Address the crisis-level extinction threat caused by the rapidly growing trade in endangered wildlife parts.

The recent surge in the illegal global trade of protected wildlife has caused a conservation crisis. In the past two years, two Southeast Asian rhinoceros species or subspecies have gone extinct, with a third almost certainly extinct (Sci. American, 3/26/12). Lethal violence sometimes follows as rangers seek to uphold the law (NY Times, 9/3/12). Target animals often fulfill keystone roles in ecosystem maintenance (Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1187811), and their loss can bring drastic ecosystem change (Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1179504), causing more extinctions and loss of ecosystem utility and economic value (Nature doi:10.1038/nature11148). We the undersigned ask the President to work with buyer nations to police this illegal trade and to reduce demand, before more species are lost.