Combating Wildlife Trafficking from Latin America to the United States
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© RICHARD BARNES © PHOTO COMBATING WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING FROM LATIN AMERICA TO THE UNITED STATES The illegal trade from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America and what we can do to address it Acknowledgments Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. Defenders’ International Conservation Program is integral to fulfilling this mission because wildlife does not recognize political and territorial boundaries. Multinational and regional approaches are thus vital to the achievement of enduring conservation goals. The program also builds on Defenders’ work on the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The most important and fundamental law protecting imperiled species domestically, the ESA also implements the United States’ international conservation obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Protecting species under CITES is the core of Defenders international work, with a special emphasis on unsustainable or illegal trade in species in North America and Latin America. Authors Alejandra Goyenechea and Rosa A. Indenbaum Contributors Donald J. Barry Jamie Rappaport Clark Michael P. Senatore Special thanks to Gabriela Chavarria, Ph.D.; Jonathan Kolby, Ph.D.; and Lisa Nichols for their advice and guidance. © 2015 Defenders of Wildlife Jamie Rappaport Clark, President and CEO 1130 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-4604 202.682.9400 www.defenders.org Cover: © Richard Barnes/Otto Illegal wildlife products seized at U.S. ports on display in the evidence control area of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory, the world’s only full-service science lab devoted to crimes against wildlife Table of Contents Executive Summary . .. 1 Foreword . 5 1 Wildlife Trafficking from Latin America: A Growing Crisis . 7 2 U.S. Wildlife Law Enforcement Capacity at Ports of Entry . 10 3 U.S. Mechanisms for Combating Wildlife Trafficking . 14 4 General Trends in the Illegal Wildlife Trade from Latin America . 18 Shipments . 20 Common Trade Routes . 21 Ports of Entry . 22 Countries of Origin . 23 Generic Names . 24 Source of Items . 26 Wildlife Descriptions . 26 Purpose of Import . 28 Species Codes . 29 Scientific Names . 30 Listing Status of Species Involved . 33 5 Trends in the Trade of the Most Commonly Trafficked Wildlife . 37 Conch . 37 Sea Turtles . 42 Caimans . 46 Crocodiles . 51 Iguanas . 57 6 Interpreting the Trends: Discussion and Conclusions . 62 The Top Trade Routes: What Do They Really Show? . 62 Volume: What Items Do Consumers Demand? . 63 Purpose of Import: Should Personal Imports Have Priority? . 64 Wild-sourced Items: Are Wild Populations Most at Risk? . 65 Annual Trends: Is the Total Number of Seizures per Year Tied to the Economy? . 66 www.defenders.org | i 7 Addressing the Crisis: Recommendations . 67 For the Federal Government . 67 For the Private Business Sector . 70 For the U.S. Public . 70 Conclusion . 70 Appendices . 71 A. Detailed Methodology .. 71 B. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Budget and Wildlife Inspectors 2004–2013 . 78 C. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement Import/Export Key 2015 . 79 D. Listing Status of Top-10 Seized Species per IUCN, CITES and ESA . 82 Endnotes . 83 ii Executive Summary WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING is one of the most lucrative The purpose of this report is to help the United States forms of illegal activity, with an estimated annual global address this growing crisis by 1) assessing the capacity of value of $7 billion to $23 billion. About 350 million plants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to detect and and animals per year are sold on the black market. Every deter wildlife trafficking and to collect and analyze data region of the world is experiencing the negative impacts on this illegal activity; 2) analyzing the effectiveness of of this illegal wildlife trade as natural resources are stolen existing law enforcement mechanisms and proposals for by poachers and traffickers. New strategies are desperately enhancing the overall capacity of the federal government to needed to counter this growing crisis that threatens our counter wildlife trafficking 3) identifying current patterns planet’s natural heritage. of high-volume trafficking from Latin America; and 4) Discussions on combating wildlife trafficking have identifying gaps in the existing response to wildlife crimes focused mainly on elephants, rhinos and tigers in Africa at our ports of entry. and Asia. Often forgotten, however, is the fact that wild- life trafficking occurs across all continents and threatens a CAPACITY OF WILDLIFE LAW ENFORCEMENT AT U.S. PORTS OF ENTRY wide range