Alumni Work To Prevent Illegal Wildlife Trade

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) special agent Allen Hundley (’74 B.S. in fisheries and wildlife) traveled to Thailand to train Royal Thai Police on wildlife crime in an effort to reduce the illegal international trade in wildlife and wildlife parts. In collaboration with Hundley, Megan Gittinger (’04 B.S. in wildlife science), a geographical information systems and information services officer for WildAid in Bangkok, coordinated the course and served as a role player in the training scenarios. “Illegal trade is a threat to wildlife worldwide, with an estimated value in the billions of dollars,” noted Hundley. USFWS efforts to stem the rise of illegal wildlife and wildlife products trade include conducting training in several countries that cooperate with the U.S. in punishing lawbreakers, such as Brazil, Botswana, Cambodia, and the Galapagos Islands.

Since Hundley’s training, the Royal Thai Police have formed a task force to conduct major wildlife investigations with other nations, and have made several arrests. Hundley, who is currently based in Fredericksburg, Va., is one of 200 USFWS special agents enforcing wildlife laws across the U.S. “My experience in international wildlife investigations has frequently been frustrating because of the limited resources and training available to many countries,” said Hundley. “This international training course in investigative techniques and methods gives me optimism that future investigations will evolve with investigators in several different countries working cooperatively,” he added.

4/12/09