Update (June 25, 2015): During markup in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, a statement of policy citing the value of trophy hunting to conservation efforts was added to the bill. We can’t support H.R. 2494 while it contains this language.
Bill Description:
Representatives Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the Committee’s Ranking member, introduced H.R. 2494, the Global Anti-Poaching Act. This legislation will help the United States and partner countries counter terrorist organizations, rebel groups, and international criminal syndicates that are profiting from international wildlife trafficking.[teaserbreak]
H.R. 2494:
• Requires the Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serve, and heads of relevant agencies to encourage strengthening existing wildlife enforcement networks and the establishment of new networks in appropriate regions;
• Establishes a central secretariat within each wildlife enforcement network to coordinate the mechanisms in each network and focal mechanism in each member country of a wildlife enforcement network;
• Supports the cooperation and coordination between different regional wildlife enforcement networks;
• Creates standards for professional ranger training and qualifications with reward and promotion systems for rangers based on performances;
• Develops national systems to provide insurance to rangers and their families and compensation for rangers killed in the line of duty;
• Requires the Secretary of State, Secretary of Interior, and Secretary of Commerce to submit a report to Congress that lists each foreign country determined to be a major source of wildlife trafficking products or their derivatives; a major transit point of wildlife trafficking products or their derivatives; or a major consumer of wildlife trafficking products and their derivatives;
• Demands that each country listed in the report makes substantial efforts to adhere to its obligations under international agreements relating to endangered or threatened species (the Secretary of State is authorized to withhold certain assistance from countries that have received this special designation);
• Authorizes the President to provide security assistant to African countries for countering wildlife trafficking and poaching; and
• Puts wildlife trafficking in the same category as weapons trafficking and drug trafficking, making it a liable offense for money laundering and racketeering and requires fines, forfeitures, and restitution received to be transferred to federal conservation and anti-poaching efforts.
Background:
The Global Anti-Poaching Act will help the worldwide fight against illicit poaching by aiding governments fighting wildlife trafficking. Illegal trafficking in ivory and rhino horn is directly responsible for shocking declines in elephant and rhino populations in recent years, and this bill is a crucial step toward reducing the threat to these animals on the ground.
Read Representatives Royce and Engel’s press release on the introduction of this bill here.
Check out the Bloody Ivory website for details on the tragic elephant slaughter and illegal ivory trade.
And be sure to read the summaries of our ivory reports (phase 1 and phase 2), which detail the groundbreaking information uncovered by our investigation of illegal wildlife trafficking in Africa and its global market.
Take Action:
Contact your U.S. representative and urge him or her to support this important legislation!
Read the full text and follow its progress here.
Note about Born Free USA’s Stance on this Legislation:
Even though we support most parts of this legislation, we cannot support the bill fully in its current form due to the language in section (9), which suggests unequivocally that trophy hunting is inherently a meaningful form of wildlife conservation. Section (9) states, “recognize that lawful, well regulated hunting can contribute to sustainability and economic development, and that enforcement policies should not discourage or impede this activity.” Therefore, we would like to see this section removed in order to support the bill.