Sloths and some African songbirds gained additional protections Wednesday during an international convention that’s earned the Trump administration’s Fish and Wildlife Service a rare bit of praise from environmentalists.
With only two days remaining in the so-called CITES conference that began in Uzbekistan on Nov. 24, U.S. negotiators and kibitzers alike are already tallying wildlife protection results that some did not expect.
“Honestly, we were pleasantly surprised by many of the U.S. positions at this meeting,” Sarah Uhlemann, International Program director and senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an email Wednesday.
Uhlemann noted in particular that the U.S. delegation led at the start by Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik “supported protections for sharks gravely threatened by the fin trade; tarantulas, songbirds, and reptiles in the pet trade and overfished sea cucumbers, which was the clearly right thing to do.”
