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>> Wildlife and narcotic trafficking
are serious crimes

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with devastating consequences
for Tanzania's natural resources,

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economy and security,

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and one of Tanzania's
most visible resources,

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its elephants, are in danger
of being wiped out,

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victims of poaching for their ivory.

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>> When you look
at the elephant population in Tanzania

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in 2009,

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there were 109,000 elephants,here,

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in Tanzania, five years
later it's under 43,000,

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and those numbers are just devastating
and you could easily see a scenario

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in which there will be
no more elephants in Tanzania.

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>> The joint effort
between US Customs

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and Border Protection,
the US Department of State,

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and the Republic of Tanzania arrived
at a unique solution to the problem,

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using animals to protect animals.

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>> The Ambassador worked
in the White House

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as the Deputy Chief of Staff

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when President Obama
came here three years ago

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and presented the Executive Order
on wildlife trafficking.

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>> The idea
for the program

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was presented
to Commissioner Kerlikowske

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on his trip last year

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and it snowballed
into the great program we have today.

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>> In 2015,

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four Tanzania police officers

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were specially selected
from Tanzanian Police's Dog

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and Horse Unit to travel to the US

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to train as canine handlers

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at CBP's world-class canine
training facility

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in El Paso, Texas.

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>> This is the first ivory
detection program

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ever created by the CBP Canine program,

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we had to also custom-tailor
this particular curriculum

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to meet the needs
of our students,

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and then to meet the needs
of their operational environments.

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All four students are going
to be working at the seaport

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and in airport operations,

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and these dogs
have to be specifically trained

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to be able to be deployed
under those environments.

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>> The officers
and their detector dogs,

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four Belgian Malinois,

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underwent ten weeks
of intensive training,

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learning to work together
to detect ivory, narcotics

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and other banned substances.

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>> The Belgian Malinois
is a very particular breed

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that we really like utilizing.

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Just like on the southwest border
we have a lot of areas

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where the hot weather
and really rough terrain,

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this Belgian Malinois has been able
to naturally surmount a lot

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of these obstacles
based on their genetic lineage.

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>> The ten weeks were vigorous,

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but at the end the Tanzania handlers
were certified and returned home,

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while the canines
continued their intensive training

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at the CBP Canine Center
in Front Royal, Virginia.

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Finally in February,
the four detector dogs,

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along with two of
their CBP Canine Center trainers,

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journeyed to Tanzania to reunite
with their Tanzanian handlers.

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Now it was time
for five more weeks

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of rigorous training together

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and bonding in the very environments

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they will be working in,

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the seaport at Dar
es Salaam and the cargo facility

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at Julius Nyerere International Airport.

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>> Up.

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>> Being out here we were able
to adapt based

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on what we're seeing
as challenges, resources,

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and adapt and create a four phase,

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in-country training

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that would allow us to accomplish
the final mission.

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>> Finally in March, at the end
of the five weeks,

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the Republic of Tanzania
and the US government held a ceremony

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to recognize the achievement
of the four Tanzania officers,

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the formal reception
of the canines into service,

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but just as importantly, the ability
of the two governments

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to work together to increase
Tanzania's capacity to combat poaching

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and illegal smuggling.

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>> I want to record here

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that we deeply appreciate the efforts

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that the United States government

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is taking to cooperate
with our government

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to ensure the survival
of these big populations

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of wildlife

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that are still available in the wild.

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>> The one thing
that we've understood

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since we've been in the country
is this is not a one man's fight,

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this is truly a team effort,

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there are multiple agencies,
multiple entities

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out there joined together as a team

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trying to make this work.

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