Trophies from elephant hunts in Zimbabwe were banned in the U.S. Trump just reversed that.

Editorial Comment:  Yet another sign that the Trump Administration is busy building a bridge back to the late 1800s of the robber barons where their dens were full of trophies showing their “manhood”. Was this done to allow the Trump boys to bring trophies home?

Leilani Sanchez, supervisory wildlife inspector with the Port of Newark, opens a box of elephant tusks at a private cargo warehouse exam site in New York City in 2014. (Photo by Yana Paskova/For The Washington Post)

The following article by Darryl Fears and Juliet Eilperin was posted on the Washington Post website November 15, 2017:

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that the remains of elephants legally hunted in Zimbabwe and Zambia can now be imported to the United States as trophies, reversing a ban under President Barack Obama.

African elephants are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that large sums paid for permits to hunt the animals could actually help them “by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation,” according to an agency statement.

Under the Obama administration, elephant-hunting trophies were allowed in countries such as South Africa but not in Zimbabwe because Fish and Wildlife decided in 2015 that the nation had failed to prove that its management of elephants enhanced the population. Zimbabwe could not confirm its elephant population in a way that was acceptable to U.S. officials, and did not demonstrate an ability to implement laws to protect it. Continue reading “Trophies from elephant hunts in Zimbabwe were banned in the U.S. Trump just reversed that.”