Informant38

And we're at a point with a lot of these species that they must – they will stop consuming them and their body parts, our endangered animals, either voluntarily and leaving some of them alive and in the wild, or very soon they're going to have to stop consuming because there just aren't going to be any more. And for instance, our tigers are at that point right now. The estimates are anywhere from 4,000 left in the wild, to today, I've heard, 1,400. And we're at a point of no return, where they just won't be in the wild in our lifetime.

MR. MCCORMACK: You talked a little bit about the demand side.

MS. DEREK: Yes.

MR. MCCORMACK: Here in the United States, people may say, "Well, you know, this isn't that big an issue. Why are you devoting your time to this?" Talk to us a little bit about the scope of the problem in terms of demand here in the United States.

MS. DEREK: It's a lot bigger than I ever knew. The trafficking in wildlife and endangered wildlife is, in some estimates, second to drugs, bigger than arms and humans. And it's anywhere from $10 billion to $20 billion internationally.

MR. MCCORMACK: Ten to – ten to 20 billion?

MS. DEREK: Yes. And I suspected China and Asia were the biggest consumers, which they are. But I was really embarrassed to find out that the U.S. is number two, in consuming endangered wildlife.