Giant Panda 'Kai Kai' sits in his enclosure at the Giant Panda Forest exhibit at the River Safari, Nov. 28, 2012, in Singapore. Panda populations are threatened by poaching and a loss of habitat, as well as a low birth rate. Wong Maye-E/AP
A crocodile hatched during a festival at Sriracha Tiger Zoo east of Bangkok, Thailand. Several species of crocodile are on the endangered species list due to hunting and habitat loss. Sukree Sukplang/Reuters
North Atlantic right whales feed off the shore south of Rhode Island, April 29, 2011. NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center spotted 57 of the endangered whales off the coast of Rhode Island and 101 off Massachusetts during its research. Peter Duley/NEFSC/NOAA/AP
A female gorilla rests against a stand of bamboo. Only about 700 mountain gorillas are left in the world, and they all live in a small area in Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. Five gorilla groups in the park get visits from tourists for a maximum of one hour a day. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Inge, a black rhinoceros at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, feeds as she receives a gentle nuzzle from her baby in the zoo's rhino house on Aug. 31, 2010. The baby rhino, born two week earlier, weighed in near 65 pounds at birth. Black rhinos, native to Africa, are the most endangered of the five rhino species, with about 3,000 remaining in the world. John Kuntz/The Plain Dealer/AP
A bearded Arctic seal swims in the Tarpon River in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., May 7, 2007. Ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears, and bearded seals in the Arctic Ocean will be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Dec. 21, 2012. Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/AP
An elephant on the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya stands alone at dusk. Elephants have been hunted and poached for their ivory tusks in illegal trade. Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
An endangered poison frog (Oophaga histrionica) is seen at the Santa Fe Zoo in Medellin, Colombia, on Jan. 15, 2013. Brazil and Colombia have some of the most endangered amphibian species in the world, according to a United Nations Environment Program report. Albeiro Lopera/Reuters
A Tasmanian devil cub tries to bite his way out of a small bag during an event marking National Endangered Species Day in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 7, 2012. Tasmanian devils, carnivorous marsupials, are found in the wild only in the Australian island state of Tasmania. Rob Griffith/AP
Yanna, an 8-year-old lion-tailed macaque (top), holds her three-week-old baby in their enclosure at the Ramat Gan Safari park, an open-air zoo near Tel Aviv, on Oct. 31, 2012. The lion-tailed macaques are considered an endangered species. They originate from southeast Asia, where they are being hunted and their habitats destroyed, a statement from the safari park said. Nir Elias/Reuters
A flock of endangered whooping cranes led by an ultralight enters the skies over Kentucky on their way to their wintering sites in Florida, Nov. 27, 2008. Joe Duff/Operation Migration/AP
A herd of endangered Przewalski horses are seen at the Takhin Us National Park in the southwest part of Mongolia, July 16, 2012. The Prague Zoo transported four Przewalski horses to Mongolia as part of its efforts to reintroduce the endangered species into its native environment. Petr Josek/Reuters
A Sumatran tiger named Bima, caught by villagers in October 2011, growls inside his observation cage in Perawang, Riau Province, Indonesia, Jan. 12, 2012. Indonesia's endangered elephants, tigers, and orangutans on Sumatra island are threatened by habitat loss and poaching. Tatan Syuflana/AP
The US wildlife initiative to stop poaching of elephants and other animals aims to address each level of an expanding illegal global market that is rivaling the global narcotics, arms, and human trafficking markets.
With the African elephant at risk of being slaughtered to the point of extinction, and with the trafficking of wildlife soaring to meet the exploding global demand for animal parts, the US and nongovernmental groups are teaming up with African and Asian countries to fight back.
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