If the pro-business Bush Administration gets its way, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will boldly reinterpret the Endangered Species Act to benefit those who profit from animals: The agency will allow trophy hunters, zoos, circuses, and even possibly leather-goods merchants to import endangered species purely for their own gain.

USFWS has proposed to alter the interpretation of the ESA. The act clearly states that endangered species may be imported into the United States only for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the species. But now the USFWS proposes to reinterpret the "propagation or survival" clause and allow import permits for endangered animals for consumptive uses, such as trophy hunting, public display in zoos or circuses, or even to supply the exotic pet trade or skin trade.

The logic of USFWS's proposal is truly Orwellian. Without a trace of irony, the agency claims the use of these animals, dead or alive, in wildlife-based industries will actually "enhance the survival" of these species. USFWS argues that by allowing, for example, U.S. trophy hunters or leather-goods merchants to import endangered animals or their skins, foreign countries could either earn cash directly to fund species-conservation efforts or inspire their wildlife managers to higher conservation standards because they'd have a new, massive market in the United States.

In other words: Kill the animals to save the animals.

"The fact that these activities provide a few dollars to conservation won't make them any less of a threat to the survival of the species," said Dr. Teresa Telecky, The HSUS's former Director of the Wildlife Trade Program, who's now a consultant for the organization. "The best way to enhance the survival of endangered species is to keep each and every individual member of that species in the wild where it can contribute to the next generation.

"Endangered species should not be sold to the highest bidder—whether a trophy hunter or someone who is capturing animals for a zoo," Telecky added. "Commerce is no way to save endangered species."

Although all endangered species may be affected by this policy change, USFWS only discusses the possible effects on a handful of species in its draft policy:

• Hunting trophies: USFWS is ready to allow the import of two endangered species, a Pakistani population of straight-horned markhor and the wood bison, which is native to Canada. USFWS believes that by allowing U.S. trophy hunters to import these two species, foreign governments would suddenly find themselves flush with cash, derived mostly from trophy-hunting fees, to conserve the markhor and the wood bison.

  Although the USFWS did not mention it in the draft policy, it is likely that the agency will also start handing out import permits for cheetahs, which trophy hunters have long sought to import.

• Public display in zoos and circuses: USFWS wants to allow the import of wild-caught Asian elephants. Given the stressful lives that elephants endure in most U.S. zoos and circuses, this change would condemn more animals to misery.

  What's more, there are only between 34,000 to 51,000 Asian elephants in the wild, less than one-tenth the number of African elephants in the wild. Poaching for ivory, which is only found in male Asian elephants, is severely damaging the sex ratios of Asian elephant populations. A thriving ivory trade in Thailand is contributing to the rapid decline of elephants in that country and in neighboring Myanmar and Cambodia.

• The exotic pet trade: The USFWS wants to allow the import of captive-bred but highly endangered freshwater fish, the Asian bonytongue, which is native to Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. The agency acknowledges that the species continues to face threats to its existence, but rather than find ways to work with foreign countries to conserve and protect the fish from human threats, USFWS proposes to allow imports so that foreign breeders can take advantage of the vast U.S. exotic pet market.

  "Since the greatest single threat to the species is illegal collection for the pet trade, captive propagation that results in a controlled legal supply of specimens could significantly reduce the pressure on wild populations," USFWS argues in the draft proposals.

• The skin trade: The USFWS wants to allow the import of the skins of a captive-bred—but rare and endangered—crocodilian, the Morelet's crocodile. The agency points out a Mexico-based conservation program that allows for a captive-breeding operation. "Under the proposed policy," USFWS writes, "we would consider allowing the importation of products produced by these captive-breeding facilities if they can demonstrate a clear enhancement of the wild populations. The potential for trade with the United States, a major importer of leather products, could further encourage Mexico to intensify its conservation efforts for this species in the wild..."

What You Can Do

Please write to the USFWS's Office of Management Authority before Friday, October 17, 2003. Say that you oppose the draft policy and that you don't want USFWS to issue endangered species import permits for the purposes of hunting, public display, the skin trade, or the pet trade.

Send your comments to:

Chief, Division of Management Authority
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 North Fairfax Dr.
Room 700
Arlington, VA 22203
Fax: 703-358-2280
ManagementAuthority@fws.gov