{"id":132128,"date":"2017-11-18T00:32:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T05:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=132128"},"modified":"2017-11-18T00:32:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T05:32:03","slug":"trump-delays-new-policy-on-importing-elephant-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/11\/18\/trump-delays-new-policy-on-importing-elephant-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump delays new policy on importing elephant parts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: President Donald Trump (Photo: Donald J. Trump\/Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump said Friday he’s delaying a new policy allowing the body parts of African elephants shot for sport to be imported until he can review \u201call conservation facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday it would allow such importation, arguing that encouraging wealthy big-game hunters to kill the threatened species would help raise money for conservation programs.<\/p>\n

Animal rights advocates and environmental groups criticized the decision. California Rep. Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the administration to reverse the policy, calling it the \u201cwrong move at the wrong time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump tweeted Friday that the policy had been \u201cunder study for years.\u201d He said he would put the decision \u201con hold\u201d and review it with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.<\/p>\n

Zinke issued a statement later Friday saying: \u201cPresident Trump and I have talked and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical. As a result, in a manner compliant with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, the issuing of permits is being put on hold as the decision is being reviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Royce questioned the action because of concerns not only about African wildlife but U.S. national security, citing the political upheaval in Zimbabwe, where the longtime president was placed under house arrest this week by the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration should withdraw this decision until Zimbabwe stabilizes,\u201d the committee chairman said in a statement. \u201cElephants and other big game in Africa are blood currency for terrorist organizations, and they are being killed at an alarming rate. Stopping poaching isn’t just about saving the world’s most majestic animals for the future \u2014 it’s about our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fish and Wildlife Service said in a written notice issued Thursday that permitting elephants from Zimbabwe and Zambia to be brought back as trophies will raise money for conservation programs. The change marks a shift in efforts to stop the importation of elephant tusks and hides, overriding a 2014 ban imposed by the Obama administration. The new policy applies to the remains of African elephants killed between January 2016 and December 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve those species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation,\u201d the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Royce said that when carefully regulated, conservation hunts could help the wildlife population, but \u201cthat said, this is the wrong move at the wrong time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He described the perilous situation in Zimbabwe, where the U.S. Embassy has advised Americans to limit their travel outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this moment of turmoil, I have zero confidence that the regime \u2014 which for years has promoted corruption at the highest levels \u2014 is properly managing and regulating conservation programs,\u201d Royce said. \u201cFurthermore, I am not convinced that elephant populations in the area warrant overconcentration measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world’s largest land mammal, the African elephant has been classified as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 1979.<\/p>\n

Illicit demand for elephant ivory has led to devastating losses from illegal poaching as the natural habitat available for the animals to roam has also dwindled by more than half. As a result, the number of African elephants has shrunk from about 5 million a century ago to about 400,000 remaining. And that number continues to decline each year.<\/p>\n

Two other lawmakers, Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., co-chairs of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, assailed the administration’s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not encourage the hunting and slaughter of these magnificent creatures,\u201d Buchanan said. \u201cWe don’t get a second chance once a species becomes extinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

One group that advocates for endangered species called for more action after Trump’s Friday night tweet. \u201cIt’s great that public outrage has forced Trump to reconsider this despicable decision, but it takes more than a tweet to stop trophy hunters from slaughtering elephants and lions,\u201d said Tanya Sanerib, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. \u201cWe need immediate federal action to reverse these policies and protect these amazing animals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump said Friday he’s delaying a new policy allowing the body parts of African elephants shot …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":131599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24157,16],"tags":[33850,14087,31496],"class_list":["post-132128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-news","category-news","tag-african-elephants","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-u-s-fish-and-wildlife-service","mauthors-donna-cassata","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}