World Wildlife Fund Tries to End Trade in Illegal Items

Five elephants, machine gunned to death, lay on the ground, their shriveled carcasses blanketed with white vulture feces. Where their tusks should have been, there were gaping wounds.

That was the horrifying sight discovered by wildlife officers in Uganda in 1982.

Today, the scene greets air travelers as they walk to and from Concourse C of Denver’s Stapleton Airport. A large color photograph of the scene, bordered by the type of ivory jewelry items for which the elephants were killed, is part of an exhibit called “Souvenirs of Slaughter.”

The World Wildlife Fund, which strives to halt illegal international trade in wildlife and wildlife parts, assembled the exhibit, with the Denver Museum of Natural History. It’s part of a WWF program to raise the consciousness of Americans on the impact that such trade, legal and illegal, has on wildlife worldwide.

The exhibit isn’t solely an ivory display. Other sides of the exhibit feature displays of confiscated products made from wildlife parts:

--A matching leopard skin handbag and coin purse.

--A tiger’s incisor, mounted in a man’s necklace pendant.

--Men’s $350 crocodile shoes, plus crocodile wallets and watch bands.

--Salad mixing utensils, a jewelry box and mandolin, all made of endangered sea turtle shells.

--Skin cream, Crema de Tortuga, from Mexico, made from sea turtles.

--Ocelot coats.

--Margay and leopard skins.

Each day, thousands of air travelers pass the exhibit. During peak air travel hours, crowds of people two and three deep surround the exhibit.

And more are on the way.

“We’d like to have similar displays at the top 10 busiest airports in the U.S., to get the message out that people should think twice before buying wildlife products overseas,” the WWF’s Ginette Hemley said.

The World Wildlife Fund is an international conservation organization dedicated to preserving endangered species and habitats. It works with the federal government’s wildlife law enforcement agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to help reduce illegal worldwide traffic in wildlife parts.

The WWF monitors population estimates of threatened and endangered species worldwide. One nation, it says, is the major consumer for products made from wildlife: the United States.

The WWF estimates that $150 million worth of smuggled or laundered illegal wildlife and wildlife products enter the U.S. each year.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cautions Americans traveling overseas to think twice before buying products made of wildlife species or plants. When it doubt, don’t buy, it advises.

Because of the complexity of regulations governing wildlife importations, travelers who have questions about the overseas purchase of wildlife products are advised to contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the World Wildlife Fund in Washington before departing.

Profits on the sale of wildlife and wildlife parts smuggled into the U.S. are high because demand is high, the WWF says. Despite tough federal smuggling laws, which can call for fines up to $20,000 and prison sentences, the trade continues.

Much of the WWF’s effort involves the ivory trade. Surprisingly, U.S. travelers can buy ivory products in some African nations and bring it back legally to the U.S.

“About 80% of all African ivory products come from elephants that were poached for their ivory,” Hemley said.

“Most of what you see for sale in the United States is ivory that was confiscated from poachers by African governments, then sold by the governments. We’d prefer the governments wouldn’t legitimize it by selling it, but they do.

“Both South Africa and Zimbabwe have good national park systems where carefully planned culling programs occur. Actually, some conservationists in Africa argue that the ivory trade is a secondary threat to elephants, that the primary threat is habitat loss.”

According to the WWF, the African elephant population has dropped from 10 million in 1900 to less than 1 million today. Each year, 50,000 to 80,000 elephants are killed for their ivory.

“African nations ship a lot of raw ivory overseas, and about 80% of that total goes to Japan and Hong Kong, where it’s mass produced into ivory products,” Hemley said. “About 3 to 4 million pieces come into the U.S. legally each year, in every form from earrings to foot-high carvings. There’s a huge internal market in Japan for ivory.

“The wholesale value of ivory leaving Africa each year is about $50 million. By the time it reaches the U.S., its retail value is probably 10 times that.

