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Tuesday, December 4, 2012
WildEarth Guardians Marks "Wildlife Conservation Day:" Raising Awareness of Illegal Wildlife Trafficking
U.S. State Department Cites Threats to Ecosystems, National Security, and Health from Illicit Trade
Contact: Taylor Jones (303) 353-1490
Washington,
DC – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has declared
December 4 the first annual “Wildlife Conservation Day” as part of a broader
initiative to combat wildlife trafficking worldwide. International trade in live
wildlife and wildlife parts and products is rivaled only by the trade in
illegal weapons and drugs. The United States is the second-largest destination
for illegally trafficked wildlife goods.
“We support every effort to
combat wildlife trafficking and we are pleased that the State Department has
recognized the importance of this issue,” said Taylor Jones, Endangered Species
Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “It’s high time to crack down on the
exploitation of imperiled species.”
Secretary Clinton committed
the State Department to combat wildlife trafficking worldwide at a Partnership Meeting on Wildlife
Trafficking in Washington, D.C., on November 8, 2012. She
noted that illegal wildlife trafficking is not just an ecological problem –
profits support rebel militias and insurgent groups, representing a threat to
national security; heavily armed poachers have taken the lives of park rangers;
wildlife shipped across borders with no regulation or inspection is a vector
for disease.
WildEarth Guardians has sought
protection for imperiled species affected by wildlife trade, both legal and
illegal. For example, we
have petitioned for the listing of 11 species of parachute spiders under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA). These tarantula-sized spiders are coveted for
their jewel-like colors and are captured and sold as pets.
With
Friends of Animals, we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to address overdue ESA petition findings for 12 foreign parrot species that
are captured and sold in the U.S. as pets. The agency subsequently listed five
species, one subspecies, and one distinct population of parrots as “endangered”
under the Act, and another species as “threatened.”
Wild Earth has also
petitioned to protect a number of marine species threatened by human
exploitation. Queen conch are heavily impacted by exploitation for meat and
shells; the U.S. annually imports 78 percent of all internationally traded
conch meat. The National Marine
Fisheries Service recently determined that the conch may be warranted for
protection and is currently considering the species for listing. The largetooth
sawfish and other similar species are affected by the trade in their “saws,”
which are sold as trophies or curios. Guardians successfully petitioned to list
the largetooth sawfish as “endangered” under the ESA. Findings on five other
sawfish species are pending. We also petitioned 15 foreign sturgeon species
that have been driven to the brink of extinction by the demand for caviar and
meat.
We
have petitioned for the listing of a number of sharks – including the dusky,
great white, porbeagle, and scalloped hammerhead – that are endangered by the
trade in shark fins. These “wolves of the sea” have diminished drastically in
number due to human exploitation, threatening the stability and biodiversity of
marine ecosystems. The scalloped hammerhead and the northeastern Pacific Distinct
Population Segment of great white shark have received positive petition findings
and are now undergoing a full status review.
Listing
under the ESA has proven an effective safety net for imperiled species: more
than 99 percent of plants and animals listed under the Act persist today. The
law is especially important as a bulwark against the current extinction crisis;
plants and animals are disappearing at a rate much higher than the natural rate
of extinction due to human activities. Scientists estimate that 227 species
would have gone extinct if not for ESA listing. Listing species with global
distribution can both protect the species domestically, and help focus U.S.
resources toward enforcement of international regulation and recovery of the
species.
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Read excerpts from Secretary Clinton’s
speech here: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/08/u-s-pursues-global-strategy-to-end-trafficking-in-wildlife/
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