1

Center for Immigration Studies

1629 K Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20006 • Phone 202.466.8185 • Fax 202.466.8076 • www.cis.org

C I S

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August 2018

Closely tied to the criminal networks involved in illegal immigration and drug smuggling across the U.S. bor-der is illegal wildlife trafficking, a $10 billion industry that harms vulnerable animal populations and brings

various endangered species closer to extinction.

When Americans picture illegal animal smuggling, they may imagine black markets in distant, underdeveloped nations, but the reality hits closer to home. The United States is one of the top destinations for illegally trafficked animal goods, and every year thousands of illicit animal products are smuggled across both the northern and southern border and into various American ports.

In recent years, smugglers have increasingly imported not just animal parts such as rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory, and various leather products — but also live endangered animals, used sometimes as pets and sometimes for commercial purposes.

One cannot explain the full story of animal smuggling without looking at its close ties to illegal immigration and border security. Animal smugglers and human smugglers are often connected to the same cartels, travel the same routes, and require many of the same federal resources and personnel to combat. The prevalence of smuggled live animals originating in Latin America highlights the need for border enforcement solutions to jointly tackle animal and human trafficking.

In this report, we analyze over 30 years of government data on live endangered animal imports seized in the United States.1

Key findings:

• Therehavebeen4,968seizuresofendangeredliveanimalsbytheU.S.FishandWildlifeService(FWS)between1982and2016.

• FWShasaveraged274seizuresperyearoverthelastdecadecomparedtounder100peryearfrombefore2008.

• Onehundredandfifty-fourdifferentnationshaveexportedendangeredliveanimalstotheUnitedStates,butbyfarthelargestexporterisIndonesia(1,287),followedbyMexico(480),andAustralia(263).

• ThemostcommonlytraffickedendangeredanimalseizuresintotheUnitedStatesarecoral(2,095),par-rots(1,105),andlizards(466).

• Ofthe4,968liveendangeredanimalseizures,257havebeenofanimalspeciesthatfaceathreatofextinc-tion(“AppendixIseizures”).

• Illegal immigration and animal smuggling are closely linked:Among the top-10portswhere animalproducts are seized, six are located in cities in southern border states and all five of the cities with the most illegal immigrants are included.

Endangered at the BorderAnimal Trafficking Closely Tied to Drug, Human TraffickingBy Matt Sussis

1629KStreet,NW,Suite600•Washington,DC20006•(202)466-8185•center@cis.org•www.cis.org

Matt Sussis is the assistant director of communications at the Center for Immigration Studies.

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Center for Immigration Studies

IntroductionHigh-profileanimalseizuresatthesouthernborderhavebeenrepeatedlymakingheadlines.InMay2018,forexample,threealienscrossedtheborderintoTexaswithablackduffelbag,whichtheyabandonedwhentheyrealizedtherewereBorderPatrol agents nearby. When agents searched the bag, they discovered an unconscious tiger cub. The tiger was turned over to azooinBrownsville,Texas,whereitwasnursedbacktohealth.Manyothersmuggledanimalshavenotbeensolucky.

Dueinparttothelonghistoryofsensitiveanimalseizuressuchasthatone,theUnitedStatesand178othernationssignedontoamultilateraltreatyentitledCITES,ortheConventiononInternationalTradeinEndangeredSpeciesofWildFaunaandFlora,otherwiseknownastheWashingtonConvention,in1975.Atthetime,theinternationalcommunitywasparticularlyinterested in combating the depletion of animal populations for luxury goods such as furs, but the Convention’s primary goals have since expanded to target a much broader range of products and species.2

Under CITES, all signatory countries track the illegal trade of endangered animal products within and between their bor-ders,andpubliclyreporttheirfindings.IntheUnitedStates,theU.S.Fish&WildService,anagencywithintheDepartmentoftheInterior,isresponsibleforCITESimplementation,reporting,andenforcement.FWShaswildlifeinspectionagentspositioned at all major U.S. ports and has agents positioned across both the southern and northern borders who coordinate closelywithCustomsandBorderProtection(CBP).Suchcooperationhighlightsthehand-in-handrelationshipthathumanand animal trafficking share.

