Six months after the death of Cecil the Lion, the US Fish and Wildlife Service have moved to add two subspecies native to Africa to the endangered species list, making it more difficult for hunters to import trophies from their conquests into the country.
According to Reuters, the agency listed lions found primarily in western and central Africa as endangered and those native to the eastern and southern parts of the continent as threatened. Those changes follow the recent extension of similar protections to elephants and cheetahs and will officially take effect starting in January.
Jeff Flocken, North American regional director of the animal welfare fund, told the Washington Post that the ruling was “very exciting… for those who want to see greater protections for lions.” While the decision is not explicitly the result of Cecil’s death at the hands of a Minnesota dentist, Flocken noted that it was “impossible to ignore the public outcry” of that event.
The new regulations will not prevent the hunting of lions, the Post noted, but it will require all hunters to obtain an import permit from the FWS to bring back trophies. To be granted a permit, they will have to demonstrate that a trophy will “enhance [the] survival of the species, explained Teresa Telecky, director of wildlife at the Humane Society International.
New regulations set ‘a very high bar’ for trophy import permits
Telecky’s group—along with the International Fund for Animal Welfare first petitioned for the addition of these lions to the Endangered Species act almost five years ago—praised the move and said that it set “a very high bar” for hunters to obtain permits to bring back trophies.
Tens of thousands of both groups of lions roamed across Africa at one point, Reuters said, but in recent years their numbers have dropped off drastically due to the loss of prey, the loss of habitat, and their attractiveness as a target for trophy hunters—both locally and internationally. Now, only 1,400 of the most threatened of the two subspecies remain, the news organization added.
While the practice is condemned by many, some countries call it an important source of income, and some claim that it actually helps promote conservation efforts. The newly passed regulations will ask hunters to prove those claims, Luke Hunter, president of Panthera, a global organization promoting wild cat conservation, told Reuters on Tuesday.
Lions are now the last of the big cats to be added to the endangered species list, joining jaguars, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, and cougars in the register, the Post said. The US is the latest country to address the hunting of the creatures, following France, who last month said that it would not be issuing any future permits to import trophy lions, and Australia, which had previously passed a similar measure, according to reports.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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