The Trump administration formally announced its proposal Friday to allow the importation of elephant hunting trophies into the United States, making the determination that the killing of “trophy animals” enhances the survival of the African elephant.
The Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service said that killing elephants in the African nation of Zimbabwe on or after Jan. 21, 2016, and on or before Dec. 31, 2018, “will enhance the survival of the African elephant,” according to a notice published in the Federal Register.
“Applications to import trophies hunted during this time period will be considered to have met the enhancement requirement, unless we issue a new finding based on available information,” the notice said.
Meanwhile, ABC News confirmed Friday that the Interior Department also is allowing imports of lion hunting trophies. The report said federal game officials have been issuing permits for lions for about a month.
The Fish and Wildlife Service listed the African lion as an endangered species in 2016 due to a dramatic decline in its population. The Trump Interior Department said it determined that conservation programs in Zimbabwe and Zambia have improved the lion population. A similar determination was made in Friday’s elephant announcement.
Although Interior’s ruling applies to importing trophies from other countries with large elephant herds, Zimbabwe has been a special case for years. The Obama administration had determined its conservation practices were not strong enough for the U.S. to allow trophy imports from there. The Obama Interior Department placed a suspension on trophy exports from the country in 2014 and 2015.
However, the suspension “did not prohibit U.S. hunters from traveling to Zimbabwe and participating in an elephant hunt,” it said in Friday’s notice. U.S. elephant protection laws do not prohibit hunting within a foreign country. “It prohibits import of trophies taken during such hunts.”
In addition, the Trump administration has taken another look at Zimbabwe’s conservation practices, finding that it has made sizable improvements that would allow imports on a conditional basis.
“There is increased support from the Central Government and Rural District Councils to expand and support local conservation efforts, and there is evidence that local conservation efforts are meeting management deficiencies that the [Fish and Wildlife] service identified previously,” the agency said.
Conservation groups have threatened to sue the administration, saying Zimbabwe is notoriously corrupt. The Center for Biological Diversity also noted that the Trump administration’s timing couldn’t be more “bizarre” and “shocking” by “lifting the trophy ban during a military coup.”
Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe has been been under house arrest since Tuesday. “With tanks in the streets, whoever is actually running the Zimbabwe government just can’t be trusted to protect elephants from slaughter by poachers,” said Tanya Sanerib, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., said “this is the wrong move at the wrong time,” advising the Interior Department to rescind the decision immediately.
“In this moment of turmoil, I have zero confidence that the regime — which for years has promoted corruption at the highest levels – is properly managing and regulating conservation programs,” Royce said. “Furthermore, I am not convinced that elephant populations in the area warrant overconcentration measures.”
Each trophy requires a permit to allow it to be shipped to the United States. Permit approvals will be handled on a “case-by-case basis” and they must meet all other requirements before imports will be allowed.
The Interior Department also will continue to monitor the status of the elephant population as it examines each trophy permit application. It will continue to monitor Zimbabwe’s elephant management program “to ensure that the program is promoting the conservation of the species, and whether the participation of U.S. hunters in the program provides a clear benefit to the species.”
On a related note, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced Friday that it is withdrawing a 2007 advance notice of a proposed rulemaking that was meant “to begin the process of revising the regulations concerning importation of animals and animal products.”
The CDC notice of withdrawal on the Federal Register website featured a picture of an elephant.