AnalysisofCITES/FWSseizuredataprovidesinsightintochangingtrendsamongliveendangeredanimaltraffickingintotheUnitedStates.Ourdatabeginsin1982,thefirstyearforwhichfullCITESseizuredataisavailableonline.3

What’s Going on with Live Animal Seizures?Seizurespeakedsharplyduringthe2008-2009economiccrisis,andhavesteadilydeclinedsince.However,seizuresremainsignificantly higher than the average of approximately 100 seizures per year in the several decades leading up to the economic crisis.Overall,therewere4,968seizuresbetween1982and2016.Themostrecentlyreleasedfull-yeardataforseizuresisfor2016,inwhich148liveendangeredanimalseizurestookplace.

Onehundredandfifty-fourdifferentnationshaveexportedlive,endangeredanimalstotheUnitedStatesoverthetrackedperiod,butthelargemajoritycomefromasmallnumberofnations.Thetopfiveexporters—Indonesia,Mexico,Australia,Tonga, and Canada — combined account for nearly half of all seized shipments. The top-10 trafficking nations combined accountfor60percentoftheshipments.Inotherwords,whilethetotalnumberofshipmentsisquitehigh,thisisaproblem

Figure 1. Seizures of Live, Endangered Animals by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1982-2016

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlifeService.

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Center for Immigration Studies

concentrated in a relatively small number of places.

Which Live Animals Are Being Smuggled? Animalsbelongingto386differentgen-eraand127different familieshavebeenseizedinthe1982-2016period,butsev-eral species show up much more promi-nently in the data.

Awhopping42percentoftheliveendan-gered animal species are of coral, par-ticularlystonycorals.Manyofthesecoralshipments come from the Coral Triangle, a triangular area of tropical marine wa-tersaroundIndonesiaandMalaysia.

Overfishing, tourism, and habitat de-struction have left many species in the Coral Triangle under threat, which are now trackedunderCITES.Beyondcor-al, popular animal shipments include parrots, particularly the colorful, hook-billedspeciescollectivelyknownas“trueparrots”,andlizards,particularlyiguanas.While some birds and lizards are resold for commercial purposes, the majority are kept as pets.

CITES classifies all seized animal shipments as either Appendix I, II, or III. Ap-pendix I is the most serious classification, and represents species that face an extinction risk. Appendix II represents species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but whose trade still must be controlled as protection. Appendix III represents species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES signatories for help regulating the trade.

Country

IndonesiaMexicoAustraliaTongaCanadaFijiMadagascarSolomon IslandsGuyanaVietnamTanzaniaColombiaHondurasPeruUnknownTogoGhana

Table 1. Exporting Countries with the Most Seized Shipments of Live Endangered Animals into the U.S., 1982-2016

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,Fishand Wildlife Service.

SeizedShipments

1,287480263224190135110106979486797066605855

Animal

ParrotCoralCoralTurtleCoralCoralCoralLizardCoralCoralCoralSnakeSnakeGiant ClamLizardLizardCoralCoralCoralFishBirdofPreyLizardCoralSeahorseParrotTurtleCoralFelineCoralMonkeyOther

Table 2. Most Commonly Seized Live Animal Families, 1982-2016

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlife Service.

Family

PsittacidaeFaviidaeMussidaeTestudinidaeCaryophylliidaeAcroporidaeFungiidaeChamaeleonidaeDendrophylliidaePoritidaePectiniidaePythonidaeBoidaeTridacnidaeVaranidaeIguanidaeScleractiniaMerulinidaePocilloporidaeOsteoglossidaeAccipitridaeGekkonidaeTrachyphylliidaeSyngnathidaeCacatuidaeGeoemydidaeOculinidaeFelidaeTubiporidaeCercopithecidaeOther

Number

1,047343290284277218183161146142114108106102102868468605452504847463838333130580

Figure 2. Live Animal Seizures by Family/Species, 1982-2016

Figure 3. Seizures of Live Animals by CITES Appendix, 1982-2016

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlifeService. Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlifeService.

Coral: 2,095II: 4,612Turtle: 408

Lizard: 466

Snake: 238Giant Clam: 102

Seahorse: 47 I: 257Fish: 75

III: 99

Parrot:1,005

Bird of Prey: 76

Other:356

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Center for Immigration Studies

Ofthe4,968liveendangeredanimalseizures,257havebeenAppendixIspecies—primarilyfreshwaterfishandseveralspe-cies of parrots including scarlet macaws, Cuban amazons, and yellow-shouldered parrots.

