By Ron Nixon, New York Times, December 22,2015
JOHANNESBURG
— The Obama administration is stepping up efforts here to combat
wildlife poaching, an expanding criminal enterprise in South Africa that has driven several animal species toward extinction and fueled the growth of international gangs.
But the effort is coming as South Africa
wrestles with its own strategy, which could diverge significantly from
Washington’s. Just last month, a South African court lifted a ban on
domestic trade in rhinoceros horns, reigniting a debate between those
who claim that a legal trade within South Africa’s borders could help
stem the poaching crisis and those who say it would only worsen it.
Tipping
the scale, the United States government is pouring millions of dollars
into training and intelligence gathering to help counter losses among
endangered species, especially some types of
And
the Obama administration sees national security implications to
poaching since it is generally carried out by gangs that also traffic in
guns, people and drugs.
“The
bottom line is the impact of wildlife trafficking isn’t just contained
to Africa,” said Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, who has introduced legislation
to require the Obama administration to develop a country-by-country
strategy on poaching. “The impacts of this rapidly growing crisis are
spreading around the world, now even threatening our national security.”
Trafficking
in wildlife has decimated elephant and rhino populations in Africa. In
the first eight months of this year, poachers had killed 749 rhinos in
South Africa, up from 716 over the same period in 2014, according to the
latest figures from the South African government.
In
many Asian countries, especially Vietnam and China, rhino horns are
believed to cure ailments like headaches and hangovers, and a single
rhino horn can fetch up to $60,000. The horns are also made into
libation cups and are considered a symbol of wealth among the emerging
middle class in Asian countries. Illegal wildlife trafficking is
estimated to be a roughly $20 billion-a- year enterprise globally.
But
the trade has moved beyond Asia. The United States has grown into the
second-largest market for illegal wildlife products and is a major
conduit of contraband flowing across the Pacific.
One of the many groups being funded by the United States to help combat the illegal wildlife trade here is the Endangered Wildlife Trust, an environmental group that works to protect endangered animal and plant species.
Based
in an industrial park just outside Johannesburg, the group is one of
three nongovernmental organizations here that recently received a
combined $1.8 million in grants from the State Department’s Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement to train law enforcement and
government officials to use surveillance equipment and to identify and
protect endangered plant species.
Adam
Pires, who runs training programs for the wildlife trust, said that
many law enforcement officials often lack the skills to properly
investigate poaching.
“Most
of these guys are used to covering murders and street crimes,” Mr.
Pires said. “They don’t know anything about collecting evidence for
environmental crimes or preserving a poaching crime scene.”
The
United States Department of Justice has received $100,000 from the
State Department to provide training for prosecutors and judges from six
southern African countries to combat illegal animal and plant sales.
The
training, which was held in Zambia, focused on criminal investigation
procedures such as establishing a chain of custody, tracing assets and
prosecuting environmental cases, said John C. Cruden, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s environment and natural resources division.
“We’re
ratcheting up our efforts in southern Africa since this is where so
much of the illegal rhino horns and other materials come from,” Mr.
Cruden said.
The
wildlife trust has provided antipoaching training to more than 450
police and intelligence officials. The training, Mr. Pires says, has
contributed to an increase in the number of people arrested for
poaching. Arrests in Kruger National Park, a major area of operations
for poachers in South Africa, totaled 138 as of August 2015 compared
with 81 arrests over the same period last year, according to government
data.
American
money has gone to help provincial governments buy equipment such as
night-vision goggles, said Moses Rannditsheni, a spokesman for the South
African Department of Environmental Affairs.
Antipoaching
efforts in South Africa and neighboring countries are part of a larger
American effort to stem the booming illegal trade in wildlife. The
recently completed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement includes
deals with several Asian countries to require them to enforce laws and regulations to protect wildlife covered under an international treaty that protects endangered plants and animals.
According to research by the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center
at George Mason University, the illegal trade is being driven by
international criminal gangs, most of which are non-African. The center
received a grant of nearly $400,000 from the State Department to
identify syndicate leaders, trade routes and financiers in the South
African wildlife trade.
Louise
Shelley, the director of the center, said the gangs are led by
Pakistani and other Asian poachers who use African middlemen to hunt and
transport the animals. People involved in the illegal wildlife trade in
South Africa also deal in drugs and cigarettes.
Dr.
Shelley said the center’s efforts to fully grasp the size and
composition of illegal poaching have been hampered by a lack of
cooperation and intelligence sharing from the South African government.
“They have not been willing to share any information with us,” Dr. Shelley said.
The
South African Police Service, one of the law enforcement agencies
leading the government’s antipoaching efforts, did not respond to
requests for comment.
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