US says man can bring back 'skin, skull, teeth and claws' of hunted Tanzania lion

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

US says man can bring back 'skin, skull, teeth and claws' of hunted Tanzania lion

Environmental organizations say ‘very concerning’ move could open floodgates for importing other endangered species

Maanvi Singh in Oakland
Sun 15 Sep 2019 06.00 BST
Last modified on Sun 15 Sep 2019 07.00 BST

The Trump administration has authorized a Florida man to bring back the “skin, skull, teeth and claws” of a lion he hunted in Tanzania, granting the first permit to import a lion from that country since the species gained protection under the US Endangered Species Act.

Environmental organizations say the move could open the floodgates for importing other endangered species like lions and rhinos. A freedom of information request made public by the US Fish and Wildlife Services also revealed that the hunter, Carl Atkinson, was represented by lawyer John Jackson III, who is also a member of the Trump administration’s International Wildlife Conservation Council, a controversial advisory board that promotes trophy hunting.

“This is all very concerning,” said Tanya Sanerib, the international legal director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “It signals that the administration is ready to approve, trophy imports from Tanzania despite that country’s history of wildlife mismanagement.”

Under the Obama administration, the import of elephant trophies from Tanzania was banned – due to concerns that the government was ineffective at curbing poaching, leading to catastrophic population declines. Under Trump, FWS reversed course and decided to instead evaluate applications to import elephant and lion trophies from all countries on a case-by-case basis.

Documents released by FWS indicate that the agency justified granting the permit after sending a delegation to Tanzania in November and ascertaining that the country was responsibly managing lion hunting. “But there’s no indication of what exactly improved or changed over the past couple of years,” Sanerib said.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/15/us-says-man-can-bring-back-skin-skull-teeth-and-claws-of-hunted-tanzania-lion

[sinkingfeeling]

1. "Evaluate applications" means to check how much money was either

donated to the Trump campaign or how much was spent at his golf resorts.