Trump: Let elephant hunters (like my son) bring trophies to US
DONALD Trump will allow big game hunters – like his sons Donald Jr. and Eric – to import trophies from slain elephants into America again.
The new White House regulation overturns an Obama- era ban on elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The announcement, which covers animals killed in legal hunts, caused outrage among animal activists. Nonprofit conservation group The Elephant Project called it ‘reprehensible behaviour’ which would lead to more poaching.
But the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which confirmed the move, argued it could help elephants by ‘putting much- needed revenue back i nto conservation.’
The US President allowed the change despite the fact the animals have been listed under the Endangered Species Act since 1978. Experts say that numbers of African elephants are plummeting.
Their numbers dropped by about 30 per cent from 2007 to 2014, according to the 2016 Great Elephant Census.
The President’s eldest son, Donald Jr., was pictured in 2011 posing with the tail from a dead elephant he had killed on a hunting trip.
Another picture shows him with his brother Eric, both smiling for the camera, as they hold up a dead leopard.
‘Reprehensible behaviour by the Trump Admin,’ tweeted The Elephant Project. ‘One hundred elephants a day are already killed,’ the group said. ‘This will lead to more poaching.’
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, brought up the widely-reported death of Cecil the lion, who was shot dead in Zimbabwe by an American dentist two years ago.
He said: ‘Remember, it was Zimbabwe where Walter Palmer shot Cecil, one of the most beloved and well-studied African lions, who was lured out of a national park for the killing.
‘Palmer paid a big fee even though it did irreparable damage to the nation’s reputation.’
Another of Mr Trump’s controversial policies reared its head yesterday – as the UK’s climate change minister challenged him to scrap coal power.
Speaking at the United Nation Climate Talks in Bonn, Germany, MP Claire Perry said: ‘My message to Donald, President Trump, is have a look at what other countries are doing.
‘There are really big opportunities in the transition to clean energy for jobs and for growth, things all national leaders want to achieve.’
‘Reprehensible behaviour’