U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Praise Unorthodox Conservation Grants

By AmmoLand Editor JE

USA -(Ammoland.com)- Rats are smart animals with a keen sense of smell, and one species — the African giant pouched rat — is being tested to see if it can help detect illegal shipments of pangolins and hardwood timber in Tanzania.

Such innovative approaches to halt wildlife poaching and trafficking are being rewarded to the tune of more than $1.2 million in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants for 12 projects in 11 countries.

This ability to sniff out illegal wildlife shipments also is being used to aid anti-trafficking efforts Kyrgyzstan and Malawi, with grant funding going to help replicate successful programs already underway in other countries, including the United States.

“These grants provide much-needed resources to support projects on the ground where wildlife trafficking is decimating some of the Earth’s most cherished and most unusual species,” said service director Dan Ashe. “These grant recipients are using pioneering approaches to address the illegal wildlife trade in the places where it starts and where demand for wildlife products feeds the criminal supply chain of illegal goods.”

Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked mammal, …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand