Tiger Trackdown: The US at its Best

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand. May 20, 2011. After the many programs I attend about our environment, I leave with two contradictory feelings: a profound sense of sadness about what we have done to the environment and how large the problems are, and a sense of hope because of the many people who are dedicating their lives to the improvement of our planet. To these opposite feelings, on May 20, following a special screening of the National Geographic film “Tiger Trackdown,” I was able to add pride in the United States for the role we are playing to help. Here’s why.

The trafficking in illegal wildlife is a huge international activity involving billions of dollars. The markets for both live wildlife and dead body parts keeps growing. The street value of an ounce of ground tiger bones is the same as the value of an ounce of cocaine. Unfortunately, because it is a commercial hub, because it is near the end markets for much of this trade in China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and because corrupt police benefit, Thailand is a center of this dastardly trade.

The decimation of tigers is particularly profound. A century ago, there were 100,000 tigers living in the wild; now there are, perhaps, 3,500 remaining. Thailand has, at most, 350 wild tigers left and the appetite for tigers for slaughter is rising. Basically, tigers in the wild are an extinct species. Result: their market value keeps going up. A wild tiger is sold into the illegal trade for $20,000, and then resold by the traffickers for $100,000. With the number of wild tigers so diminished, illegal domestic tiger farms are appearing in Thailand to keep feeding the trade.

Now, enter USAID and the FREELAND, both dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking. Both work closely with dedicated police and park personnel in Thailand to try to arrest those involved in the trade. Just how dangerous this work is, is dramatically depicted in the National Geographic’s first wildlife crime reality TV film “Tiger Trackdown,” which follows a unit of undercover

Thai police as they go into the field on a tiger bust, which was ultimately successful. A member of the team is American Steve Galster, a former law-enforcement officer, who now heads Freeland, an NGO based in Thailand which is dedicated to making the world free of wildlife trafficking. Freeland is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, which, thank goodness, has just renewed a five-year commitment to this worthy organization. (Above: Freeland's president Steve Galster answers questions at the FCCT)

“Tiger Trackdown” showed just one aspect of USAID’s and Freeland’s extensive efforts to support corrupt-free national law enforcement in Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, and to support America’s commitment to the rule of law. In my opinion, efforts like these produce better results for the American people than many high-profile programs, the opposition to which is a matter of daily fodder in the international press. The next time, I see blanket condemnation of America by our detractors, I can proudly point to USAID and Steve Galster, as an antidote. By the way, Galster, who looks like a movie star, during the Q&A following the film, was hesitant to claim any particular credit /w:lsdexception>