“Let us not be cowards when it comes to lions killed for trophies”, said Mr Menéndez, supported by three Democratic lawmakers.
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Bauer and his Oxford colleague Claudio Sillero said as bad as trophy hunting can be – estimates of lions killed each year range from 600 to more than 1,000 – habitat loss and conflicts between lions and locals over livestock and agriculture are bigger problems.
The full name of the bill is the “Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act” and it would offer stricter protections for animals listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. “The death of this beloved lion was a preventable tragedy that demonstrates the urgent need to protect precious – and all too often vulnerable – wildlife”. “When we have enough concern about the future of a species to propose it for listing, we should not be killing it for sport”.
The legislation will be cosponsored by Sen. The bill would put a statewide ban on the sale, possession, import or transportation of the bodies and body parts of African lions and four other species threatened by hunting.
“The issue is there will never be a recovery if they continue to be hunted for trophies”, Grijalva told The Hill.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Services proposed labeling the African Lion as endangered under the Endangered Species Act last year, but it’s not yet final, Menendez’s statement said.
As a threatened species, hunters would still be allowed to shoot lions in African countries with FWS-approved conservation management plans. Lion counts in West Africa fell 66 percent in the same time period; lions there “are on the brink of extinction, they are desperately rare”, said famed Duke University conservation biologist Stuart Pimm.
HINTON: We get the proper permits.
Menendez’s legislation leaves the door open for hunters to import lion trophies, if they have the consent of the secretary of the Interior Department.
Conservationists say a dead animal was tied to a auto to draw the lion out of a national park, and that Palmer first wounded Cecil with a bow before fatally shooting him with a gun after 40 hours of tracking.
More than 100,000 people have signed a White House petition urging U.S. officials to extradite Walter Palmer.
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In an open letter, Palmer said he had not been contacted by U.S. or Zimbabwe authorities about the killing of the revered lion, but said he will “assist them in any inquiries they may have”, KMSP-TV in the Twin Cities reported.