of imperiled species, including exotic birds, sea While numerous federal and state agencies are involved in turtles, coral, caimans, iguanas, pangolins and land tor- enforcing wildlife laws in the United States, FWS holds toises. This report draws attention to two important regions the primary authority for inspecting wildlife shipments at involved in wildlife trafficking that are often overlooked: our ports of entry. What is painfully clear throughout this the United States and Latin America. analysis is that FWS enforcement officials are incredibly The United States is generally accepted as one of the dedicated but thwarted by inadequate budget and staffing largest consumers of illegal wildlife and wildlife products and an overwhelming workload. worldwide. Much of the world’s trade in illegal wildlife is Wildlife inspectors—the FWS’s front-line defense against either driven by U.S. consumers or passes through U.S. the illegal wildlife trade entering this country—are tasked ports on its way to other destinations—making the United with ensuring that wildlife shipments, both imports and States a key player in wildlife trafficking. The value of legal exports, comply with national and international wildlife wildlife trade in the United States is estimated at $6 billion protection laws. Out of the 328 ports of entry into the annually, the illegal wildlife trade at one-third of that or $2 United States recognized by the Customs and Border billion annually. Patrol, only 64 are currently covered by FWS wildlife The Latin American region (Mexico the Caribbean, inspectors. Only 18 of these ports are for the import/export Central America and South America) experiences the same of wildlife and staffed full-time by wildlife inspectors. perfect storm of factors that have led to rampant wildlife With only 130 wildlife inspectors total spread through- trafficking in other regions: It is home to many developing out the entire country, most high-volume ports of entry are countries, has thousands of imperiled and endemic species, understaffed. Other ports have no full-time staff what- and struggles with corruption and enforcement. Conse- soever. The magnitude of the inspectors’ task is apparent quently, the United Nations designated Latin America a when you consider that some ports of entry include more priority region in combating wildlife crime. than one facility (such as multiple airports, sea ports or www.defenders.org | 1 border crossings) and that out of the millions of shipments The United States remains one of the major that typically pass through most of these ports each year, FWS inspected a total of 180,463 wildlife shipments consumer countries and a high-transit nationwide in 2014. region for illegal wildlife and has been Although the FWS Office of Law Enforcement is sig- alarmingly unwilling to provide the financial nificantly understaffed, its capacity for data collection on wildlife shipments is unmatched. The inspectors enter resources necessary to build enforcement detailed information on legal and illegal wildlife in the Law and inspection capacity or to provide the Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS), training and data analysis required to reduce an extensive database managed by FWS. However, it wildlife trafficking within its own borders. does not appear that the data collected through LEMIS is being comprehensively utilized to analyze and assess the effectiveness of current FWS approaches to combating and has been alarmingly unwilling to provide the financial wildlife trafficking. The LEMIS database is a valuable but resources necessary to build enforcement and inspec- under-utilized analytical tool for identifying successes and tion capacity or to provide the training and data analysis improving enforcement efficiency and effectiveness. required to reduce wildlife trafficking within its own bor- ders. Instead, the United States continues to rely entirely on EXISTING U.S. MECHANISMS FOR COMBATING WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING inadequate inspection fees to cover the costs of its wildlife Based on the identified strengths and weaknesses of FWS inspection program. law enforcement in overseeing international wildlife trade in the United States, this report next discusses the effective- ANALYSIS OF A CRISIS: TRENDS IN ILLEGAL WILDLIFE IMPORTS FROM ness of existing domestic mechanisms for combating wild- LATIN AMERICA TO THE UNITED STATES life trafficking, specifically how those mechanisms could Effective enforcement responses to the patterns of illegal 1) enhance the capacity of FWS, and 2) reduce domestic trade in wildlife must reflect the unique and the common consumer demand for illegal wildlife and wildlife products. characteristics of various illegal supply chains. The analysis Executive Order 13684 on Combating Wildlife Traffick- conducted for