Coral Trafficking Has Driven the Changes in Live Animal SeizuresWhileseizuresofvariousspeciesofanimalsincreasedduringtheeconomiccrisisof2008-2009,thebulkoftheincreasewasdriven by coral seizures, especially from Indonesia, specifically, and Asia more broadly. All stony and blue coral species were addedtoCITES’AppendixIIin1985overrisingconcernsaboutthefragilityofcoralecosystems.Thesegroupsofspeciesaccount for nearly all U.S. coral seizures.

Inthe1980stoearly2000s,lessthanone-quarterofallseizedshipmentswerecoral.Butnow,overhalfofallseizuresarecor-al.However,whiletheproportionofcoralremainshigh,thetotalnumberofcoralshipmentsseizedhasdeclinedsince2009.

The government has completed several high-profile crackdowns on coral traffickers in recent years that have likely contrib-utedtothedecreaseintheillicittradeofCITES-protectedcoral.In2013,aformerjewelrycompanyexecutiveandVirginIs-lands resident was handed $1.1 million in fines and a short jail sentence for trafficking black coral via Taiwan. The same year, theco-ownerofoneofthelargestlivecoralimportbusinessesintheUnitedStateswasfinedover$500,000formislabelingandsmugglingCITES-listedstonycoralsintothecountry.Mostrecently,in2017afederalgrandjuryreturnedanindictmentcharging an individual with stripping CITES-protected corals from Vietnam and smuggling them into the United States via hidden air cargo shipments.4

Justastheincreaseincoraldrovethetotalincreaseinseizuresaround2008,sotoodidthedecreaseincoralseizuresexplainthe overall decrease in live animal seizures in recent years. The number of non-coral seizures — parrots, giant clams, lizards, etc.—hasremainedquiteconsistentsincetheeconomiccrisis,averagingapproximately100peryear.In2016,itdeclinedto74.Thisisafarsmallerchangethanwesawwithcoral—therewereonly74coralseizuresin2016comparedtoahighof269in2016.

Overall, fluctuations in coral seizures — which spiked during the economic crisis and declined after the federal government’s crackdowns — explain the majority of the year-to-year changes in the data, as other live animals have been smuggled at relatively consistent rates.

Figure 4. Seizures of Live Coral vs. Other Live Animals, by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1982-2016

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlifeService.

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Other AnimalsCoral

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Animal Smuggling Is Closely Tied to Illegal ImmigrationAnimal and human smugglers share much in common. They travel many of the same routes, they are combated by many of the same government agencies and resources, and in many cases, they are part of the same criminal groups.

InFebruary2017,PresidentTrumpsignedanexecutiveorderentitled“EnforcingFederalLawwithrespecttoTransnationalCriminalOrganizationsandPrevent-ingInternationalTrafficking”.5 The order redirected more resources to the identi-fication of transnational criminal networks. In the order, the president noted that thesamecriminalnetworksareoftenjointlyresponsiblefor“theillegalsmugglingandtraffickingofhumans,drugsorothersubstances,wildlife,andweapons.”

In fact, over one-quarter of all animal products and live animals smuggled into the United States come from Latin America, making the southern border a hot-spot forwildlife seizures.According toFWS, someof thebiggest entrypointsincludeSanDiego,ElPaso,andNogales,Ariz.Itisnocoincidencethatthesecitiesare also hot-spots for illegal immigration.

BothhumanandanimalsmugglersoftenenterthecountryviaMexico.Accord-ingtotheGovernmentAccountabilityOffice(GAO),ofthetop-10U.S.portsforseizedwildlifeshipmentsbetween2007and2016,sixarecitiesinsouthernborderstates(LosAngeles,SanFrancisco,ElPaso,Dallas,Houston,andMiami).Fur-ther, all five of the metro areas with the largest illegal immigrant populations — NewYork,LosAngeles,Houston,Dallas,andMiami—areamongthetopportsfor wildlife seizures. While this is of course also due to population size, the fact remains that wildlife and human smuggling occurs in many of the same major urban areas.

