Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is again calling on President Trump to reverse his administration’s decision to allow elephant body parts into the U.S. as trophies.
“Mr. President, I am begging you to change your mind and protect these majestic animals,” DeGeneres said during her show, via a clip shared on social media Wednesday. “Don’t make me tweet about this.”
“I don’t wanna get into a battle of words or anything … but I have a Twitter account, too, and mine is much bigger than yours,” DeGeneres added.
The Trump administration rolled back an Obama-era ban on some elephant and lion trophies earlier this month, allowing elephant body parts to be brought back to the U.S. from Zambia and Zimbabwe. The decision was announced on March 1st by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a memorandum.
“The Service hereby withdraws, effective immediately, the 2014 and 2015 Endangered Species Act (ESA) enhancement findings for trophies of African elephants taken in Zimbabwe,” the memorandum reads.
Elephants aren’t trophies. I’m not going to stop talking about them. #BeKindToElephants pic.twitter.com/AcxAffteyB
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 14, 2018
DeGeneres launched a campaign last November to raise money for elephant conservation after the Trump administration revealed it would be reversing the ban on importing elephant trophies from two African nations.
But, in the face of extreme criticism, Trump reversed the decision that same month, calling elephant hunting a “horror show.”
“When this first happened, back in November I started talking about this on the show, banning elephant trophies, DeGeneres said. “I guess the president heard me because the next day he changed his mind and decided to protect the animals.”
According to the Associated Press, the elephant population has shrunk from nearly 5 million a century ago to about 400,000.
