What is CITES ?

I have a stupid question to ask What really is CITES ? I know what it stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora & Fauna. I mean you read about it in SCI magazines etc. but what is the purpose of all these meetings when one country you can import a trophy into it & the next one you can't!! It doesn't make any sense to me! Why have all the meetings with all the top leaders from around the world & some people play & follow the rules & others don't! OR is it country's like ours the USA is against hunters and transporting trophies into the USA.
It doesn't make much sense like you could shoot Cheetah & Polar Bears -they could be transported to Canada but not the USA! In my book either its legal or illegal! ANYWHERE!! Granted to keep decent populations of game animals there has to be restrictions or the species will soon become extinct, but on the other hand shouldn't everyone be playing within the same rules!! I mean if there are only so many Lions, Rhino's or Polar Bears to be harvested GREAT! when the harvest quota is met that should be it for the season or year! But allowing certain countrys the entry of trophies & the others not to is WRONG!

Calhoun,

This is how I understand it. CITES sets up quotas of animals than can be hunted and exported and imported. OK now the reason you cannot import Cheetah into the US has got nothing to do with CITES they allow for you to import cheetah it is your Fish and Wildlife service that is stopping you from doing it.

Same with elephant from Mozambique the European hunters can import their ivory shot in Mozambique but hunters from the US cannot.

I think you will find that has more to do with the USFWS than CITES. CITES can set a quota for a given species in a given country, but that does not mean the US has to allow it in. CITES allows some Cheetahs to be taken, such as in Namibia. It is the US that prevents you from taking it home, while I can here in Canada because of CWS (Canadian wildlife Service) allows import if CITES has allowed it.

The USFWS thinks it knows best and makes its own decision for what will be allowed into the US. Just like it knows best about global warming and what is best for us here in Canada with our Polar Bears........no matter who it affects and that in the long run their decision is detrimental to the polar bears and the people who live there. Its internal US politics my friend.

Sorry Frederik..................posted at the same time as you.

Skyline, No problem at least we have the same answer

Thanks guys that wasn't what I hoped I would hear but it's a start! It's a dirty shame groups like SCI sit in those meetings & hash out the details & the good ole government does what it so desires! Regardless if its legal or not! Maybe if the USFWS sat in those meetings & wasted their valuable time they would get the hint!!
They aren't afraid to jab the hunter more fees for your trophies each time you ship them back from a foreign country - I'm surprised they just don't up the ante on certain CITES animals. It doesn't seeem like they are afraid to raise taxes on other stuff!!
Someday there will be a revolution! Citizens are going to have to keep after their senators & congress people or things are going to get out of control worse than they presently are!! This higher education & politically correct isn't the answer... COMMON SENSE!

The USFWS is a terrible run department in the US political system...the land of free. What a joke!Unfortuntely our country has lost it's common sense....and have forgotten how the USA was founded...we have lost our roots. I'm tired of CITES and so called experts. It's terrible that the experts are preventing the same animals they want to "save" from extinction....are actually driving them towards extinction.