been staging a recovery in
many parts of Africa since the 1980s. But poachers, driven by surging
Asian demand for elephant ivory, are again pushing elephants toward
extinction. As recently as 2008, for example, Tanzania was home to the
second-largest population of elephants in Africa, with an estimated
110,000 to 165,000 elephants. By Tanzania’s own counts, however, its
most significant population dropped from 70,000 in 2006 to 40,000 by
2009. Today as few as 23,000 elephants may remain.
It is a similar
story with rhino populations. Rhino horn, mainly destined for Asia, has
historically been used in traditional medicine, primarily as a fever
reducer. Recent cultural fads, however, have convinced people in certain
countries that rhino horn is an effective treatment for everything
from
cancer to
hangovers. In some countries, objects carved from rhino horn are also
regarded as economic status symbols. The result: last year poachers
killed 668 of South Africa’s estimated 21,000 rhinos. This year could be
worse: through August 7, poachers killed 553 rhinos. All this for a
product made of the same stuff as our fingernails.
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Not only
animals are
at risk. Last September five game scouts at Zakouma National Park in
Chad were gunned down as they stood in prayer at the beginning of their
workday. Poachers can even fuel the destabilization of governments in
Africa, creating potential threats to U.S. national
security.
One
of the things that we know will curb poaching is increased enforcement
of laws that prevent trading of illegally obtained wildlife. We saw this
last year when we came down hard on people illegally trafficking in
rhino horn. The service’s participation in Operation Crash, which is
still active, told poachers in no uncertain terms that the U.S
. would not tolerate their criminal greed.
The
first phase of this probe, which has focused on the unlawful purchase
and outbound smuggling of rhino horn from the U.S., has resulted in 14
arrests and seven convictions so far. In raids conducted in February
2012, agents seized 37 rhinoceros horns and products made from horns,
such as dagger handles and libation cups. Also seized during the course
of the operation were approximately $1 million in cash and another $1
million in gold ingots, as well as diamonds and Rolex watches.
The
U.S. is a leader in the fight against wildlife crime. We use our
wildlife laws to keep this country from becoming a significant transit
point and destination for such trafficked wildlife items as elephant
ivory, rhino horn, tiger bone, sea turtle shell, endangered butterflies,
shahtoosh wool, and certain live reptiles, amphibians and corals.
But
the federal budget sequestration is limiting our law-enforcement
capability at the very time we need it most. Our Office of Law
Enforcement already has 63 vacant positions for special agents—the men
and women on the front lines of preventing wildlife crime. With
sequestration, FWS had to cancel plans to hire a class of 24 officers to
begin filling these jobs. As a result, we will be able to carry out
fewer investigations of wildlife trafficking, and we may have to
postpone plans to station agents overseas in countries that are either
suppliers of or markets for elephant ivory, rhino horn and other
contraband.
We currently have 216 special agents—about the same
level as in 1978, although the job is so much harder. The number of
protected species has increased more than 60 percent, and wildlife
trafficking today involves well-organized criminal syndicates taking
advantage of the latest technologies to operate on a global basis. We
also have vacancies in our wildlife inspector ranks, which we will not
be able to fill. These are the folks on the ground at ports of entry,
checking imports and exports and intercepting illegal trafficking.
We
are focusing the resources we have, to the best of our ability, on the
actions that will enable us to achieve our conservation mission. But we
could do so much more to give wildlife a chance against poachers. We
must ask ourselves where our priorities lie. Is the sequestration really
worth a world where the only reminders of our most spectacular and
treasured wildlife are a few carved tchotchkes?
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