{"id":31984,"date":"2017-11-20T13:07:28","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T08:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=31984"},"modified":"2017-11-20T13:07:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T08:07:28","slug":"trump-reverses-elephant-trophy-decision-keeps-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=31984","title":{"rendered":"Trump reverses elephant trophy decision, keeps ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON Nov 20 (TNS):<\/strong> President Donald Trump says he will uphold a ban on importing trophies of elephants hunted and killed in Zimbabwe, pending further review, reversing his own administration’s decision from just a day earlier after a public outcry.<\/p>\n

“Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts. Understudy for years. Will update soon with Secretary Zinke. Thank you!” Trump tweeted.<\/p>\n

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the pair came to the decision after they “talked and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical.”<\/p>\n

Just hours before, Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Sanders had defended the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s move to end the 2014 ban initiated under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

The service said Thursday that it would begin issuing permits to import “sport-hunted trophies from elephants hunted in Zimbabwe” between January 21, 2016 and December 31, 2018.<\/p>\n

Zambia would also have been covered under the revised rule.<\/p>\n

The move was met with a barrage of criticism from animal rights groups and activists.<\/p>\n

It also came on the same day that the US State Department presented to Congress its first annual report on wildlife trafficking which, it said, “remains a serious transnational crime.”<\/p>\n

‘Unfit for office’<\/p>\n

French screen legend and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot added her voice to the growing chorus of criticism, slamming Trump as “unfit for office” after his administration’s “shameful actions.”<\/p>\n

“No despot in the world can take responsibility for killing off an age-old species that is part of the world heritage of humanity,” Bardot said in a letter to Trump, released through Foundation Brigitte Bardot.<\/p>\n

The move is “a cruel decision backed by Zimbabwe’s crazy dictator and it confirms the sick and deadly power you assert over the entire plant and animal kingdom,” the 83-year-old actress added.<\/p>\n

“Your shameful actions confirm the rumours that you are unfit for office.”<\/p>\n

According to the Great Elephant Census project, African Savanna elephant populations fell by 30 percent between 2007 and 2014, while Zimbabwe saw a drop of six percent.<\/p>\n

Despite an overall fall in poaching, Africa’s elephant population has declined in part because of continued illegal killing, said a report this year by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.<\/p>\n

African ivory, in particular, is highly sought in China where it is a status symbol.<\/p>\n

A provision in the Endangered Species Act says the import of such trophies can be legal if accompanied by proof that the hunting benefits broader conservation of the species.<\/p>\n

Trump’s sons are known to have a passion for hunting.<\/p>\n

In one widely shared photograph, Donald Trump Jr poses with a knife in one hand and an elephant tail in the other, the animal’s corpse beside him.<\/p>\n

The US decision follows tumultuous days in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe refuses to resign after the military seized control of the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON Nov 20 (TNS): President Donald Trump says he will uphold a ban on importing trophies of elephants hunted and killed in Zimbabwe, pending further review, reversing his own administration’s decision from just a day earlier after a public outcry. “Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,303],"tags":[304,733],"class_list":["post-31984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-washington","tag-washington","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31988,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31984\/revisions\/31988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}