Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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By STEPHANIE EBBS Nov 15, 2017, 6:33 PM ET

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.

It's unclear how the current political situation in Zimbabwe could affect this decision, but a blog post from the president of the Humane Society points out that poaching has been a problem in Zimbabwe over the years and that the hunting industry there faces corruption issues.

A notice regarding this change will be posted in the Federal Register on Friday with more specifics on what new information justifies the changes.

The finding applies to elephants hunted in Zimbabwe on or after January 21, 2016, and on or before December 31, 2018, and elephants hunted in Zambia during 2016, 2017 and 2018 for applications that meet all other applicable permitting requirements, according to Fish and Wildlife spokesperson.

Savanna elephant populations declined by 30 percent across 18 countries in Africa from 2007 to 2014, according to the Great Elephant Census published last year, which put their remaining numbers at just over 350,000.

The elephant population declined 6 percent overall in Zimbabwe but dropped by 74 percent within one specific region. Elephants saw "substantial declines along the Zambezi River," in Zambia while other areas of that country were stable, according to the census.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has been talking with wildlife officials in Zimbabwe since the ban was announced in 2014. Since then, Zimbabwe officials have stepped up efforts to combat poaching, established a system to report financial benefit from American hunters, and provided more information on how officials establish hunting quotas, according to the text of the federal register notice that will be posted Friday.

The census reported around 82,000 elephants in Zimbabwe. Wildlife officials set annual quotas limiting hunting there to 500 elephants in different areas.

Elephant hunting has been banned in Zambia several times over the years due to declining population size but was re-established in 2015 after surveys found a larger population in some areas. Zambia is home to some 22,000 elephants, according to the census.

Tourists can hunt elephants on private game ranches or specified areas in Zambia, many of which are on the outskirts of national parks. Zambian officials also carry out anti-poaching efforts and manage elephant hunting through permits and quotas, according to the Federal Register notice. In 2016, 30 elephants were allowed to be killed there as trophies but the government reported that only 12 males were killed, according to the notice.

Fees paid by hunters are also used to fund the country's conservation efforts.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-admin-re ... d=51178663


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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Seems economically sound...notice how few were actually taken?

Does SA also fall under the latest version of the ban? -O-


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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I don't care if the quota was used up or not... I still don't like hunting and I'm not convinced that its profits really help conservation. :O^


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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I agree with you Mel.


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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Unbanning US trophy imports: Trump jams a spanner in the works

Image

BY DON PINNOCK - 1 FEBRUARY 2018 - DAILY MAVERICK

In a surprising move, President Donald Trump has left-footed his own Department of Interior’s attempts to overturn former president Barack Obama’s ban on the import of wildlife trophies. But leaked emails suggest the department is not backing off, writes DON PINNOCK.

US President Donald Trump has made it clear he dislikes almost everything that former president Barak Obama did. So it must have seemed a shoe-in for the new Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, an enthusiastic big game hunter, to overturn Obama’s ban on wildlife trophy imports from Africa.
Zinke had plenty of support. In 2017, eight hunting organisations petitioned the secretary – whose office is decked with mounted animal heads – to “take swift action to right the perceived wrongs of the previous administration”. Trump’s abrupt U-turn appears to undermine his own appointees, break standard practice and all but invite a legal challenge from his customary allies. But he has refused to back down.

In a British ITV interview with Piers Morgan early this week, Trump criticised the unnamed Fish and Wildlife Service official who decided to resume the trophy imports.

“I thought it was terrible,” Trump told Morgan, “that this was done by a very high-level government person. As soon as I heard about it, I turned it around.

“I didn’t want elephants killed and stuffed and have the tusks brought back into this [country]. People can talk all they want about preservation and all of the things that they’re saying where money goes toward. Well, money was going, in that case, to a government which was probably taking the money, okay?”

Ryan Zinke, however, doesn’t appear to be backing off. Leaked emails between Fish and Wildlife employees and the US hunting umbrella organisation Safari Club International reveal that Zinke and Interior Department Deputy Director Greg Sheehan will be attending the Safari Club convention. It’s thought to be the first time an Interior secretary has participated in a Safari Club International convention.

