New President, New Rules
Under President Barack Obama, the practice had been banned because of a lack of data on conservation efforts in Zimbabwe. Safari Club International, a trophy-hunting organization that sued the Obama administration in 2014 in an effort to challenge the ban and was the first to report the policy change on Tuesday, lashed out against the news media and “anti-hunters” for swaying the Trump administration to lift the trophy ban.
“The fight for the freedom to hunt is far from over,” Paul Babaz, the organization’s president, said in a statement. “We will be more proactive and not back down.”
A New Decision
Environmental groups applauded the reversal on Friday and called for more restrictions on trophy hunting, which has faced increased scrutiny, especially after an American dentist killed Cecil, a lion beloved in Zimbabwe, in 2015.
“It’s great that public outrage has forced Trump to reconsider this despicable decision,” said Tanya Sanerib. Tanya is a senior lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity. She went on to say “it takes more than a tweet to stop trophy hunters from slaughtering elephants and lions.”
