By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

November 13, 2020 0Comments

Rhinos are killed for their horns, which are used in bogus tonics and aphrodisiacs and carved ornamental cups.Photo by Volodymyr Burdiak/Alamy Stock Photo

https://blog.humanesociety.org/2020/11/u-s-will-deny-visas-to-wildlife-traffickers.html?credit=blog_em_111320_id11807&utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=humanenation

The United States is one of the world’s largest destinations for illegal wildlife products. Each year, traffickers smuggle in millions of dollars’ worth of items from poached animals, including shark fins, pangolin scales, ivory trinkets, animal trophies, and live animals like monkeys, parrots and snakes for the pet trade and entertainment.

This week, in a move designed to strike a body blow to our nation’s participation in this multibillion-dollar global trade that is driving thousands of animal species to extinction around the world,the State Department announced it will deny visas to known wildlife traffickerstrying to enter the United States.

The new policy treats wildlife trafficking as the extremely serious crime it is, by…