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his Nov. 14 Drew Stafford Womens Jersey , 2013 file photo shows confiscated decorative ivory piled together in preparation to be destroyed during an event at the National Wildlife Property Repository at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo.
The United States is cracking down on the sale and purchase of ivory in hopes of curbing a surge in illicit poaching that's threatening to wipe out elephants and other species in Africa.


The ivory ban is a key component of a new, national strategy for combating wildlife trafficking, unveiled Tuesday by the White House, seven months after President Barack Obama issued a call to action during a visit to Tanzania. In addition, the U.S. will seek to strengthen global enforcement and international cooperation to fight an illicit trade estimated to total about $10 billion per year.


"We're seeing record-high demand for wildlife products Adam Henrique Womens Jersey ," said Grant Harris, who heads Africa policy for the White House's National Security Council. "The result is an explosion of illicit trade and wildlife trafficking in recent years."


Wildlife advocates are concerned that without forceful global action, elephants and rhinos face extinction. Once numbering in the millions, Africa's elephant population has dwindled to 500,000 or less, said Dan Ashe John Moore Womens Jersey , the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. About 35,000 — or nearly 10 percent of the remaining population — are being slaughtered each year.


The illicit industry also has significant national security implications. Because wildlife trafficking is often perpetrated by well-armed syndicates that thrive in regions with weak laws and porous borders, U.S. security officials say it poses a global security threat, just as the U.S. is seeking to combat growing extremism and violence in parts of Africa.


The crackdown relies on laws about conservation and endangered species that have been on the books for years, including decades-old prohibitions on importing ivory. But inconsistent implementation and lax enforcement have meant that once the ivory is in the U.S., domestic transactions have been essentially unregulated.


That means someone who placed an ivory chess set for sale on eBay Taylor Hall Womens Jersey , for example, faced little risk of running afoul of law enforcement — even if they lacked proof the item met one of the exceptions, such as being an antique.


"This legal trade has essentially provided a smoke-screen that makes it possible for this illicit trade