The Trump administration plans to
allow hunters to import trophies of elephants they killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia
back to the United States, reversing a ban put in place by the Obama
administration in 2014, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official confirmed to ABC News today.
Even though elephants are listed as
endangered under the Endangered Species Act, a provision in the act allows the
government to give permits to import these trophies if there is evidence that
the hunting actually benefits conservation for that species. The official said
they have new information from officials in Zimbabwe and Zambia to support
reversing the ban to allow trophy hunting permits.
"Legal, well-regulated sport
hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit the conservation of
certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the
species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation," a Fish
and Wildlife spokesperson said in a statement.
This change only applies to elephants
in those two countries but questions about using game hunting to generate money
for conservation efforts also came up during the controversy after Cecil the
lion was killed in Zimbabwe in 2015.
The government has not actually
announced this policy change yet but it was reportedly announced at a wildlife
forum in South Africa this week, according
to Safari Club International, which filed a lawsuit to block the 2014 ban.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-admin-reverse-ban-elephant-trophies-africa/story?id=51178663
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