The leaked emails also indicate that at the convention, Zinke and Sheehan are scheduled to meet high-level delegates from Africa – probably South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania Uganda and possibly Zambia and Mozambique – this weekend.

Last year one of the petitioners to Zinke, an outfit named Conservation Force, said the secretary should walk back Obama-era restrictions on the import of lion, leopard and elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia and revise the US seizure and forfeiture practices. Hunting “is not an ideological issue to us”, said its president, John Jackson. “It’s traditional conservation practice.”

Under Obama, the Fish and Wildlife Service had said it could not make the finding that the sport-killing of Zimbabwe elephants “would enhance survival of the species”, as the law requires.

Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association filed suit to challenge the Zimbabwe ban. The groups contended that the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to support its ban with necessary findings. In November 2017 the Fish and Wildlife Service complied, announcing it would resume trophy import permits for Zimbabwe and Zambia. There was a public outcry, and Trump tweeted he would put the decision on hold so he could “review all conservation facts”.

Less than 15 minutes after the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would lift the ban, Trump’s “review” arrived as a Tweet: “Big-game trophy decision will be announced … but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of elephants or any other animal.”

This sent Fish and Wildlife Service officials scrambling to figure out how they might unwind a decision that was painstakingly vetted and formally published. They also had to deal with hunters who had received trophy permits.

“In my experience, it’s unprecedented for a final decision to be put on hold and reversed by the White House,” former Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe told the news service Greenwire. “We can conserve elephants without hunting them,” he added.

Writing in Huffington Post, Chris D’Angelo said the move by Trump was puzzling. “That Trump would side with the conservation community over gun rights and hunting advocacy groups is surprising. His sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are avid big game hunters. In a photo that surfaced in 2012, Trump Jr can be seen holding the tail of an elephant he shot and killed in Africa.”

At a Safari Club International jamboree this weekend, Zinke and Sheehan will undoubtedly discuss lion and elephant trophy imports, among other such imports. SCI is arranging travel for African delegates so they can meet with Zinke. Formal invitations to meet him will evidently come from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a clear indication of support for the hunting industry. DM

Read original article here: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article ... nKxpKiWbIU


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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High-ranking Trump official attends hunting convention

BY MIRANDA GREEN AND TIMOTHY CAMA - 2 FEBRUARY 2018 - THE HILL

A high-ranking Trump administration official attended a convention hosted by a group that promotes hunters’ rights to kill big game and import the body parts to the United States as trophies.

The annual show, one of the largest in the country dedicated to hunting, came less than a week after President Trump announced he would retain an Obama-era ban on importing African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia, because he does not believe that imports promote conservation.

Safari Club International, (SCI) which runs the convention, has been one of the most vocal proponents of overturning the Obama-era ban.

The group tweeted a photo late Friday that showed acting Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Greg Sheehan at the Las Vegas event.

In the tweet, Sheehan is shown surrounded by a group. The tweet said FWS officials were meeting with delegates from Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa.

#HappeningNow @USFWS officials meeting with delegates and stakeholders from Tanazania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and South Africa at #SCIConvention2018 stay tuned for updates from the #UltimateSportsmanMarket and #SCIFoundation#FirstForWildlife pic.twitter.com/BXQAoc7UY1

— SCI Foundation (@SCIFoundation) February 3, 2018

Sheehan, the former head of Utah’s wildlife agency, came to FWS last June as principal deputy director and is now its highest-ranking official. Trump has not nominated a FWS director, a position that requires Senate confirmation.

As head of the FWS, Sheehan is the main official responsible for hunting trophy import policies.

The weekend-long Las Vegas event includes a legislative lunch and an SCI Foundation happy hour reception, as well as opportunities to bid on big game hunting trips worth thousands of dollars.

One item, highlighted in an email sent to members obtained by The Hill, is a hunting trip with Madubula Safaris, promoted as one of “Africa’s premier hunting companies.” Photos for the particular hunting trip show hunters standing over dead elephants.

SCI has long advocated for elephant trophy imports. It joined the National Rifle Association to sue the Obama administration for first placing a ban on imports back in 2014.