Additionally, one of the ways in which cartels smug-gle drugs across the border is by using animals. WhileFWS/CITESdatadoesnotprovideinforma-tion on how many of the animals seized were being used as drug mules, there have been several high-profile cases.

Perhaps the highest-profile case yet came this spring, when a Spanish veterinarian was charged with collaborating with a Colombian drug cartel to surgically place packets of heroin inside puppies. The drugs were shipped from Colombia to his clinic in Spain, and then from Spain to the United States, with each puppy holding roughly one pound of her-oin in its belly. The veterinarian was charged after evading American authorities for over a decade. The authoritiesultimatelyarrested21peopleacrossCo-lombiaandtheUnitedStates,andseized$2millionof heroin.6

Overall, such cases highlight the inseparable con-nection behind animal smuggling and other forms of trafficking, from illegal aliens to drugs.

Country

MexicoGuyanaColombiaHondurasPeruNicaraguaSurinameArgentinaBrazilEl SalvadorVenezuelaBoliviaPanamaEcuadorDominicanRepublicOther Latin AmericaTotal Latin America

Table 3. Latin American Countries Account for 25 Percent of Live Animals Seized in the U.S.

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlife Service.

Number

4809779706651414037363531312623108

1,251

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9.7%2.0%1.6%1.4%1.3%1.0%0.8%0.8%0.7%0.7%0.7%0.6%0.6%0.5%0.5%2.2%25.2%

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Figure 5. Six of the Top-10 Ports for Live Ani-mal Seizures Are in Southern Border States

Source: CITESTradeDatabase,FishandWildlifeService.

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Center for Immigration Studies

ConclusionAnimal trafficking highlights serious vulnerabilities at America’s ports, but the issue is not unsolvable, and some steps have already been taken.

Thebiggestsingle-yeardecreaseinliveanimalseizureswasin2013,whenthenumberofcoralseizuresfellbynearly100fromthepreviousyear.It’salmostcertainlynotacoincidencethatthiswasthesameyearthattheFishandWildlifeServiceconcluded several of its most high-profile crackdowns on smugglers of CITES-protected coral.

Further,thegovernment’spassageoftheEliminate,Neutralize,andDisrupt(END)WildlifeTraffickingActin2016elevatedanimaltraffickingtothesamelevelofoffenseastraffickingindrugsorweapons.The2017CITESdatawilllikelyrevealthedegreetowhichtheactwaseffective.

Thenumberofnon-coralliveanimalseizureshasdeclinedsince2009,butremainswellabovepre-recessionlevels.Publiciz-ing crackdowns with serious fines on traffickers of other CITES-protected animals such as true parrots or turtles might have asimilardeterrenteffect,andhelpreturnoverallliveseizurestopre-2008levels.

While the legislation mentioned above will likely have an impact, wildlife trafficking legislation at the local and state levels arestilllacking.Mostborderstatesdonotyethavemulti-specieslegislationonthebooksagainstanimalsmuggling.Whendebating such solutions, lawmakers ought to consider the wide-ranging impact of animal smuggling on everything from vulnerable species populations to international criminal organizations to illegal immigration.

Morebroadly,theyshouldrecognizethatbecauseillegalimmigrationandanimalsmugglingareinextricablylinked,asecureborder that reduces illegal immigration would necessarily reduce wildlife trafficking as well.

End Notes1 The CITESTradeDatabasecanbefoundhere.

2 Willem Wijnstekers, The Evolution of CITES, 9th Edition, InternationalCouncilforGameandWildlifeConservation,2011.

3 The firstyearofaccessibleCITESdataisfor1979,butitishighlyincompleteandcontainsonlyafewentries;1982isthefirstyear with complete data across a range of species.

4 “GrandJuryIssues IndictmentsAllegingThreeSchemes toSmuggleProtectedCoralSpecies InandOutof theUnitedStates”, DepartmentofJusticepressrelease,September26,2017.

5 “EnforcingFederalLawwithrespecttoTransnationalCriminalOrganizationsandPreventingInternationalTrafficking”, ExecutiveOrder,February9,2017.

6 Lia Eustachewich, “Over$1millioninheroinfoundstashedwithdogincrate”, New York Post,March27,2017.