The Lies, Foibles, and Misrepresentations of George W Bush

US set to OK trade in rare species

October 13, 2003



The Bush Administration is proposing far-reaching changes to conservation policies that would allow hunters, circuses and the pet industry to kill, capture and import animals on the brink of extinction in other countries.

Giving Americans access to endangered animals, officials said, would feed the gigantic US demand for live animals, skins, parts and trophies, and generate profits that would let poor nations pay for conservation of the remaining animals and their habitats.

This and other proposals that pursue conservation through trade would, for example, allow American trophy hunters to kill the endangered straight-horned markhor in Pakistan; license the pet industry to import the blue fronted Amazon parrot from Argentina; permit the capture of endangered Asian elephants for US circuses and zoos; and partially resume the trade in African ivory. No US endangered species would be affected.

Conservation groups counter that killing or capturing even a few animals is hardly the best way to protect endangered species, and say the policies cater to individuals and businesses that profit from animal exploitation.

"It's a very dangerous precedent to decide that wildlife exploitation is in the best interest of wildlife," said Adam Roberts, a senior research associate at the non-profit Animal Welfare Institute, an advocacy group for endangered species.

The latest proposal involves an interpretation of the Endangered Species Act that deviates radically from the course followed by Republican and Democratic administrations since president Richard Nixon signed the act in 1973. The law established broad protection for endangered species, most of them not native to America, and in effect prohibited trade in them.

Kenneth Stansell, assistant director for international affairs at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, said there was a growing realisation that the Endangered Species Act gave poor countries no incentive to protect dying species. Allowing American hunters, circuses and the pet industry to pay countries to take fixed numbers of animals from the wild would fund conservation programs for remaining animals, he said.

Such trade was already open to hunters, pet importers and zoos in other Western countries, US officials said. The idea was supported by poor countries that were home to the endangered species and would benefit from the revenue, they said.

Animal welfare advocates question the logic of the new approach, saying that countries and groups that stand to profit will be in charge of determining how many animals can be killed or captured. They warn that opening the door to legal trade will allow poaching to flourish.

The Washington Post

U.S. plans legal endangered species trade
Fish and Wildlife says move would promote conservation

Saturday, October 11, 2003 Posted: 4:44 PM EDT (2044 GMT)




WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to change its policy to permit the importation of endangered species, their parts and products from countries that promote wildlife conservation programs.

Such a program could give incentives to countries to create stronger wildlife and habitat programs, the agency said in its draft rule, which is open for public comment until October 17. But some conservationists see the policy as a bad precedent and predicted it will face strong opposition.

Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973 to protect animals facing extinction in the wild.

The act currently prohibits the capture, import, sale and killing of endangered species without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Those who request permits must demonstrate that their proposed activity would enhance the survival of the species in the wild and that the animals won't be used primarily for commercial purposes.

The Endangered Species Act has largely kept zoos and circuses from buying endangered species to use in shows or for the purpose of caging them. It also protects endangered species from trophy hunters.

Under the proposed change, money spent by U.S. zoos and circuses to import the endangered animals could be used support conservation projects abroad, the agency said.

Hunters, zoos, circuses and traders in wild animal products could benefit from the policy, the service said in a posting on its Web site.

Species involved in the service's "proposed enhancement-of-survival policy" include the Asian elephant in India, southeast Asia and China; the Morelet's crocodile in Mexico; the Asian bonytongue fish in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia; the wood bison in Canada; and the markhor, a member of the goat family, in Pakistan.

Citing worsening breeding problems among captive Asian elephants in the United States, the agency said there is increased demand among zoos and circuses for additional stock from Asia. Meanwhile, there is a "surplus" of elephants in many countries, where officials face a crisis over how to handle the problem.

Adam Roberts, a senior research associate at the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute, an advocacy group for endangered species, called the proposed policy "a horribly dangerous precedent, a wrong-headed conservation policy propelled by the circus and zoo, trophy-hunting lobby in the United States and others who want to profit by the commercialization of live animals or dead ones."

"Eco-tourism" activities -- such as safaris and whale-watching trips -- generate more income than would trophy-hunting and whale killing, he said.

What in the world is wrong with them? Conserve a species by killing it off? Promote freedom by occupying a nation? Serve as a beacon for liberty by repealing civil liberties?Proclaim thermselves as Christians by insisting on more death penalties? It just makes no sense!

The Federal Government is experiencing a sharp increase in tax revenues. That's right, an increase! It's no small increase in federal tax revenues either. Try this figure ---- $85 Billion. The current estimate of tax revenues to the federal government is $85,000,000,000 higher right now than it was one month ago.

Brand X wrote:

The Federal Government is experiencing a sharp increase in tax revenues. That's right, an increase! It's no small increase in federal tax revenues either. Try this figure ---- $85 Billion. The current estimate of tax revenues to the federal government is $85,000,000,000 higher right now than it was one month ago.

Where does this "estimate" come from, X? Where is your citation for this? More importantly, where do you think someone discovered $85 billion that wasn't there last month?

(I think they pulled it out of their ass to make the administration look good, but hey, that's just MO.)

We hold ourselves to a slightly more rigorous standard in this forum, and you've been here long enough to know it. For someone whose first posts here included a quote from rushlimbaugh.com, I have to wonder:

Who's telling you what to think these days, now that Rusty's in rehab? :wink:

Well, that's a not-so-clever way of beating around the Bush. I would like to know the source of the information on tax revenues also. Estimate of tax revenues for what period of time?

...because you don't like positive news about the economy...

That's Limbaughvian, the very initiative sprung from a mind addled by Oxycontin.