Agencies Could Do More to Reduce Demand for Illegal Wildlife Originating in Southeast Asia, GAO Finds
The executive branch is taking action designed to reduce demand for illegal wildlife, including building awareness and law enforcement capacity, but disagreement among officials on roles and responsibilities has hindered some activities to combat wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia, the…
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Government Accountability Office said in a report released Oct. 12. The GAO recommended that the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Interior and State departments work to clarify roles and responsibilities for staff collaborating on prevention efforts in Southeast Asia. The agencies agreed with the GAO’s recommendations. About 90 percent of seized wildlife shipments recorded by the Fish and Wildlife Service from 2007 to 2016 were seized upon import, sometimes due to invalid clearance documentation, the report says. The top 10 wildlife shipments seized by FWS in that time frame were coral, crocodile, conch, deer, python, sea turtle, mollusks, ginseng, clam and seahorse, the GAO said.