Conservation is all about restraint, choosing not to do things so that future generations may enjoy the wild things and places we do.

This is awful hard, I know, especially in a world where fast is better than slow, more is better than less, and short-term thinking is often more highly valued than taking the long view.

It is easy to think we are facing a unique cultural climate not at all conducive to conservation and get discouraged. The stakes seem so high, the consequences so enduring, long-term thinking so challenging.

That’s why it was such a pleasure to do a little reading about Sen.  Gaylord Nelson, one of the founders of Earth Day, which this year is Monday, April 22.

More than 40 years ago, in a Congressional Record from 1970, Sen. Nelson called for “the introduction of new values in our society—where bigger is not necessarily better—where slower can be faster—and where less can be more.”

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Rhinos have been decimated by poaching. Credit: USFWS

 People don’t often think about it, but even sales of antiques made from endangered plants or animals can hurt the survival of those species.  Antiques can raise demand for similar products, which really just feeds the destruction of those animals.

A global black market hungers for rhino horn – an NBC report last year estimated the value of rhino horns at $25,000 a pound. They are used in Asian medicines on the misguided notion that they cure diseases, even cancer … of course, no scientific evidence supports that they really do any of that. Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same stuff that makes up hair and fingernails. They are also a sought-after carving material for ceremonial dagger handles and libation cups.

Poaching numbers for rhino jump every day, it seems. Wildlife authorities reported a rhino “death toll” of 668 for South Africa alone in 2012, a level of illegal take that translates roughly into a rhino being killed every 12 or so hours. This year, it’s even worse. As of April 3, 203 rhinos have already been poached in South Africa in 2013.

That is why I taped a segment on Antiques Roadshow talking about the rhino crisis. You can watch it online. You can also see a bonus interview I did.

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Wildlife Inspector Amir Lawal of the Service’s Miami Law Enforcement Office and his canine partner, Viper, check packages on a conveyor belt during training. Credit: Tom MacKenzie/USFWS

Ed Grace, Deputy Chief of our Law Enforcement Office, shares some exciting news:

Dogs never cease to amaze me – whether they are sniffing out bombs, providing eyes or extra hands for their partners, flushing out pheasant or retrieving waterfowl for hunters, or providing that 24-7 friendship only dogs can. I recently saw that our Southwest Region had used dogs trained to sniff out Jemez salamanders.

That’s why I am so excited to welcome the newest employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Wildlife Detector Dogs Viper, Butter, Lancer and Locket.

They are part of our latest effort to fight the rising international black market in endangered animal parts – a callous and brutal trade that drives its victims closer to extinction. Much of the illegal wildlife trade passes across U.S. borders and we do stop much of it.

In 2012 alone, we inspected more than 180,000 shipments of wildlife and wildlife products, and successfully executed one of the largest investigative operations ever mounted by the Service – Operation Crash – which broke a global rhino horn smuggling ring.

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