ACTING ASSISTANT AG WEST'S STATEMENTS ON COMBATING WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Statements of Associate Attorney General Tony West and Acting Assistant Attorney General of Enrd on the National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking

Today, the White House released the National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking.  The Department of Justice, along with the Departments of State and the Interior, are co-chairs of the U.S. Task Force established by President Obama to lead the implementation of this strategy.  On Thursday, Associate Attorney General Tony West will lead the U.S. Delegation’s participation at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade.

"The Department is pleased to be a part of this interagency approach to combating illegal wildlife trafficking,” said Associate Attorney General West.  “Record high demand for wildlife products, coupled with inadequate preventative measures and weak institutions, has resulted in an explosion of illicit trade in wildlife in recent years, with the increasing involvement of organized transnational criminal syndicates.  This trade undermines security, fuels corruption and contributes to the spread of disease, and it is decimating iconic animal populations.  The National Strategy identifies priority areas for interagency coordination, with the objectives of harnessing and strategically applying the full breadth of U.S. government resources.  Combating this problem will also require the shared understanding, commitment, and efforts of the world’s governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, corporations, civil society and individuals.   At this week’s London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, we hope other countries will join us in taking ambitious action to combat wildlife trafficking.”
The Department of Justice has long worked to protect threatened and endangered wildlife species through its enforcement of the Lacey Act and Endangered Species Act, as well as related criminal statutes.

“The president has called upon DOJ and more than a dozen other federal agencies to combine forces to more effectively battle this pernicious trade, which is growing at an alarming rate and threatens the survival of protected species both at home and abroad,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Robert Dreher for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “The release of today’s National Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking is a welcome next step in our longstanding efforts to protect threatened and endangered wildlife species.  Strong enforcement is critical to stopping those who kill and traffic in these animals, whether on land or in the oceans.  At the same time, the Strategy recognizes that enforcement alone is not enough to stop traffickers.  We must also work to reduce demand for illegal wildlife products.  This is not a fight that the United States can win alone; under the Strategy, we will build relationships with local and global partners who share our commitment to ending wildlife trafficking.”

The Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country bring criminal prosecutions under these laws against, for example, people who are found smuggling wildlife and plants into the United States. There is a major worldwide black market for some endangered species or products made from them.  The main federal agencies that the Division represents in this area are the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

MAN WHO TRAFFICKED IN ENDANGERED SPECIES GETS 20 MONTH PRISON TERM

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website:

"WASHINGTON – Enrique Gomez De Molina, 48, of Miami Beach, Fla., was sentenced in federal court in Miami today to 20 months in prison for illegal trafficking in endangered and protected wildlife, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice; Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; and Luis J. Santiago, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Region.  De Molina was also sentenced to one year of supervised release to follow his prison term, a $6,000 fine and was ordered to forfeit all of the smuggled wildlife in his possession.

According to documents filed with the court, the defendant attempted to import wildlife species including skins of a Java kingfisher (Halcyon cyanoventris) and a collared kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris), one mounted lesser bird of paradise (Paradisaea minor), the skin of a juvenile hawk-eagle (Spizaetus sp.), the carcass remnant of a slow loris (Nycticebus coucang) and the carcass remnant of a lesser mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus), without proper declarations when imported into the United States and without the required permits.  In some cases, commercial transactions in listed species, such as the slow loris, are not allowed at all.

In order to protect certain species of wildlife against over-exploitation, the United States is a signatory to an international treaty known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).  Appendix I of CITES includes species that are threatened with extinction and for which no trade is allowed for commercial purposes. Appendix II of CITES includes wildlife species which although not necessarily threatened with extinction now, may become so unless trade in specimens of such species is strictly regulated. Before importing a specimen of any animal protected under Appendix I of CITES from any foreign country, a valid foreign CITES export permit from the country of origin, or a CITES re-export certificate from a country of re-export, must be obtained as well as a valid “import permit” from the United States.  Before importing a specimen of any animal protected under Appendix II of CITES from any foreign country, a valid foreign export permit or re-export certificate must be obtained.  Federal law also prohibits the importation of fish or wildlife into the United States without proper declaration to both U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS).

According to the allegations contained in the information and a detailed factual statement in the court record, De Molina’s illegal wildlife trafficking activities extended from late 2009 through February 2011, and included numerous species and shipments, involving contacts in Bali, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Canada and China.  The joint factual statement describes the importation into the U.S. of the parts, skins and remains of species, including a king cobra, a pangolin, hornbills, birds of paradise, and the skulls of babirusa and orangutans. Despite the interception of two shipments in late 2009 that were ultimately forfeited by De Molina and abandoned, he continued to solicit protected wildlife from his suppliers via the Internet, and to select specific animals from photographs to be provided to him.  The parts or carcasses of the wildlife he selected would then be shipped to him without the permits or declarations required by law.  Some of the endangered and protected wildlife he selected was alive at the time it was photographed, including a wooly stork, a slow loris, and a hornbill, and later sent to him dead.
   
After receipt, De Molina would incorporate various parts and segments of the wildlife into taxidermy pieces at a studio in downtown Miami.  He offered these pieces through galleries and on the Internet for prices ranging up to $80,000.  In December 2010, pieces constructed by De Molina were exhibited during Art Basel week at the Scope Art Fair in Miami, resulting in at least one significant sale and the subsequent illegal export of the piece to the Canada.
 
“Mr. De Molina trafficked in highly endangered species in violation of the law, disguising commercial exploitation of endangered species as artwork,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “Today, Mr. De Molina has been held fully accountable for his illegal actions, which are prohibited by both U.S. and international law.”

