TNAG-2132-FCO40-3047-Hong-Kong-and-the-ivory-trade-1990 — Page 78

CRESS ONLY THE DIRECTOR.

HAND WILDLIFE SERVICE

United States Department of the Interior

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240

TAKE PRIDE IN AMERICA

In Reply Refer To:

FWS/LE

Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton P.O. Box 54667

Nairobi, Kenya

Dear Dr. Douglas-Hamilton:

NOV 21 E

It was a pleasure to see you again yesterday and discuss your African elephant conservation work. The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has supported your work for many years and we look forward to continued cooperation with your efforts.

At the recent Conference of the Parties to CITES in Switzerland, the United States delegation worked hard to ensure that the African elephant was raised to Appendix I, to help eliminate the legal and illegal trade in ivory. The Service believes that such a global trade ban must be followed up by vigorous enforcement by the Parties in order to be effective.

Most of the Service's wildlife enforcement activities are conducted within the borders of the United States, as required by law and policy. Service agents are generally constrained from conducting investigations in foreign countries. Similarly, most other countries largely confine their wildlife enforcement work within national boundaries. The Service is therefore very interested in your project to develop a privately funded unit to develope intelligence and report the unlawful international trade in ivory. We

in have no doubt that ivory will continue to be traded after January 18, 1990, contravention of CITES. Your project would complement the enforcement activities of the United States and other Parties.

The Service looks forward to cooperating to the fullest extent possible with your ivory unit when it is established. Any information you provide to the Service will be treated seriously and, if appropriate, would form the basis for further Service investigations. Your plan to hire a professional investigator with a background in wildlife investigations to direct the project is well-conceived. The information collected should be treated with the utmost confidentiality, and you should work closely with the wildlife authorities in each country to maintain credibility and achieve maximum impact.

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