“Ivory products in the U.S. are found mostly in Oriental specialty shops in Chinatowns, and in art shops in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

Poaching of elephants for their ivory and pressure on many other threatened and endangered species won’t ease until American consumer demand for wildlife products does, the WWF says. At the moment, demand shows no sign of slackening.

WWF staffers in Washington comb through fashion and department store catalogues, looking for products made of endangered wildlife. The current Gucci catalogue, for example, contains numerous products made of crocodile. Of all 21 species of crocodilians, the WWF says, 16 are endangered. A small number of the crocodile skins entering the U.S. each year is legal, the WWF says.

Smugglers of wildlife and wildlife parts go to extreme lengths to reach U.S. markets:

--At the Port of Miami, customs officers recently examined a large crate marked “Machine Parts.” After moving several hundred pounds of machine parts out of the crate, they discovered a false bottom containing protected snakes and lizards from South America.

--From 100,000 to 150,000 tropical birds from Latin America enter the U.S. illegally at the U.S.-Mexico border. They are often concealed in suitcases, taped to the thighs of women, inside spare tires or hub caps, or even inside watermelons. Mortality is high, but so are profits.

--Eggs of endangered raptors such as peregrine falcons sometimes leave the United States headed for the Middle East in vacuum bottles, travelers’ pockets, camera bags or taped to the bodies of travelers.

--U.S.-Mexico border customs agents say they sometimes find endangered reptiles inside spare tires when looking for drugs.

But it is ivory, more than any other issue, that consumes most of the WWF’s energy.

“We spend more time and money on the ivory trade than any other issue,” said Hemley.

“This year, we are looking closely at a new ivory tracking system that all the CITES nations have adopted.”

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, to which 91 countries belong. The WWF calls it “perhaps the most effective conservation treaty in existance.”

Said Hemley: “The new tracking system requires every tusk leaving Africa to be marked with a number, and what its destination is. So far, it’s successful--we’re acquiring good data on ivory. We’re going to watch this closely for a year or so, and if it has no effect on the level of poaching, then we might suggest more drastic measures. Again, it always comes down to consumer demand.”

Drastic measures might include a “Don’t buy ivory” campaign.

“We’re trying to work closely with African countries with their elephant populations and we don’t want to undercut them,” Hemley said. “The African ivory trade goes up and down, but over the past 5 to 10 years, it’s up slightly. If the tracking system doesn’t seem to help, well . . .

“One thing that bothers us is that the average size of tusks leaving Africa is getting smaller, which means poachers are killing younger and younger animals.”

An undercover operation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service five years ago revealed that the U.S., like some African countries, has an ivory poaching problem, too.

An investigation was launched into the traffic of Alaska walrus ivory, spurred in part by complaints from the Soviet Union of increased numbers of headless walrus carcasses washing ashore on the Siberian coast.

The undercover investigation showed there was illegal trafficking in walrus ivory, which was being shipped to South Korea and Hong Kong, where it was being scrimshawed by laser, then shipped back to Alaska for sale. The same investigation also turned up an illegal trade in polar bear skins by native Alaskans.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act permits native Alaskans to use walrus ivory for traditional handicraft items and sell them. It prohibits the export or import of walrus ivory.

However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently reviewing all laws pertaining to U.S. walrus ivory.

One recent development applauded by the WWF and other U.S. conservation groups was the news that Singapore has agreed to become the 92nd member of CITES. The WWF hopes the move might significantly reduce illegal trading in rhino horn, coveted--falsely, doctors say--in some Asian countries as a fever-reducer and, to a lesser extent, as an aphrodisiac.

Singapore, the WWF says, was a major center for trade in ground rhino horn. Continuing pressure on Singapore had failed to reduce the trade, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banned the import of all wildlife products from Singapore.

That caused an uproar from the U.S. tropical fish industry, which, it turned out, obtains most of its fish, $12 million worth, from Singapore tropical fish farms. Later, the Fish and Wildlife Service ruling was amended to exempt tropical fish.

But on Oct. 24, Singapore announced that it would outlaw the trade in rhino horn and would join CITES before 1987.