“For years, DeMolina illegally imported parts and remains of endangered and threatened species, including a cobra, a pangolin, hornbills, and the skulls of babirusa and orangutans, and used them to create taxidermy pieces that he sold for as much as $80,000,” said U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer.  “Trafficking in endangered and threatened species, whether for personal profit or under the guise of art, is illegal.  Together with our law enforcement partners, we will strictly enforce the laws that protect our environment and our wildlife.”

“This case is an excellent example of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's commitment to investigate and interdict the commercialization of protected wildlife species,” said Luis J. Santiago, Special Agent in Charge of the FWS Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Region. “The taxidermy work that Mr. De Molina considered artwork is nothing more than a shameful use of the world’s wildlife resources, by promoting the illegal take, and trafficking of protected species.”

 Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FWS, which brought the investigation to a successful conclusion.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Watts-FitzGerald and Trial Attorney Shennie Patel with the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. "
    

ALLIGATOR GUIDE AND HUNTER PLEADS GUILTY TO VIOLATING THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

The following excerpt is from the Department of Justice website: Friday, February 10, 2012 “WASHINGTON - Gregory K. Dupont, 38, of Plaquemine, La., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., to one felony count of illegally guiding out-of-state sport hunters to unauthorized areas to hunt American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in violation of the Lacey Act, the U.S. Endangered Species Act and Louisiana law, the Justice Department announced.  Sentencing in this case has been scheduled for June 20, 2012.  Dupont was also ordered to surrender custody of his firearms to pre-trial services. Gregory K. Dupont was a licensed alligator hunter, who, in September 2006, guided his clients to an area which was unapproved, that is an area for which he did not have the required Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) tags.  During this illegal hunt, Dupont took his clients to a property in Iberville Parish, La., where one of his clients killed an American alligator.  Dupont tagged the alligator illegally with a tag for another property.  He did not have tags permitting them to hunt in that area at all.     In 1967, American alligators were listed as an endangered species because the total population size in the United States reached drastically low numbers due to severe poaching and overharvesting.   This protected status and of the Lacey Act, the Endangered Species Act and regulations promulgated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Louisiana led to the recovery of  the American alligator population, and American alligators were down-listed to threatened status in 1987.  The American alligator is currently listed on Appendix II of CITES, which is the only treaty that deals with international trade in protected species.  There are 175 member countries, including the United States.  The success of the American alligator conservation program in the United States is second only to that of the Bald Eagle. Because American alligators remain federally protected, alligator hunting is regulated by federal and state rules and regulations, which require, among other things, the tagging of all harvested alligators.  The integrity of the tagging system is crucial to Louisiana’s alligator management program because it enables the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to monitor harvest areas, alligator size and the number of alligators taken.  This system depends in significant part upon the honesty and self-regulation of Louisiana’s licensed hunters for its continued success.   In Louisiana, an allotted number of alligator hide tags are issued to licensed hunters.  Each tag may be used for one alligator only, and Louisiana law requires alligator hunters to hunt only on property for which hide tags are issued.  The areas where alligator hunting is permitted are determined on a yearly basis by wildlife biologists, whose decisions are based on the need to maintain a healthy alligator population.  If hunters poach alligators from areas for which they do not have tags, then the integrity of the entire alligator management system is undermined, thereby threatening Louisiana’s alligator population and alligator industry, which is a significant component of Louisiana’s economy. The case was prosecuted by Shennie Patel and Susan L. Park of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.  The case was investigated by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement.”

ANTIQUE DEALER PLEADS GUILTY TO SMUGGLING ELEPHANT IVORY

The following is from the Department of Justice website:

Tuesday, December 6, 2011
“WASHINGTON – Lin Feng Xu, 31, an antique dealer in China, has pleaded guilty to smuggling and to violating the Endangered Species Act in connection with the illegal export of African elephant ivory in his carry-on luggage.
According to documents filed in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., today, a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security officer at JFK International Airport in Queens, N.Y., alerted inspectors with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on Sept. 17, 2011, that Xu, a Chinese national, was carrying suspected wildlife items in his carry-on luggage based on x-ray screening. When questioned about 18 carved art objects apparently made of ivory, Xu initially stated that he did not know what they were made from and that they had been purchased for approximately $3,000 to 4,000 at U.S. auction houses. In pleading guilty, Xu has admitted that he knew that the carvings were ivory and that they had a value of approximately $50,000. Also, Xu knew that it was a crime to export ivory from the United States without required documents and approval, according to papers filed in Court. Xu packed the ivory carvings in aluminum foil in order to conceal their outline from x-ray screening.
According to an expert examination of the ivory carvings, most are newly carved ivory and not genuine antiques. The African elephant is listed as a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) and is also protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty regulating trade on endangered species to which the United States is a party. The global demand for antiques and art made of or containing elephant ivory is believed to have resulted in a significant impact on the species and given life to a thriving black market. Despite international efforts to control the ivory trade and stop the decline of elephant populations, prices and demand remain high, thus causing continued elephant poaching and illegal ivory finding its way into international and domestic markets.
Xu was charged with a felony count for illegal smuggling that carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain from the offense. Xu was also charged with a misdemeanor violation of the ESA for knowingly engaging in trade of ivory specimens, contrary to the provisions of CITES, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000, or twice the gross gain from the crime.
The Xu investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Northeast Regional Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Inspectors, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the TSA. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Richard A. Udell of the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Pravda of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York“.