Maria Abaca discusses the United
States government’s pledge to assist the nation of Tanzania with
its efforts to combat illegal wildlife trafficking.
President Obama declared that the
United States government will help support efforts to end the
devastation of Africa’s wildlife by poachers and traffickers.
During his state visit to Tanzania, the
president pledged $10 million for the purpose of creating a task
force specifically for combatting the illegal trafficking of
endangered wildlife. Said the president:
“Poaching and
trafficking is threatening Africa’s wildlife, so today I issued a
new executive order to better organize U.S. government efforts in
this fight so that we can cooperate further with the Tanzanian
government and others. And this includes additional millions of
dollars to help countries across the region build their capacity to
meet this challenge, because the entire world has a stake in making
sure that we preserve Africa's beauty for future generations.” 1
The trade in illegal wildlife produces
more revenue for the traffickers than narcotics or the international
sex trade. Conservationists have been eager for President Obama to
address the wildlife issue in Tanzania, since the Tanzanian
government has itself earmarked funds for the construction of a
highway that would connect the Indian Ocean coast through the
Serengeti to outposts in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic
of Congo. According to the site savetheseregeti.org, if the
Serengeti Highway is constructed, the disruption of the natural
ecosystem would be catastrophic. It would not only include the
obstruction of the natural migratory route of the indigenous animals
in the area, but would also introduce fatal diseases to the wildlife
vegetation and create an optimum environment for poachers.
More than 10,000 African elephants are
killed in Tanzania every year, accounting for one third of the total
poaching deaths throughout Africa. The rhinoceros is also a valuable
commodity for its horn, and has been dwindling since the turn of the
20th century (there were more than 500,000 at the start of
the 20th century, and only 29,000 in the world today).
The illegal
international wildlife trade does more than just threaten species of
endangered animals; the traffickers also have ties to terrorist cells
and illegal arms dealers. The poachers are armed with far more than
machetes and the occasional rifle; they are equipped with military
issued automatic weapons, night vision goggles and even helicopters.
The wildlife agents assigned to protect the animals from poachers are
often outgunned and nearly powerless against airborne snipers
shooting down at the rhinos and elephants from the skies.
It is extremely important that the rest
of the world gets involved in the eradication of wildlife
trafficking, not only in terms of aid, funding and awareness, but
also by refusing to fund these organizations by purchasing the
wildlife contraband. Is a tiger rug or a carved piece of ivory worth
the threat to not only an entire species of animals, but also human
kind?
1
Worldwildlife.org: Obama Pledges Support to Stop Wildlife Crime in
Africa 7/1/2013
http://worldwildlife.org/stories/obama-pledges-support-to-stop-wildlife-crime-in-africa
