A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife inspector at the Port of New York was honored June 4 at The Hague, Netherlands, for decades of work curbing illegal trade in wildlife.
; Supervisory Wildlife Inspector Paul Cerniglia received the 2007 Clark R. Bavin Law Enforcement Award from the Animal Welfare Institute in recognition of his contributions to wildlife protection.
; "Were proud to have Paul Cerniglia on our team to enforce wildlife laws," said Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Healy of the Services Northeast Region. "Pauls tireless dedication and determination makes him a leader in helping stem illegal trafficking in wildlife and wildlife products."
; A veteran officer who has policed wildlife trade at the Port of New York for more than two decades, Cerniglia was recognized for his successes in strengthening U.S. enforcement of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora) treaty. The 14th Conference of Parties of CITES is meeting June 3 to 15 in The Hague.
; As an inspector at John F. Kennedy International Airport from 1982 to 1991, Cerniglia helped shut down a thriving New York market for wild parrots and launched landmark cases involving trafficking in live caimans and caiman skins. His perseverance in checking shipments for compliance with humane transport requirements as well as conservation statutes helped improve treatment of animals in transit and reduce wildlife morality.
; Cerniglia has supervised wildlife inspection operations at either JFK Airport or U.S./Canada border crossings in New York State since 1991. He expanded trade monitoring efforts, securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and improving compliance among companies that deal in wildlife and wildlife products. In the late 1990s, he played a major role in implementing new CITES protections for sturgeon, ensuring that caviar shipments entering New York were subject to rigorous inspection and developing leads on possible large-scale smuggling that helped the Service expose multiple U.S. caviar companies as black market profiteers.
; As a supervisor, Cerniglia introduced a rigorous on-the-job training program for new inspectors in New York that became a model for Service port operations nationwide. Inspectors who began their careers under his tutelage now help staff more than half of the U.S. ports that handle wildlife shipments. Cerniglia also contributed to the professional development of dozens of Service special agents who have worked at the port of New York during his tenure there.
; This years eight Bavin award recipients include enforcement officers or organizations from Canada, India, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. One other U.S. honoree -- John Webb of the Department of Justices Environmental and Natural Resources Division -- was recognized for his success conducting and supervising federal prosecutions involving global wildlife trafficking.
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; The Bavin award spotlights accomplishments in combating wildlife crime involving species protected under the CITES treaty. It is named after Clark Bavin who, as chief of the Services Office of Law Enforcement from 1972 through 1990, launched and guided U.S. efforts to stem global wildlife trafficking.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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