{"id":1410,"date":"2017-11-28T13:17:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=1410"},"modified":"2017-11-28T13:17:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:17:01","slug":"unlikely-trophies-big-game-hunting-and-conservation-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=1410","title":{"rendered":"Unlikely Trophies: Big Game Hunting and Conservation Regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yisel Rivera
\nAssociate Editor
\nLoyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. 2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service<\/a> (\u201cUSFWS\u201d), a federal agency, has recently moved to issue permits allowing hunters to bring back their trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe into the United States. Trophy hunting<\/a> is the classified as legal shooting of animals under official government license for sport or enjoyment. Typically, as a reward and\/or prize, the hunter gets to take home the \u201ctrophy\u201d\u2014the animal carcass or its remains. However, not all species can be hunted and there are restrictions on where and when the hunting can happen, in addition to limitations on the weapons that can be used for the kill.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Restrictions on trophy hunting<\/strong><\/p>\n

The USFWS proposed permits specifically apply to leonine and elephant remains hunted from 2016-2018, with two trophies allowed per hunter. Additionally, some countries have a limit on what percentage of endangered species to be killed in the wild for sport. The restrictions established in the multilateral Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species<\/a> also come into play with the import of trophies.<\/p>\n

However, when importing exotic trophies to America, big game hunters must be aware of an additional set of laws. Both elephants and lions are covered under the Endangered Species Act<\/a>. African elephants are classified as \u201cvulnerable\u201d to extinction under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, a step just below endangered; the same protection was extended<\/a> to African lions in 2015.\u00a0America is bound by the Endangered Species Act, and the law permits importing exotic trophies if USFWS finds that the hunting of the animal contributes to the survival of the species.\u00a0Both goals are explicitly referenced in the Act to ensure that \u201chunters are contributing to the conservation of lions in the wild by participating in hunting programs that provide a clear conservation benefit and contribute to the long-term survival of species in the wild.\u201d Even with this restriction, the U.S. legally imports more than 126,000<\/a> animal trophies every year.<\/p>\n

In 2014, under President Barack Obama, a ban of elephant ivory was enforced because of a lack of data<\/a> on conservation efforts in Zimbabwe. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently reversed its position, stating it is satisfied with Zimbabwe\u2019s conservation of elephants and believes killing for sport can be beneficial for the species by providing the local communities with incentives to conserve elephants. The ban was set to be lifted<\/a> because Zimbabwe had enacted a national elephant management plan and pointed to improvements in tracking hunting activity and \u201ca more systematic, scientific approach to establish national quotas\u201d.\u00a0 However, President Trump put a hold on the ban by tweeting<\/a>, \u201cPut big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts. Under study for years. Will update soon with Secretary Zinke. Thank you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Two days later, Trump went on to tweet<\/a>: \u201cBig-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\u201d.<\/p>\n

Making the case for regulatory restrictions\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

The news of USFWS relaxing its stance on lion and elephant imports was condemned by Wayne Pacelle<\/a> of the Humane Society, who stated that Zimbabwe\u2019s big game hunting scene was already rife with corruption. USFWS\u2019 efforts merely served to undercut proper management and fuel \u201cthe pillaging of that nation\u2019s extraordinary wildlife\u201d.\u00a0However, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a respected organization that sets the conservation status for all species, has aligned itself with USFWS in support of the notion<\/a> that sport hunting will benefit both the animals and the people of Zimbabwe and Zambia.<\/p>\n

The truth of the matter is nearer to Pacelle\u2019s vision than the International Union\u2019s. Apart from the civil unrest<\/a> that currently exists in Zimbabwe, the hunting-safari business does not employ a lot of people, and the money from fees that makes itself to the villagers is miniscule. <\/em>Trophy hunting amounts to less than 1% of tourism revenue in the eight African countries that permit it, according to a report<\/a> by an Australian economic-analysis firm for Humane Society International. For such negligible gains, the message these trophies send to locals<\/a> is problematic: they are unable to kill these animals even under great necessity, but wealthy westerners are allowed to do so, even when the practice is destructive to the animal populations.<\/p>\n

The implications are not only social and economic. Between 2007-2014, the number of elephants in the wild dropped 30%<\/a>, in large part due to poaching and sport hunting. Already, there was been a writ of habeas corpus filed<\/a> on behalf of three elephants by Steven Wise, an animal-rights attorney. Wise argues that the animals are \u201clegal persons: with a right to bodily liberty. If he succeeds and elephants are acknowledged as legal persons, a term already given to corporations<\/a> in U.S. courts, the development would exasperate hunting efforts, not to mention importation. The lawsuit calls on various scientific studies that have recognized elephants\u2019 cognitive abilities, emotional and empathetic natures, complex social lives, life-long learning, and memory skills. \u201cTaken together, the research makes it clear elephants are autonomous beings who have the capacity to choose how to live their lives as elephants,\u201d explains Wise. Large male elephants are sought by trophy hunters in South Africa, Namibia, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Gabon, and Mozambique under the mistaken belief that older males are reproductively senile. However, research has recognized that older elephants are a population\u2019s primary breeders. \u201cBy living to an older age, [older males show that] they have the traits for longevity and good health to pass on to their offspring,\u201d explains Cynthia Moss<\/a>, the leader of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya since 1972. \u201cKilling these males compromises the next generation of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Americans hunting abroad have to comply with U.S. restrictions and regulations to import their trophies onto American soil. Therefore, whatever regulation proposed by the USFWS must enact the legal principles and directives of American conservation. The proposed permits do not demonstrate any clear conservation benefit, and there is no indication that allowing increased hunting will contribute to the long-term survival of species in the wild. President Trump should disallow USFWS\u2019 relaxation of import standards for big game trophies\u2014while it may not be the \u201chorror show\u201d he claims, as regulation, it is inconsistent with the law that authorizes it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (\u201cUSFWS\u201d), a federal agency, has recently moved to issue permits allowing hunters to bring back their trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe into the United States. Trophy hunting is the classified as legal shooting of animals under official government license for sport or enjoyment. Typically, as a reward and\/or prize, the hunter gets to take home the \u201ctrophy\u201d\u2014the animal carcass or its remains. However, not all species can be hunted and there are restrictions on where and when the hunting can happen, in addition to limitations on the weapons that can be used for the kill. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[281,726,741,1074,1152,2014,2064,2071],"class_list":["post-1410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-big-game","tag-endangered-species-act","tag-environmental-regulation","tag-hunting","tag-international-affairs","tag-trophies","tag-us-fish-and-wildlife","tag-usfws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1410\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}