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The trafficker was pleased. He had already peddled 3 million US dollars of his illicit product and stood to make a nice profit on the deal in front of him. The undercover agent was nervous. It had taken two years of work to reach this point. While the sting in a posh Miami hotel room last year had the mark of a drug probe, the smuggler wasn't buying narcotics, and the agent didn't work for the FBI or DEA. Zhifei Li, 29, an antiques shop owner from China, was after rhinoceros horn, worth more on Asia's streets than gold, cocaine or heroin. As the Li case reveals, the rhino horn trade is lucrative and hard to stop. US wildlife and law enforcement officials say combating trafficking in rhino horns is key to their effort to dent the 8 billion US dollars to 10 billion US dollars annual global illicit trade in wildlife. Trafficking in wildlife wreaks havoc on species and their ecosystems -- whether loggers are stealing exotic woods, divers are catching rare fish or hunters are killing endangered animals for their skins and tusks. West and other US officials say they are also concerned that organized crime and even terrorist groups will join in, because the product is so valuable and the penalties light, compared with those for running drugs or guns. Rhino horn, composed chiefly of keratin, the same substance as a human fingernail, has seen its value surge in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam where citizens seek them for medicinal purposes. The horns are carved into intricate 'libation cups' or ground into powder to be consumed. As the price in Asia has approached as much as 60, US dollars per pound, poachers have slaughtered more and more rhinos to meet demand. There are an estimated 20, white rhinos and 5, black rhinos across Africa. The US government considers white rhinos threatened and black rhinos endangered. The poaching of rhinos, if left unchecked, will 'virtually wipe them out,' Judith Garber, an acting assistant secretary of State, testified before Congress in May. The surging price has also led smugglers from Africa to the US in search of older horns, usually mounted as trophies. US interstate trade in rhino horn less than years old is banned because authorities believe such deals help spur demand that leads to the killing of more of the animals. In , a unit of eight agents from the Fish and Wildlife Service and prosecutors from the Justice Department started 'Operation Crash,' the term for a herd of rhinos, to battle the trade after they noticed a rash of rhino horn thefts from museums and homes in Europe and arrested two Irishmen in Colorado seeking to make a purchase. Since then, agents have arrested 18 people for trafficking -- a disparate group that includes owners of antique shops, a rodeo cowboy, a nail salon proprietor and a convicted drug dealer. An early target was a Manhattan antiques dealer who became an informant and then 'double-crossed' law enforcement -- he was caught buying horns in sting operations, Justice Department attorneys Richard Udell and Janis Echenberg wrote in court papers. The man was sentenced last year to six months in prison. Last week, an appraiser of Asian art, a Texas resident who played a key role in Li's trafficking ring, pleaded guilty to smuggling almost 1 million US dollars worth of rhino horn and elephant ivory to China. In almost all cases, the smugglers were buying rhino horn through taxidermy websites, auction houses and through personal contacts in the US and shipping it to China and Vietnam. The US government estimates the 18 smugglers trafficked more than 10 million US dollars in rhino horn. Though most didn't know each other, several had something in common: They were working for Li, a former banker from Shandong who opened his antiques shop to cater to China's wealthy elite. It's nothing more than greed -- they don't care that there is rhino's head half-chopped up. Santel, a slim year-old who has a graying goatee and wears wraparound sunglasses, called the investigation of Li one of the most complex his agency has undertaken. In , agents came across an antiques dealer on Long Island who was one of three brokers arranging sales for Li. The purchases were often complicated and involved middlemen necessary to locate difficult-to-find horn and to obscure the transactions. In one instance, a New Jersey middleman brokered a deal for Li that would involve Missouri, Israeli and Long Island dealers before the horns were shipped to Hong Kong and smuggled into China. Agents eventually caught the Long Island dealer brokering a sale, and they convinced him to become an informant in the hopes of nabbing the ringleader. In late , Li told the dealer he was going to attend an antiques show in Miami and told him to find him some rhino horn to buy. The dealer said he had the perfect supplier: a wealthy Illinois businessman, who happened to be Santel. When Li showed up at the Miami hotel in late January , Santel pulled out two horns from his backpack -- one weighed 5 pounds and the other 2. Li was impressed by the large horn, which he said would be carved into a 'simple bowl. It was clear that Li had no inkling he was about to be arrested; he would later plead guilty to smuggling charges and be sentenced in May to five years in federal prison. As he was leaving the hotel room with his horns -- the entire transaction captured on videotape -- Li asked Santel if he could get more, 'as much as you can find? Columns Viewpoint. World news International news Finland in the world press. International news Previous Article A Scottish couple who hit the lottery jackpot are battling with J. Rowling over Britain's future. S fuel and farewell to coin minting: Finland in the world press.

‘Rhino horn was being bagged up like cocaine’

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And if current trends continue, the loss of these animals would have drastic implications not only for the species themselves, but also for other animals and the environments and ecosystems in which they live, according to a new report by an international team of scientists. The study , which was co-authored by Blaire Van Valkenburgh, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was recently published in the open-access online journal Science Advances. One of the critical factors behind the disturbing trend is the tremendous financial incentive for poachers to sell animal parts for consumer goods and food. Van Valkenburgh said even the researchers were surprised to find that 60 percent of species in the study — animals the size of reindeers and larger — are now considered to be threatened. Even though an individual elephant or rhino might persist in the wild somewhere in Africa, they will be functionally extinct in terms of their impact on the ecosystem. The scientists studied 74 species of wild herbivores that weigh an average of pounds at adulthood. The study notes that during the Pleistocene Epoch, which ended about 11, years ago, there were more than 40 species of herbivores in which adults weighed 2, pounds or more, but today there are only eight such species. For example, large herbivores are the primary source of food for predators and scavengers, and their trampling and consumption of plants influence the ways that vegetation grows. And humans, especially in developing regions, rely on large herbivores for food: It is estimated that 1 billion people rely on wild meat for subsistence. Other key factors include growing human populations and increased competition with livestock. The authors write that the latter has been a particular threat in developing nations, where livestock production tripled between and The scientists also emphasized the need for social marketing and environmental education campaigns as tools to drive down demand for animal products as food and consumer goods. They noted that a social media campaign featuring retired NBA player Yao Ming appeared to help save shark populations by reducing demand for shark fin soup in his native China. Stuart Wolpert May 14, Copy Link. From to , the number of rhinoceroses poached skyrocketed from 13 per year to 1, per year. Tags: conservation research world. UCLA in the Community. Sign up for a daily briefing. All RSS Feeds. Close menu. Search Newsroom Submit search.

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