US to lift ban on elephant hunt trophies

THE Trump administration has lifted a US ban on importing trophies of elephants killed for sport.

It comes despite the US President describing the practice as a ‘horror show’ last year. Instead of the blanket ban imposed by Barack Obama in 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will allow elephant body parts imported from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

A memo dated March 1 says the country will now consider imports on a ‘case-bycase basis’. The agency claims encouraging wealthy big game hunters to kill the threatened species could raise money for conservation programmes.

But last November, Donald Trump tweeted: ‘Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week 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.’

Mr Trump’s two adult sons are trophy hunters. A 2011 photo of Donald Trump Jr holding a knife and the severed tail of an elephant in Zimbabwe sparked outrage among animal rights groups.

The US government was criticised for the absence of any official announcement regarding the import rule changes.

Tanya Sanerib, of the Centre for Biological Diversity, said: ‘The Trump administration is trying to keep these crucial trophy import decisions behind closed doors, and that’s totally unacceptable.

‘Elephants aren’t meant to be trophies, they’re meant to roam free.’