Pentagon to initiate efforts to curb illicit widllife trade

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*New Pentagon Effort Targets Illicit Wildlife Trade *

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By DINA FINE MARON of Greenwire <http://www.greenwire.com/>

Published: March 16, 2010

 

U.S. troops heading to Iraq and Afghanistan will soon be trained to confront

a new enemy, the trade in products made from endangered animals.

 

Designed by a conservation group and backed by $50,000 from the Pentagon,

the campaign will teach soldiers to be wary when shopping for clothes,

blankets and other items that might be made from endangered or threatened

species like the snow leopard, sand cat, and Asiatic black bear.

 

" Most of these soldiers are between 18 and 26 years of age, and they are not

aware, " said Heidi Kretser, who heads up the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation

Society's trade education program. " They are looking at cool products to

bring home to their families. "

 

The education effort is justified, the group says, by its statistics that

show 350 illegally traded wildlife items were confiscated at just three U.S.

bases in Afghanistan during spring and summer of 2008.

 

Typically the problems stem from soldiers unwittingly buying blankets and

coats containing the furs of protected species -- which make them illegal to

ship or carry into the United States. But that is a lesson the troops often

do not learn until the products are paid for -- and then confiscated by

customs officers.

 

The conservation campaign aims to curb such sales through PowerPoint

presentations, pocket-sized endangered species cards and other teaching

tools that the group plans to complete this spring.

 

Possession of products containing parts of protected species could lead to

more than confiscation, warns McKenzie Johnson, the conservation group's

representative in Afghanistan. Soldiers could be prosecuted for smuggling,

and a conviction could carry a stiff fine and jail time. So far, however,

Justice Department spokesman Andrew Ames said he is unaware of such charges

being brought against U.S. soldiers.

 

Two-front battle

 

Though customs officers can prevent a product's shipment, " once the product

is sold, the damage is done, " Kretser said, noting that money has already

gone to vendors and fueled illegal wildlife trade.

 

So Johnson tries to keep money out of vendors' pockets by educating U.S.

military police on bases in Afghanistan to keep illegal wildlife products

out of on-base bazaars.

 

Johnson, whose work is mostly funded by the U.S. Agency for International

Development, has accompanied military police through inspections of bazaars

to point out illegal wildlife products -- often, furs of animals protected

by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna

and Flora (CITES) or U.S. laws. She also conducts workshops for the military

police to teach them to identify the endangered species.

 

" Two military police from Bagram Air Base flew in to Camp Eggers

specifically to train on identifying endangered species, learned the

training and then went out to forward operating bases in the south to repeat

the training to other soldiers, " Johnson said. " U.S. military personnel have

been the primary reason for the success of this program. "

 

The conservation group does not have representatives in Iraq, but it hopes

to educate soldiers heading there with its new campaign, Kretser said.

 

In Afghanistan, where the number of U.S. troops is expected to grow, the

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said efforts to educate shoppers and

keep vendors peddling endangered species out of base bazaars may make a

lasting impact. When military police see illegal fur being sold, a vendor is

warned not to bring those products to the base, Kretser said, and repeat

offenders are banned.

 

" When WCS staff or military police do regular bazaar inspections, there is a

decrease in the number of illicit products offered for sale by vendors, "

Johnson said. " However, when these efforts slow or stop, vendors immediately

bring back these items to sell. "

 

Camp Eggers in Kabul has been particularly consistent in checking for

wildlife items, Johnson said. " There have been very few found in bazaar

checks during the last year, " she said.

 

Such regular sweeps, she added, " should make a vast difference in reducing

the amount of illicit trade in Afghanistan. "

 

Sleuthing

 

Deciphering which animals' pelts are used in blankets and coats is not easy,

especially when bits of furs are mixed in a single product, Kretser said.

 

Sometimes Johnson is brought in to give her expert opinion on whether or not

a product runs afoul of CITES or U.S. law.

 

" I had a group from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who brought me in

because the customs officer on Camp Eggers refused to ship items they had

purchased in the bazaar, " Johnson said. " Most of the items included fur

coats purchased at the bazaar on base. Some of the coats were silver fox,

which are allowed to go through customs, but one of them contained cat pelts

and could not be shipped out the country. "

 

The confusion for many troops arises from the fact that furs are sold at

bazaars on base, said Laurie Rush, the cultural resources manager for the

Army's Fort Drum in New York.

 

In recent years Kretser has visited Fort Drum -- two hours from the

conservation group's Saranac Lake, N.Y., office -- to teach deploying troops

about the issue. It was there that Rush first suggested Kretser ask the

Defense Department to fund the training effort.

 

" If you are a young soldier without this education and you were in a

situation where you are in a so-called 'approved' market opportunity, " Rush

said, " you would assume it is fine to buy everything available. "

 

Copyright 2010 E & E Publishing. .

 

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