A delegation of African conservation officers visited last

Sun, Sep 1, 2013

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This warehouse holds the grisly goods of an illegal trade

Canada Goose Parka “Even if you don’t find it attractive, somebody does,” said Sarah canada goose outlet 80 off Metzer, education specialist here at the National Wildlife Property Repository, home to over 1.3 million items seized at ports throughout the nation. “There are many different canada goose outlet niagara falls value systems. But the use doesn’t matter, it’s the impact on the species.” Canada Goose Parka

The repository resides inside the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Denver. Fish Wildlife Service which receives regular shipments from its agents and inspectors throughout the country. One day it could be a giraffe head, the next a zebra leg lamp. Live animals that are seized are handled elsewhere. The warehouse also holds canada goose premium outlet endangered plant species, including varieties of rosewood.

canadian goose jacket The wildlife repository, which has been here since 1995, is the only one of its kind. It is canada goose outlet mall used primarily for education, offering a tactile immersion into the dark world of poaching and canada goose jacket outlet illegal trafficking. A delegation of African conservation officers visited last year for training in tracking and cataloging products of the illicit trade. Some of the contraband is sent to zoos, science centers and universities. canadian goose jacket

canada goose store “My goal is to have people see the sheer canada goose outlet miami volume of what we have here,” Metzer said. “We are not talking about one shark or canada goose outlet in uk one turtle. We have 1.3 million items, and that’s just here, and canada goose outlet sale it’s a small fraction of what is seized each year.” canada goose store

Canada Goose Jackets Rachel Kramer, manager of wildlife conservation at the World Wildlife Fund and the canada goose outlet store new york wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC, said canada goose outlet belgium such trade is now worth about $20 billion canada goose outlet official annually. That doesn’t include the up to $23.5 billion a year generated by illegal and unreported fishing and the estimated $100 billion from the illicit timber trade. Canada Goose Jackets

canada goose coats A canada goose outlet online variety of threatened and endangered species inside the National Wildlife Property Repository. (Matthew Staver / Los Angeles Times) canada goose coats

Globalization and growing economies, she said, canada goose jacket outlet uk are driving the increase, along with better canada goose outlet las vegas transportation links between canada goose outlet uk fake the wilderness and consumer markets.

“These are huge numbers,” Kramer said. “You don’t canada goose outlet in toronto see these kinds of illicit flows unless there is organized crime canada goose outlet uk and corruption involved.”

Canada Goose online TRAFFIC has reported that “entrenched criminal syndicates of Chinese origin” are active in South Africa manufacturing bracelets, beads, powders and other illegal items from rhino horns and then smuggled out of the country. is also canada goose outlet 2015 a major market for illegal wildlife. market is consumer based, it’s a transit point and a source for certain species, like freshwater turtles,” Kramer said. national was convicted for trafficking in North American box and spotted turtles to Asia. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Property Repository in Commerce City, Colo. (Matthew Staver / For The Times) Canada Goose online

buy canada goose jacket cheap The country is a source nation for black bears, which are poached for their paws and gall bladders. buy canada goose jacket cheap

Metzer walked past a table covered with bear canada goose outlet store uk heads to a beautifully crafted Chinese box. Inside were small vials of crystallized bear bile, used in traditional canada goose outlet uk sale medicine.

canada goose clearance sale There canada goose parka outlet were also packets of powdered seahorses and remedies containing toad venom and leopard bone to “promote blood circulation.” Another box held rhino horn pills that the makers claimed would combat night sweats and laryngitis. (There is little scientific evidence to support the healing properties of any of the products.) canada goose clearance sale

canada goose coats on sale “We canada goose outlet website legit are not here to tell people that traditional canada goose outlet new york medicine is wrong; we canada goose outlet vip are here to tell them that the populations of animals are canada goose outlet different today,” Metzer said. “There simply aren’t as canada goose jacket outlet toronto many as there once were.” canada goose coats on sale

cheap Canada Goose An imposing white rhino head and a footstool made of an elephant foot stood near the back of the warehouse. There were rows of cobra skin boots, swords made from swordfish, cockfighting spurs created from sea turtle shells and bags of pangolin scales. cheap Canada Goose

canada goose Pangolins, which slightly resemble small anteaters, are the most trafficked mammals on earth. Despite international bans on their trade, they are widely poached in Asia canada goose outlet new york city and Africa for canada goose outlet price their scales and meat. canada goose

canada goose clearance “The scales are believed to have medicinal properties,” Metzer said. canada goose clearance

The shelves were organized by their contents. One held boxes of elephant parts tanned elephant canada goose outlet online uk skins, elephant tails, elephant hair bracelets and elephant skin shoes. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Property Repository. (Matthew Staver / For The Times)

Canada Goose Outlet The overall impact of seeing thousands upon thousands of threatened and endangered species transformed into bits and pieces of commerce is numbing. And the way the animals are portrayed in canada goose outlet store quebec death the shoddy taxidermy, for instance makes it even more grotesque. Canada Goose Outlet

canada goose black friday sale A row of tiger heads had their mouths twisted canada goose outlet real in faux http://www.canadagoosesalesus.com snarls. Margays, a small wild cat native to Central and South America, grimaced through broken teeth. Some had crossed eyes. canada goose black friday sale

Metzer offers tours of the facility to the public. She said people are often conflicted when they come in. Some may find a ball python trimmed purse fetching while being repulsed by a lion pelt, or vice versa.

buy canada goose jacket “It’s odd what people are attracted to,” she said. “You have pieces of art that are exquisite but the medium is wrong.” buy canada goose jacket

Some of that art is made from the endangered hawksbill sea turtle. They are tagged and bagged in plastic here to protect them from insects. Jewelry boxes made of their luminous shells sit alongside them.

Yet amid this grisly tableau, Metzer finds reason for optimism.

canada goose deals “This warehouse oddly represents hope,” she said. “As macabre as it it seems, without it we would not have the tactile opportunities to see the wildlife trade up close and maybe change attitudes.” canada goose deals.

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