Warehouse exposes cost of illegal wildlife trade

Elephant tusks, leopard heads, crocodile skin purses and tiger skins — more than 1.5 million items in all — fill the shelves of a warehouse on a wildlife refuge near Denver.

The National Wildlife Property Repository is the only place in the United States that stores such a large collection of seized wildlife items.

It provides a macabre look at the cost of the global trafficking of endangered and threatened animals.