Market forces in the animal kingdom

In the past, Washington permitted certain species on the verge of extinction abroad to be brought in for research, breeding and educational purposes. But this would be the first time in the 30-year history of the Endangered Species Act that the nation has allowed such animals killed in the wild to be imported.

Many conservation groups are opposed to the proposal and express scepticism that allowing increased trade would result in greater preservation.

‘‘This would throw open the door to allow imports potentially of any of 500 endangered species,” said Carroll Muffett, director of international programmes for Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington, DC-based conservation group.

Other Western nations permit such trade. The Fish and Wildlife Service maintains it already has the authority to approve import permits but now seeks to broaden circumstances under which it will do so. The agency’s proposal states it will grant permits only when the host country has supported ‘‘a substantive conservation programme’’ that has benefited the species or its habitat and when doing so will ‘‘further promote and advance the conservation of the species’’ in that country.

Among endangered species officials cite as candidates for import under the proposed policy are the Morelet’s crocodile, found off the coast of Mexico, whose skin is valued for leather goods; the straight-horned markhor, a wild goat in Pakistan prized by sport hunters, and the Asian bonytongue, a tropical freshwater fish native to southeast Asia.

The proposal also mentioned the Asian elephant, found in India, southeast Asia and China, which is in demand by zoos and circuses in the US because captive breeding domestically ‘‘has not been very successful’’.

‘‘We’re talking about a very limited application, particularly to start with, to see if it encourages conservation,’’ said Kenneth B. Stansell, assistant director for international affairs at the Fish and Wildlife Service. ‘‘I can’t imagine we would have more than a few if we actually go forward.’’

He said this idea had been ‘‘evolving in the Fish and Wildlife Service for the past five to six years’’ and was not the result of lobbying or pressure.

Craig Hoover, deputy director of Traffic North America, the trade-monitoring programme of the WWF, said his organisation ‘‘would be supportive of trade in endangered species if there was solid evidence that that trade was benefiting the species in the wild’’.

But he said the US proposal failed to spell out how the Fish and Wildlife Service would determine that permitting imports enhanced a species’ chances for survival. ‘‘The million-dollar question here,’’ Hoover said, ‘‘is exactly how far does this policy push the envelope?’’(LAT-WP)