Donald Trump is making a comeback for a decidedly questionable decision that is making hunters gloat and furious animal rights activists around the world. The US president has in fact decided to revoke a provision that prohibited the importation of elephant trophies from some areas of Africa to the States.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Donald Trump is making a comeback for a decidedly questionable decision that is making hunters gloat and furious animal rights activists around the world. The US president has in fact decided to revoke a provision that prohibited the importation of elephant trophies from some areas of Africa to the States.
In 2014, the Obama administration enacted a ban that prevented the importation of trophies from elephants killed in Zimbabwe or Zambia. For those who still do not know, and although it may seem absurd to most, unfortunately there are hunters for pure fun who make long journeys to reach the natural parks where there are lions, elephants, tigers, etc. with the aim of killing these animals and then making themselves beautiful and strong by showing relatives and friends the "trophies" of their bloody adventures (it can be heads, fangs, skin, etc.)
Now the Trump administration has announced that the previous ban will be lifted to the delight of hunters who will be able to bring their trophies back home by paying good dollars.
It therefore seems to be of no interest to the new administration that African elephants risk extinction but rather paradoxically they think that in this way they can even do them good. How? Paying! In fact, to bring the remains of hunted elephants back to the United States, many dollars have to be paid out and this money could bring large revenues to local parks that would help the conservation of the species.
According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS):
“Hunting and management programs for African elephants will improve the survival of the species in the wild. Legal and well-regulated sport hunting as part of a healthy management program can benefit the conservation of some species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by returning the income needed for conservation, ”a spokesperson said.
The reality that elephants are experiencing right now is sadly dramatic. They are in fact at risk of extinction with a declining population of 111.000 specimens (WWF data) in the last decade, a situation largely due to poaching. Zambian elephant population has grown from 200.000 in 1972 to just over 21.000 while overall Zimbabwe's elephants have declined by 6% since 2001.
On the situation of elephants, read also:
- ELEPHANTS RISK TO DISAPPEAR. THE NEW UNEP CENSUS IS ALARMING
- MASSACRE OF ELEPHANTS IN AFRICA: IVORY SOLD FOR BULLETS
- ELEPHANTS, RHINOS AND TIGERS: IN RISK OF EXTINCTION DUE TO ILLEGAL TRADE
The Humane Society (THS), an international organization for the protection of animals, has already expressed itself against the lifting of the ban, whose president Wayne Pacelle has stressed among other things that there is:
“A lack of information on how trophy money from US hunters is distributed within Zimbabwe. (…) Let me be clear: elephants are on the list of threatened species; the global community has mobilized to stem the ivory trade and now, the US government is giving American trophy hunters the green light to kill them. What kind of message does it send to the world that poor Africans who are struggling to survive cannot kill elephants to use or sell their parts to make a living but that it is right for rich Americans to kill beasts for their tusks to keep like trophies? ".
Speech that does not make a turn!
