http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1011-09.htm
Published on Saturday,
October 11, 2003 by CNN
Going Backwards: US Plans Legal Endangered
Species Trade
QUOTE:
"A horribly dangerous precedent, a wrong-headed conservation
policy propelled by the circus and zoo, trophy-hunting lobby
in the United States and others who want to profit by the
commercialization of live animals or dead ones."
Adam Roberts, Animal Welfare Institute
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing
to change its policy to permit the importation of endangered
species, their parts and products from countries that promote
wildlife conservation programs.
Such a program could
give incentives to countries to create stronger
wildlife and habitat programs, the agency said in its draft rule,
which is open for public comment until October 17. But some
conservationists see the policy as a bad precedent and predicted
it will face strong opposition.
Congress passed the
Endangered Species Act in 1973 to protect animals
facing extinction in the wild.
The act currently prohibits
the capture, import, sale and killing
of endangered species without a permit from the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife
Service. Those who request permits must demonstrate that their
proposed
activity would enhance the survival of the species in the wild
and that
the animals won't be used primarily for commercial purposes.
The Endangered Species
Act has largely kept zoos and circuses
from buying endangered species to use in shows or for the purpose
of caging them. It also protects endangered species from trophy
hunters.
Under the proposed
change, money spent by U.S. zoos and circuses
to import the endangered animals could be used support conservation
projects abroad, the agency said.
Hunters, zoos, circuses
and traders in wild animal products could
benefit from the policy, the service said in a posting on its
Web site.
Species involved in
the service's "proposed enhancement-of-survival
policy" include the Asian elephant in India, southeast Asia
and China;
the Morelet's crocodile in Mexico; the Asian bonytongue fish in
Indonesia,
Thailand and Malaysia; the wood bison in Canada; and the markhor,
a member of the goat family, in Pakistan.
Citing worsening breeding
problems among captive Asian elephants
in the United States, the agency said there is increased demand
among zoos and circuses for additional stock from Asia. Meanwhile,
there is a "surplus" of elephants in many countries,
where officials
face a crisis over how to handle the problem.
Adam Roberts, a senior
research associate at the nonprofit Animal
Welfare Institute (http://www.awionline.org/),
an advocacy group for
endangered species, called the proposed policy "a horribly
dangerous
precedent, a wrong-headed conservation policy propelled by the
circus
and zoo, trophy-hunting lobby in the United States and others
who want
to profit by the commercialization of live animals or dead ones."
"Eco-tourism"
activities -- such as safaris and whale-watching
trips -- generate more income than would trophy-hunting and whale
killing, he said.
© 2003 Cable News
Network LP, LLLP
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