Trump administration plans to allow trophies of elephants killed in Zimbabwe back into the US

AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

An African elephant walks in Tarangire National Park, in Tanzania.

• The US Fish and Wildlife service will remove the ban against importing trophies from elephants killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia back to the US.
• The Obama Administration put the ban in place in 2014 after elephant numbers dropped.
• Hunting advocacy groups cheered the move, while animal rights activists decried it.

The Trump Administration will remove protections against importing trophies from elephants hunted legally in Zimbabwe into the US, in a reversal of Obama-era policy.

That means that US hunters will be able to bring the ivory of elephants they have killed back into the US, potentially disrupting the movement to end the global ivory trade. The move also applies to elephants shot and killed in Zambia.

While hunting elephants is legal in a number of African countries - under a strict permitting system where hunters pay high fees for the privilege - the Obama Administration put restrictions on the import of trophies in place in 2014 after the number of elephants dropped.

African elephants are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Under the Act, hunting trophies, like elephant tusks, can only be imported if the federal government finds that killing them will aid the long-term survival of the species.

A US Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman told CNN on Thursday that allowing US hunters to shoot elephants in Zimbabwe and Zambia will bring the countries "much-needed revenue."

Wayne Pacelle, The CEO of the Humane Society, an animal rights organization, slammed the reversal on Wednesday.

"For decades, Zimbabwe has been run by a dictator who has targeted and killed his political opponents, and operated the country's wildlife management program as something of a live auction," Pacelle said. "Let's be clear: elephants are on the list of threatened species; the global community has rallied to stem the ivory trade; and now, the U.S. government is giving American trophy hunters the green light to kill them."

The Safari Club International, a nonprofit hunting-advocacy group, praised the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to reverse the ban on Wednesday.

"These positive findings for Zimbabwe and Zambia demonstrate that the Fish and Wildlife Service recognizes that hunting is beneficial to wildlife and that these range countries know how to manage their elephant populations," Paul Babaz, the president of Safari Club International said in a press release.

Zimbabwe's longtime leader, Robert Mugabe, lost his grip on power in the country in an apparent military coup earlier this week. Mugabe is under house arrest, and Zimbabwe's military is effectively in control of the country's capital, Harare.

"We appreciate the efforts of the Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior to remove barriers to sustainable use conservation for African wildlife," Babaz added.

In a related move, Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke - an avid hunter - announced earlier this month the creation of the International Wildlife Conservation Council, that will "develop a plan for public engagement and education on the benefits of international hunting," according to Zinke's announcement.

Trophy-hunting, ostensibly for conservation purposes, caused an uproar after Cecil the Lion was shot and killed by an American dentist in 2015.