JOHANNESBURG — The Obama administration is stepping up efforts here to combat wildlife poaching, an expanding criminal enterprise in South Africa that has driven several animal species toward extinction and fueled the growth of international gangs.

But the effort is coming as South Africa wrestles with its own strategy, which could diverge significantly from Washington’s. Just last month, a South African court lifted a ban on domestic trade in rhinoceros horns, reigniting a debate between those who claim that a legal trade within South Africa’s borders could help stem the poaching crisis and those who say it would only worsen it.

Tipping the scale, the United States government is pouring millions of dollars into training and intelligence gathering to help counter losses among endangered species, especially some types of African rhinos. South Africa has 80 percent of the world’s rhino population.

And the Obama administration sees national security implications to poaching since it is generally carried out by gangs that also traffic in guns, people and drugs.