Trump on Sunday said that the U.S. was formally reinstating the ban on imports of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia, two of the main African countries with elephant populations, following heavy criticism after the ban was initially overturned last November.

In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan that aired Sunday, Trump said that he had decided to officially turn the order around.

“I didn’t want elephants killed and stuffed and have the tusks brought back into this [country]and people can talk all they want about preservation and all of the things that they’re saying where money goes towards ― well, money was going ― in that case, going to a government which was probably taking the money, OK?” Trump said.

He added that the “terrible” decision was made by “a very high-level government person.”

Trump said he never believed in the conservation argument that some hunters make, that money paid toward killing elephants would in turn help grow their populations.

The decision on the trophy ban had been hanging in limbo since the president tweeted twice in November that he was putting the decision on hold. Those tweets came amid fierce backlash against the administration for loosening the restriction.

“Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts. Under study for years. Will update soon with Secretary Zinke. Thank you!” Trump said.

His second tweet said he’d be “hard pressed” to change his mind about putting a hold on the reversal, calling elephant hunting a “horror show.”

At the time, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke released a statement in support of the president’s hold, saying, “President Trump and I have talked and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical. As a result, in a manner compliant with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, the issuing of permits is being put on hold as the decision is being reviewed.”

A number of major conservation and animal rights groups slammed the administration for undoing the import ban. They were joined by foreign policy experts and conservative pundits.

When Trump made the announcement about the ban Sunday, Zinke was attending the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, the world’s largest gun trade show, in Las Vegas. Photos he tweeted from the event showed him mingling with representatives from the National Rifle Association and National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and John Curtis (R-Utah) confirmed to The Hill that they were both attending the SCI convention this weekend.

FWS did not respond to multiple requests for comment about Sheehan’s attendance or his meeting with representatives from the African nations.

The Center for Biological Diversity criticized Sheehan for attending the convention.

“It’s deeply disturbing to see America’s top wildlife official palling around with an organization fighting for virtually unlimited trophy hunting,” said Noah Greenwald, the group’s endangered species director. “This inappropriate behavior raises huge questions about Fish and Wildlife’s ability to make impartial, scientific decisions about elephant hunting and other crucial conservation issues.”

In 2014 and 2016 SCI’s PAC donated a combined $14,500 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s congressional campaigns, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.

Zinke spoke at SCI’s annual veterans breakfast in 2016, where he “expressed his support of SCI and all the veterans they serve, then [led]the room in the Pledge of Allegiance,” according to the SCI blog.

When Sheehan was appointed to his role at FWS last June, SCI hailed the decision and was quick to mention he was a current SCI member.

“He is an avid hunter and has hunted in the U.S. and in Africa. Director Sheehan is very familiar with many of the issues that affect SCI members and their abilities to hunt and participate in sustainable use conservation in the U.S. and abroad,” an SCI blog post read.

In July 2017 Zinke and Sheehan received a “wish list” letter from a number of hunting advocacy groups, according to a document obtained by the Huffington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request request. The list included requests to “immediately lift” the elephant trophy ban and reject a petition to put the African leopard on the endangered species list.

Last year SCI leadership wrote a series of posts critical of Trump’s decision to put a hold on the trophy ban.

In a statement to The Hill this week, SCI President Paul Babaz said that the group believed the decision should have been based on science, not emotion.

“Unlike the so-called animal rights groups, hunters proudly fund both conservation efforts and anti-poaching efforts,” Babaz said. “We believe these decisions should be based on sound science – not emotion – and we will continue to provide decision makers with facts on sustainable-use conservation as employed successfully both in the US and abroad.”

Read original article: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... convention


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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:evil:


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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what we can wait from people who scorn Africa :evil:


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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May you have not understood, Nan........Trump WANTS to ban trophies from Africa; some of his collaborators do not.


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Re: Trump admin. to reverse ban on elephant trophies from Africa

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Lisbeth wrote:May you have not understood, Nan........Trump WANTS to ban trophies from Africa; some of his collaborators do not.
:ty: Liz


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