Updated
The Trump administration is set to allow the
importation of body parts from African elephants shot for sport,
contending that encouraging wealthy big-game hunters to kill them will
aid the vulnerable species.
Key points:
- The change marks a shift in policy from a 2014 ban imposed by the Obama administration
- It applies to the remains of African elephants killed between January 2016 and December 2018
- The number of African elephants has shrunk from about 5 million a century ago to about 400,000 remaining
The US Fish and Wildlife Service said in a written notice that permitting elephants from Zimbabwe and Zambia to be brought back as trophies will raise money for conservation programs.
The change marks a shift in efforts to stop the importation of elephant tusks and hides, overriding a 2014 ban imposed by the Obama administration. The new policy applies to the remains of African elephants killed between January 2016 and December 2018.
"Legal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve those species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation," the agency said in a statement.
But White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the decision had not yet been finalised.
"There hasn't been an announcement that's been finalised on this front … until that's done I wouldn't consider anything final," she told reporters when asked about the policy shift.
The move was quickly praised by groups that champion big-game trophy hunting, including Safari Club International and the lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association. The two groups had sued to challenge the ban in court.
"By lifting the import ban on elephant trophies in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the Trump administration underscored, once again, the importance of sound scientific wildlife management and regulated hunting to the survival and enhancement of game species in this country and worldwide," said Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action.
"This is a significant step forward in having hunting receive the recognition it deserves as a tool of sound wildlife management, which had been all but buried in the previous administration."But conservation groups blasted the move as further imperilling an already endangered species.
"I'm shocked and outraged," said Elly Pepper, a deputy director of the National Resources Defence Counsel.
"I expect nothing less from our President, and if he thinks this is going to go down without a fight, he's wrong."
The group, which does not oppose all hunting, is considering bringing legal action to block the policy change, Ms Pepper said.
African elephant classified as threatened
President Donald Trump's two adult sons are avid trophy hunters.A photo of Donald Trump Jr holding a knife and the bloody severed tail of an elephant he reportedly killed in Zimbabwe in 2011 sparked outrage among animal rights activists.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, recently installed the arcade game "Big Buck Hunter Pro" in the employee cafeteria at the agency's Washington headquarters, a move he said would promote wildlife and habitat conservation.
In June, the department removed longstanding protections for grizzly bears near Yellowstone National Park, a step to potentially allow them to be hunted.
The world's largest land mammal, the African elephant has been classified as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act since 1979.
Illicit demand for elephant ivory has led to devastating losses from illegal poaching as the natural habitat available for the animals to roam has also dwindled by more than half.
As a result, the number of African elephants has shrunk from about 5 million a century ago to about 400,000 remaining. That number continues to decline each year.
According to the United Nations, as many as 100,000 African elephants were killed between 2010 and 2012. For forest elephants, the population declined by an estimated 62 per cent between 2002 and 2011.
AP
Have your say
Please read our house rules and terms of use.http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/2005/05-17432.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-hunting-endangered-animals-save-the-species/"A scientific study in the journal, Biological Conservation, states that trophy hunting is of "major importance to conservation in Africa by creating economic incentives for conservation over vast areas, including areas which may be unsuitable for alternative wildlife-based land uses such as photographic econtourism.""'Financial incentives from trophy hunting effectively more than double the land area that is used for wildlife conservation, relative to what would be conserved relying on national parks alone according to Biological Conservation,'
http://www.africanwildlifeconservationfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Economic-and-conservation-significance.pdf
"Trophy hunting has been considered essential for providing economic incentives to conserve large carnivores according to research studies in Conservation Biology, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use, and Animal Conservation."
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669589708667294
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-4012-6_15
http://www.ewca.gov.et/sites/default/files/Lindsey et al 2006 Potential of trophy hunting to create incentives for wildlifeconservationin Africa.pdf
'A variety of industries benefit from hunting and support hunting on economic grounds. In Tanzania, it is estimated that a safari hunter spends fifty to one hundred times that of the average ecotourist.'
'The Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy cites that the legalization of white rhinoceros hunting in South Africa motivated private landowners to reintroduce the species onto their lands. As a result, the country saw an increase in white rhinos from fewer than one hundred individuals to more than 11,000, even while a limited number were killed as trophies.'http://conservationmagazine.org/2014/01/can-trophy-hunting-reconciled-conservation/
'A study issued by the Wildlife Society concluded that hunting and trapping are cost effective tools that reduce wildlife damage by reducing a population below the capacity of the environment to carry it and changing the behaviors of animals to stop them from causing damage. The study furthermore states that the cessation of hunting could cause wildlife to be severely harmed, rural property values to fall, and the incentive of landowners to maintain natural habitats to diminish.'http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/bear/policy_lit/conover01.pdf
http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/2005/05-17432.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-hunting-endangered-animals-save-the-species/"A scientific study in the journal, Biological Conservation, states that trophy hunting is of "major importance to conservation in Africa by creating economic incentives for conservation over vast areas, including areas which may be unsuitable for alternative wildlife-based land uses such as photographic econtourism.""'Financial incentives from trophy hunting effectively more than double the land area that is used for wildlife conservation, relative to what would be conserved relying on national parks alone according to Biological Conservation,'
http://www.africanwildlifeconservationfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Economic-and-conservation-significance.pdf
"Trophy hunting has been considered essential for providing economic incentives to conserve large carnivores according to research studies in Conservation Biology, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Wildlife Conservation by Sustainable Use, and Animal Conservation."
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669589708667294
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-011-4012-6_15
http://www.ewca.gov.et/sites/default/files/Lindsey et al 2006 Potential of trophy hunting to create incentives for wildlifeconservationin Africa.pdf
'A variety of industries benefit from hunting and support hunting on economic grounds. In Tanzania, it is estimated that a safari hunter spends fifty to one hundred times that of the average ecotourist.'
'The Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy cites that the legalization of white rhinoceros hunting in South Africa motivated private landowners to reintroduce the species onto their lands. As a result, the country saw an increase in white rhinos from fewer than one hundred individuals to more than 11,000, even while a limited number were killed as trophies.'http://conservationmagazine.org/2014/01/can-trophy-hunting-reconciled-conservation/
'A study issued by the Wildlife Society concluded that hunting and trapping are cost effective tools that reduce wildlife damage by reducing a population below the capacity of the environment to carry it and changing the behaviors of animals to stop them from causing damage. The study furthermore states that the cessation of hunting could cause wildlife to be severely harmed, rural property values to fall, and the incentive of landowners to maintain natural habitats to diminish.'http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/bear/policy_lit/conover01.pdf
I suppose they really should be grateful they are being slaughtered.
Sell the stuff, use the money for conservation. A no-brainer really...
I really can see money being donated by illegal poachers to help catch them as part of the conservation effort - said NO ONE...EVER!
This is however a typical Trump decision, Overturns one made by Obama who probably put more thought into it that he did, so a point scored there, and appeals to that element of the gun loving/hunting community that support him.
I find it difficult to endorse the killing of wildlife no matter what the circumstances. There are exceptions of course like uncontrolled increases in population, but these hardly apply in Africa.
Keep up the good work Trump!
Can someone tell me why legal hunters are not actually a net positive for the wildlife in Africa?
In a perfect world everyone would be vegan and African nations would be able to fund their own conservation parks but this is not a perfect world.
Proceeding from there to the idea that allowing export of body parts will assist in the conservation of these animals defies logic. It reminds me of the rhetoric that villages need to be destroyed to save them.
hunter what a self centered idiot lot they are! only in the US of A.I for one will not buy anything from them or go there any more its to dangerous, guns, guns,nothing but guns.