WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. National Park Service officials said looters are stealing fossils and archeological artifacts from national parks.
An average of 340 significant looting incidents have been reported annually over the past decade, USA Today reports. Park rangers said that number probably represents less than 25 percent of actual thefts.
Officials said the Internet has expanded the market for Native American artifacts and Civil War relics, with some items ending up in the hands of collectors in Europe and Asia.
Park rangers said a shortage of staff can make it difficult to catch the thieves. Last year, three men dug more than 450 holes at the Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania military park in search of Civil War artifacts. In Colorado, a man admitted to taking 252 relics from Mesa Verde National Park.
It's "a chronic problem that we simply have not even been able to get a grasp on," Mark Gorman, chief ranger at South Dakota's Badlands National Park, told USA Today.
