Washington —- A bottle of "wine" made from tiger bones sells for $100. Boots made from sea turtle skin go for $480 a pair. A shawl woven from the wool of Tibetan antelopes retails for $30,000. A tiger skin fetches $50,000.

The $10 billion to $20 billion generated each year in illegal international wildlife trade trails only the revenues of drug and arms smuggling among global criminal activities, and the proceeds are increasingly going to organized crime and even terrorist groups, witnesses told the House Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday.

It is not just a problem in far-off African and Asian countries.

"Unfortunately, we have a problem here in America," testified Claudia McMurray, assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment and science. "As we are among the world's most significant consumers of legally traded wildlife products, along with China, it stands to reason that we are a large market for these illegal products.

While illicit trafficking in drugs and weapons has raised alarms and even spawned the term "narco-terrorism," the illegal wildlife trade has not received as much attention, said Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-W.Va.), chairman of the panel. The global connections to the underworlds of several countries and to terrorist groups are only now being uncovered, he said.

Rahall said a Congressional Research Service investigation of the threats posed by the international illegal trade in wildlife "found that many of the same criminal entities that deal in arms and drugs —- including organized criminals —- are hawking wildlife as well."

The report said the United Nations and Interpol had found that "some insurgent groups and possibly terrorist groups" are involved in illegal poaching for profit in several areas of Asia and Africa.

About $10 million worth of illegal wildlife is seized at U.S. borders each year, but that "only scratches the surface of the wildlife contraband coming into this country," said Benito Perez, the chief of law enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

He said the United States is a major market for "everything from parrots in Mexico to Komodo dragons from Indonesia." In addition to live animals and plants, ivory carvings and art made from feathers, fur and other parts of protected species of animals are in great demand.

He noted in written testimony that an inspection of flights to Atlanta from the Caribbean and Central America during peak sea turtle nesting season resulted in the seizure of 60 sea turtle eggs last year.

The United States is a supplier as well as consumer of illegal wildlife, Perez said. Illicit exports include juvenile leopard sharks harvested from California waters, live eels from the Eastern seaboard and coral reef organisms from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Perez said his agency has 114 uniformed wildlife inspectors and 191 special agents investigating trafficking both here and abroad, but more are needed.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is among 18 designated ports of entry through which most wildlife traffic is required to pass, according to the Congressional Research Service report.

Three Wildlife Service inspectors are assigned to Atlanta, the report said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains a quarantine station in Atlanta, as well as at 19 other entry cities, where suspect wildlife can be detained and examined, the report said.