Activism & Animals Active Updated Jul 12, 2026
The CITES delegation conflict
The Trump administration named Jenifer Chatfield, whose family breeds endangered lemurs for profit, to lead the US delegation to the CITES Animals Committee, the body that helps decide how the $220 billion legal wildlife trade is regulated. Wildlife groups say a political appointee with a direct commercial stake in the trade undermines the delegation's credibility just as the committee meets to shape trade rules for species including lemurs.
The story so far
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Jul 12, 2026 Latest
Interior Department appointee Jenifer Chatfield, whose family runs a commercial lemur-breeding operation, was named to lead the US delegation to the CITES Animals Committee meeting, prompting Susan Lieberman of the Wildlife Conservation Society to say she had never seen the committee attended by a political appointee before; the Interior Department's ethics committee was asked to investigate the conflict of interest, and Chatfield is bringing only three accompanying scientists versus the five or six typical for a US delegation.
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