The Wildlife Professional - Spring 2010 2009

a U.S. fish and Wildlife Service special agent assesses a dead golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), electrocuted by a power line. Utility companies face major penalties for failing to address hazards that threaten protected species like raptors.

exotic live reptiles for the “pet” market, and medicinals made from endangered species.

Credit: USf WS

Declared U.S. wildlife trade totaled some 170,000 shipments last year. Shipments are checked for humane transport, compliance with permitting, and other requirements. “An inspector’s decision to look at a shipment not declared as wildlife, to check the bottom of a crate of tropical fish, or to question a permit that looks unusual can be the first move in what may ultimately become a major investigation,” says Senior Wildlife Inspector Sharon Lynn, who spent 15 years with the FWS’s inspection office at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport before transferring to FWS headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

In a case that wrapped up last fall, a wildlife inspector in Denver looked carefully at the documents for a shipment of leopard (Panthera pardus) trophies coming in from Zimbabwe and started asking questions. Those questions prompted a multi-year investigation that uncovered smuggling and permit fraud and led to the convictions of two South African hunting outfitters, five American hunters, and a Denver taxidermist. Inspectors have launched investigations that unraveled a multi-country, multi-company queen conch meat smuggling operation; prevented illegal trade in U.S. paddlefish caviar; sent a fish dealer to prison for smuggling endangered Asian arowanas; and put a leading shark fin entrepreneur out of business—all cases prosecuted in the past three years.

Crime Stoppers

To solve wildlife crimes, agents may rely on tips from the public, interviews with witnesses and suspects,

analysis of business records, email communications, photographs, physical evidence (such as fingerprints), and other materials that link criminals to their crimes. Some investigations require officers to dig even deeper. FWS agents may go undercover in the guise of a customer, middleman, shipper, or hunting client to secure proof that suspects are knowingly profiteering at the expense of protected wildlife. The advent of e-commerce allows agents to pursue suspected wildlife dealers via the “virtual” marketplace, with email contacts and online deals.

Wildlife identification skills are particularly important to the crime-fighting work of inspectors. They must be able to verify that the contents of a shipment match the species listed on wildlife declaration forms and permits, and they need to be able to spot and recognize unlawful wildlife products in time to detain them. Inspectors in the 1970s and 1980s were pretty much on their own with respect to wildlife identification. When FWS’s Forensics Laboratory opened in 1989, however, inspectors and agents faced with identifying wildlife and wildlife products finally had access to hard science to back up seizures (see article on page 50). Lab scientists include experts that can help answer the seemingly simple question: “What is it?” Species identification is critical since U.S. wildlife laws generally protect specific species, not “wildlife” in general. The FWS lab has had a hand in developing many of the tools and techniques for species identification, particularly for wildlife parts and products.

While FWS enforcement officers and forensic experts focus on documenting specific violations, a four-person Intelligence Unit supports those efforts and also works on the front end to collect and analyze information on possible wildlife crimes. “We do a lot of legwork for investigators and inspectors, such as finding out where a suspect lives or tracking down information about illegal wildlife shipments,” says Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Christina Thornblom Kish, who heads the Unit. “We also gather, analyze, and share intelligence to support federal, state, and tribal wildlife enforcement as well as investigative efforts in other countries.” FWS law enforcement officers and their partners often build cases so solid that defendants plead guilty rather than go to trial. “We may not have the staff to investigate every possible violation, but we do have an impact,” Perez says. “When we pursue a case and collect the evidence needed to secure charges, the charges usually stick.”