The organisation, Sum of Us, says about a dozen carriers, including Emirates Airlines, have effectively banned the shipment of all lion, elephant, rhino, and leopard and buffalo trophies.
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Last month South African Airlines announced that it will resume transport of big game, and it seemed that the other airlines were also considering the same.
“United restricts the shipment of lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard or rhinoceros trophies as freight”, said airline spokesman Charles Hobart in a statement.
Air Canada told CBC News the same ban does not extend to black or grizzly bears, among the trophy animals most likely to be hunted in Canada.
U.S. and worldwide airlines are drawing the line at shipping exotic animal trophies following the public outcry over Cecil.
“Americans who engage in trophy hunting do so because they are confident that they will be able to transport their trophies back to the United Staes easily, including by airline”, Sens.
Meanwhile, a big-game trophy collector from Idaho has ignited a firestorm of criticism from animal-rights activists for flaunting online images of herself posed with the carcasses of a giraffe and other wildlife she killed during a recent guided hunt in South Africa.
As recently as May, Atlanta-based Delta had said that it would continue to allow such shipments – as long as they were legal.
The company only issued a 58-word statement noting that prior to Monday’s ban, “Delta’s strict acceptance policy called for absolute compliance with all government regulations regarding protected species”. Zimbabwe has asked for him to be extradited to face charges.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, BA said it had never carried hunting trophies from endangered species.
Cecil was a 13-year-old male African lion who primarily lived in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe.
Around 400 000 people signed it.
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Zimbabwe officials say that, since Cecil was collared with a Global Positioning System device and was illegally shot while in the park, Palmer will face poaching charges and his professional hunter guide, Theo Bronkhorst, had his license suspended. However, he has closed his practice and remained in hiding.
