White House Announces New Efforts to Fight Illegal Animal Trade

As elephants, rhinoceros, and other rare animals come ever close to extinction due to human activity and hunting, the Obama Administration has announced new plans to help combat the trade in endangered animal goods.

The New York Times reports that the plan will involve more policing and investigation of the matter by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The trade in illicit animal goods such as elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn is valued at around $20 billion annually.

The new policies are the culmination of a two year review of efforts to combat the trafficking in illegal animal goods, which was ordered by the White House. The review and policy changes were driven by the fact that the United States is the world's second largest market for such illegal goods, and also serves as a waypoint for the goods as they travel around the globe, most often to countries in Asia.

Products such as tiger eye and ivory are valued in Asian societies for myriad reasons. These include the belief that such products are aphrodisiacs or can increase the user's longevity.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is the branch of the federal government most responsible for policing the trade in illegal animal goods. The new policies will see an increase of $8 million for the Fish and Wildlife Service budget. It will also result in the deployment of Fish and Wildlife Service officers abroad to help investigate those responsible for trafficking in rare animal goods. It is the first time that officers from that department have been sent to work internationally.

One of the officers has already been sent to Thailand, while more will be sent to Peru, Tanzania, and Botswana.

The Times notes that although the White House has dedicated more resources to the struggle against this trade, it is unlikely to be enough to make a serious dent in it. It is estimated that only around 10 percent of the people involved in the illicit trade are caught.