U.S. Steps Up Campaign Against Illegal Wildlife Trade
U.S. Steps Up Campaign Against Illegal Wildlife Trade
By Charlene Porter | Staff Writer | 26 February 2014
These wildlife trophies are displayed after their seizure in Indonesia in Operation Cobra 2.
Washington — U.S. experts in investigations of wildlife trafficking and enforcement of trafficking laws are about to begin duty in Bangkok and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, marking a step forward in implementing the Obama administration’s recently announced National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Dan Ashe told the House Foreign Affairs Committee February 26 that overseas deployment of enforcement officers further demonstrates U.S. commitment to help other governments preserve rare animals. With congressional and State Department support, Ashe said, his service hopes to have two agents in Asia, two in Africa and one in Latin America by the end of 2014.
Organized criminal and terrorist organizations have rapidly increased slaughter of animals such as elephants and rhinoceros in response to soaring black market prices for animal horns and other parts valued in some cultures. Wildlife trafficking now looms as an international security threat because of the amount of money involved and the assets that criminal networks are able to acquire.
Long-term assignment of U.S. agents to work with counterparts overseas is a recent development, but USFWS has a long-standing involvement in programs to strengthen law enforcement protection for unique resources of the natural world.
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2014/02/20140226294194.html?CP.rss=true
