There are only as many wildlife law enforcement officers inspecting incoming cargo for illegal wildlife products like ivory, rhino horns, etc. as there were 30 years ago. In that time period the illegal wildlife trade has swelled into a multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise on the scale of the drug and illegal weapons trades. Overwhelmed U.S. port inspectors unable to keep up with illegal wildlife trade - The Washington Post
The more I read items such as this the more I despair for the natural world, if it isn't hunted for bush meat, and trophies it is killed for it's environment, as man needs land for his own food. The human population is out of control and the creatures that share our planet seam to be doomed. And still Anml R groups want to close animal collections, and send the animals - I assume- back to the 'wild'.
Apparently, if it dies in the wild it's OK, because it died a 'free' animal. Which is preferable to life in captivity. Hix
Good article. Richard Conniff had a piece on his Strange Behaviors blog recently about a pair of mobile phone applications designed to help cops spot illegal animals and animal parts. Apparently the United States' fighting personnel are eager to participate in the illegal wildlife trade. Full post here.
I made the above statement last week, when I was in Africa. Due to dodgy wifi I wasn't able to download the article at the time. Having just read it now I can see my assumption was wrong - the teams involved are obviously well-trained. I wasn't aware the article was about teams that specifically look for illegal wildlife shipments. As such, I retract my above statement as it is clearly incorrect in this case. Hix