JOHANNESBURG -- President Barack Obama's administration is stepping up efforts to combat wildlife poaching, an expanding criminal enterprise in South Africa that has driven several animal species toward extinction.
But the effort is coming as South Africa wrestles with its own strategy. Just last month, a South African court lifted a ban on domestic trade in rhinoceros horns, reigniting a debate between those who claim that a legal trade within South Africa's borders could help stem the poaching crisis and those who say it would only worsen it.
The U.S. government is pouring millions of dollars into training and intelligence gathering to help counter losses among endangered species, especially some types of African rhinos. South Africa has 80 percent of the world's rhino population.
"The bottom line is the impact of wildlife trafficking isn't just contained to Africa," said U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who has introduced legislation to require the Obama administration to develop a country-by-country strategy on poaching. "The impacts of this rapidly growing crisis are spreading around the world, now even threatening our national security."
Trafficking in wildlife has diminished elephant and rhino populations in Africa. In the first eight months of this year, poachers killed 749 rhinos in South Africa, up from 716 over the same period in 2014, according to the latest figures from the South African government.
In many Asian countries, especially Vietnam and China, rhino horns are believed to cure ailments like headaches and hangovers, and a single rhino horn can fetch up to $60,000. The horns also are made into libation cups and are considered a symbol of wealth among the emerging middle class in Asian countries. Illegal wildlife trafficking is estimated to be a roughly $20 billion-a-year enterprise globally.
But the trade has moved beyond Asia. The United States has grown into the second-largest market for illegal wildlife products and is a major conduit of contraband flowing across the Pacific.
One of the many groups being funded by the United States to help combat the illegal wildlife trade is the Endangered Wildlife Trust, an environmental group that works to protect endangered animal and plant species.
Based in an industrial park just outside Johannesburg, the group is one of three nongovernmental organizations in South Africa that recently received a combined $1.8 million in grants from the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement to train law enforcement and government officials to use surveillance equipment, and to identify and protect endangered plant species.
Adam Pires, who runs training programs for the wildlife trust, said many law enforcement officials often lack the skills to properly investigate poaching.
"Most of these guys are used to covering murders and street crimes," Pires said. "They don't know anything about collecting evidence for environmental crimes or preserving a poaching crime scene."
The U.S. Department of Justice has received $100,000 from the State Department to provide training for prosecutors and judges from six southern African countries to combat illegal animal and plant sales.
The training, which was held in Zambia, focused on criminal investigation procedures such as establishing a chain of custody, tracing assets and prosecuting environmental cases, said John Cruden, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division.
"We're ratcheting up our efforts in southern Africa since this is where so much of the illegal rhino horns and other materials come from," Cruden said.
The wildlife trust has provided anti-poaching training to more than 450 police and intelligence officials. The training, Pires said, has contributed to an increase in the number of people arrested for poaching. Arrests in Kruger National Park, a major area of operations for poachers in South Africa, totaled 138 as of August 2015 compared with 81 arrests over the same period last year, according to government data.
A Section on 12/24/2015