I’m hoping he puts the decision on permanent hold
(Free Beacon)Â President Donald Trump said Friday he was putting a decision to reverse a ban on importing elephant trophies from two African countries on hold, saying he needed to review “all conservation facts.”
Trump added he would soon provide an update with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
“Put 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!” Trump tweeted.
Put 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2017
Good for him. Interestingly, though, the initial rule from 2014 stopped the import, but did not stop actual hunting of elephants. Furthermore, there was a finding in June, 2016 from Fish and Wildlife that would lift the import ban. Who was president then? And this was in the works ever since. They go through this and that and the other in attempt to defend it, and, really, it makes no difference, because, again, the 2014 ruled did not stop hunts.
Personally, I’d like to see Trump work out a way that sport hunting of elephants could be stopped altogether.
If you stop sport hunting of elephants you realize, of course, that hunting of elephants will not stop. It will just be limited to poacher hunting. And the revenues generated by enormous licensing fees paid by sport hunters will not be available to finance the needed anti-poaching efforts. We have been through this process again and again and again, and stopping limited, controlled, licensed sport hunting of African game consistently has the actual real-world effect of being negative for that game.
Save the Elephants, Shoot the Donkeys.
I don’t see how the United States has the power to stop the sport hunting of elephants or any other big game. It would be nice if we did, and could stop it, but American law stops at our shores. The only thing Americans can do is try to shame those Americans who engage in the ‘sport.’
As for the decision to allow importation, who took that decision? Anybody could see how bad the optics of that were!
And that’s the problem. It’s just ‘optics’. The gullible and ignorant have been brainwashed into thinking that American hunters are going to Africa, blasting beautiful animals out of existence, and chopping off a ‘trophy’ and leaving the rest of the animal to rot.
The reality is that the vast, vast majority of these so-called ‘trophy hunters’ are responsible hunters. They pay lots of money to go on legal hunts. The animals are chosen in advance and are either old, injured or a threat to other animals/humans. I follow Kendall jones on Facebook. She was given all kinds of hell a few years ago because she dared shoot an kill a lion. What people ignored is that the lion was chosen to be hunted because it was old and posed a major threat to the pride’s younger males and all of the cubs. If she had not killed this ONE lion, chances were very good that it would have killed or injured a few of the adult males of the pride and all of the cubs.
She was also given crap because she killed an elephant. Again, people ignored the fact that the elephant was chosen because it was injured and would have likely starved to death.
And the meat from both of these animals, in fact all of her kills, goes to feed the local villages. Not a bit of these animals goes to waste. And the money these hunters pay go to conservation and anti poaching efforts.
They really should do away with the trophy import ban. All it does is discourage people from partaking in legal hunts and may even encourage illegal hunts and smuggling.