Radio Script
2001

USFWS Inspector Chris Andrews holds an ash tray made from a monkey skull seized from a passenger at the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska. (Courtesy Associated Press.)

Anchorage Airport a Hub
for Endangered Wildlife Trade
__________________

INTRO: According to the World Wildlife Fund, the United States is the ultimate destination for most of the endangered plants and animals taken illegally around the world. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a fair number of these endangered species are smuggled into the United States through the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska.

STORY: Many of the items confiscated each year by law enforcement officers with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were brought into the U.S. by people who just didn't know that what they had was illegal.

Things like sealskin slippers and gloves, walrus tusks, and whale teeth are popular souvenirs, says Chris Andrews, a wildlife inspection officer with the service. Most people readily show officers what they have, but he says a few try to slip their souvenirs past inspectors.

ANDREWS: "We ask three or four times: 'Do you have any handicrafts?' [They'll say] 'No.' 'Are you sure you don't have any souvenirs? You didn't pick up anything made out of ivory?' 'No.' We'll emphasize it again, and then when we open their bag a tusk falls out. They say, 'Oh, I forgot I had that in there.'"

Andrews conducts most of his inspections at Alaska's Anchorage International Airport. The airport is a hub for international passenger flights to Russia and the Far East, as well as a major sorting location for several package shipping companies. He and one other full-time agent work alongside U.S. Customs agents to stem the flow of endangered or illegal wildlife into and out of the country.

ANDREWS: "We have a number of passenger flights that come through Anchorage. We work right alongside U.S. Customs. We have all of the authority of a Customs inspector. We'll pull people over and ask them what kind of souvenirs they're bringing back."

First-time offenders typically have their illegal items confiscated, and usually no charges are filed. It's only when an individual has been caught several times that charges are brought. Some people will do almost anything to make money from the illegal wildlife trade.

ANDREWS: "We detained a woman who was acting very nervous in the passenger area. Customs asked her some questions and it ended up that she had $9,900 on her. She had just purchased 13 cartons of cigarettes up in the Duty Free shop. If you have over $10,000 you have to report it to customs. It seemed very obvious she was trying not to report her money. She was very nervous and sweaty, so a female customs inspector took her in the back and found a bear gall bladder in one of her bra cups."

One of the world's largest air cargo hubs, Anchorage is home to Federal Express and United Parcel Service. Andrews says this is where much of the illegal wildlife trade is conducted.

ANDREWS: "We actually go over to those hubs and do random selections, and we're finding all kinds of illegal wildlife items: monkey skulls, rhino horn medicines, coral, elephant ivory. We make probably a seizure or two each day."

In an average year, Alaska inspectors will examine around 3,000 shipments entering the country. Nationwide, the service's 90 inspectors will look through 80,000 shipments and impose more than $2 million in fines and penalties. While that sounds like a lot, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that, nationwide, U.S. wildlife officers intercept just one percent of the illegal wildlife trade entering the United States each year. Andrews agrees that a lot of activity goes undetected.

ANDREWS: "We actually had two inspectors come up before Christmas and we did a blitz on the Russian flights and Federal Express. Say that normally in one week we look at 100 shipments. We looked at 200 shipments the week they were here, and basically we doubled what we found before."

Still, Andrews enjoys his job as a wildlife enforcement officer. He has a degree in forestry and did a stint with the Peace Corps in Africa before joining the Fish and Wildlife Service. When not at the Anchorage airport, he sometimes pulls duty at the Alaska/Canada border, where he says people there try to get through with all kinds of things as well.

ANDREWS: "You really have to scratch your head when the Winnebago comes up with a ten-foot piece of whale baleen strapped to the side of the Winnebago, and you have to turn them around."

Baleen whales are a protected species in the United States, and the import and export of baleen or other whale parts is illegal.

OUTRO:In the column at right, you'll find links to information about what can and cannot be imported into or exported from the United States. This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

Thanks to the following individual for help preparing this script:

Chris Andrews, Enforcement Officer
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
1011 East Tudor Rd., Suite 155
Anchorage Alaska 99503-6199
Phone: 907-271-6456
Email: r7lewi@fws.gov

Arctic Science Journeys is a radio service highlighting science, culture, and the environment of the circumpolar north. Produced by the Alaska Sea Grant College Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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Related Web sites

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

US Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

World Wildlife Fund