https://biologicaldiversity.or...-imports-2022-11-16/



For Immediate Release, November 16, 2022

Contact:

Tanya Sanerib, (206) 379-7363, tsanerib@biologicaldiversity.org

Biden Administration Announces Tighter Rules for African Elephant Imports

Proposed Measures Stop Short of Ban on Trophies, Live Trade

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed new restrictions today on U.S. imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies and live trade. The proposal halts trophy imports from countries who cannot certify annually that their elephant populations are “stable or increasing,” have up-to-date population data, or have adequate conservation legislation. But today’s proposal stops short of a total ban on trophy and live elephant imports.

“This is a good step forward for elephants, as it restricts imports of elephant trophies,” said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “But it’s not the transformative change needed to truly protect these amazing animals from extinction. Even President Trump called elephant trophy hunting a ‘horror show,’ and we’d hope the Biden administration would ban trade in imperiled species for trophies, not just regulate it more.”

Today’s proposal would revise the 4(d) rule for African elephants under the Endangered Species Act, which determines the protections the species receives. The United States is a major importer of hunting trophies globally, along with the European Union.

If adopted, the proposed rule would foreclose elephant imports from nations whose domestic wildlife laws fail to meet the requirements of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Of the countries that export trophies, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia currently have national legislation that may not meet the requirements of CITES. These nations would likely not be allowed to export elephant trophies to the United States.

Additionally, today’s proposal would require an annual certification to ensure that elephant populations are stable or increasing, adequate management and capacity exist, and habitat is secure, among other requirements.

In 2016 the Obama administration implemented a “near ban” on the domestic trade in ivory. Although that regulation provided some exceptions, it closed the U.S. market and was part of an agreement with China, which closed its own domestic ivory market at the end of 2019. The revisions announced today do not address the ivory trade.

“Elephants are globally cherished animals, and we need to stop treating them like commodities,” said Sanerib. “Elephants aren’t wall hangings or menagerie animals, but intelligent, empathetic creatures with a vital role in the health of forests and savannahs. If we save elephants from extinction, we’ll save entire ecosystems, but it will take global support and willingness to change business as usual.”

The proposed restrictions follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2020 reassessment of elephants, which found that forest elephants are critically endangered and savannah elephants are endangered.

Today’s proposal was announced as nations attend the triennial CITES meeting being held in Panama. A proposal to re-open international ivory trade is on the table at the meeting, along with proposals to address burgeoning ivory stockpiles, live trade in elephants and the continued need to close domestic ivory markets.

https://biologicaldiversity.or...-imports-2022-11-16/


If you click on this link, the first line has "proposed" in red, click on that and it takes you to a 69 page proposal.

piss on that demented idiot Biden

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
piss on that demented idiot Biden

Trump said hunting is a horror show!

https://www.fws.gov/press-rele...-elephant-protection


PRESS RELEASE
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Measures for African Elephant Protection
Nov 16, 2022
Media Contacts
Public Affairs HQ



WASHINGTON – In response to a rise in international trade in live African elephants, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing an amendment to the 4(d) rule of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to benefit African elephant conservation in the wild while improving the welfare of captive elephants under U.S. jurisdiction.

African elephant numbers in the wild have fallen from as many as 26 million individuals at the end of the 18th century to an estimated 415,000 today. Over the years, they have faced numerous threats from habitat loss and degradation, to poaching for ivory, to killings resulting from human-wildlife conflicts. Today, the trade in live African elephants is adding to the challenges they face.

“We are committed to responding to immediate threats and doing what’s best for African elephant conservation, while supporting the efforts of African elephant range countries to protect and manage their elephant populations,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams. “This proposed rule will help ensure any imports of live African elephants into the United States contribute to enhancing the conservation of the species in the wild and that live African elephants in the United States are humanely and appropriately cared for throughout their lifetimes.”

African elephants were first listed as threatened under the ESA in 1978. Section 4(d) under the ESA provides the Secretary of the Interior with broad discretion to issue regulations tailored to the specific conservation needs of the threatened species. The fourth and most recent amendment to the 4(d) rule for African elephants, made in 2016, was in response to increased poaching of elephants for ivory. Now, the proposed changes are in response to an increase in exports of live African elephants from their range states.

The proposed changes include:

Establishing permit and specific enhancement requirements for the import of wild-sourced African elephants, as well as requirements to ensure proposed recipients of live African elephants, including their offspring, are suitably equipped to house and care for the animals.
Clarifying the existing enhancement requirement for permit applications to import African elephant sport-hunted trophies.
Requiring any import of live African elephants, African elephant sport-hunted trophies, and African elephant parts and products other than ivory into the United States to be limited to countries included in Category 1 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) National Legislation Project, meaning the country has legislation and tools in place for effective implementation of CITES.
This rule, if finalized, would establish an annual certification requirement for range countries that allow for export of sport-hunted trophies destined for the United States to provide the Service with information about the management and status of African elephants and the hunting programs in their country.

The proposed changes will benefit African elephants in numerous ways: They will help ensure any imports of live African elephants into the United States contribute to enhancing conservation of the species in the wild and that live African elephants are well cared for throughout their lifetimes. They will help increase efficiency of permit application evaluations and ensure authorized imports contribute to enhancing the conservation of the species in the wild. Lastly, they are designed to encourage applicable foreign governments to ensure they have adequate national legislation and tools in place to effectively implement CITES and may also encourage implementation of effective management measures to enhance African elephant conservation.

The proposed rule will publish in the Federal Register Nov. 17, 2022, and be open for public comment for 60 days. Please go to www.regulations.gov for more information.

-FWS-

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information, visit www.fws.gov and connect with us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr and YouTube.

I am not sure that this is going to add anything to the protection of elephants in Africa. It’s just gonna make it harder for sportsman to export their properly hunted elephant.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwana338:
I am not sure that this is going to add anything to the protection of elephants in Africa. It’s just gonna make it harder for sportsman to export their properly hunted elephant.

As I said before, USFW, and their European equivalent, are run by a bunch of self serving idiots.

They think they know what is better than the countries that have signed the CITES agreement.

Practically all the world follows a very simple procedure.

They issue an import permit as long as the exporting country issued a CITES export permit.

End of story.

The West is ramming their stupid, convoluted, unreal rules to other countries.

quote:

They issue an import permit as long as the exporting country issued a CITES export permit.

Based on what is termed as a "pre-import" permit from the hunter's country of residence, the country where the elephant will be hunted shall issue a hunting permit. If the Elephant is killed a CITES Export will be issued in reference to the Pre-Import permit.

It would therefore be contradicting oneself for initially issuing said pre-import permit only to thereafter give the hunter a runaround when it is time to clear the trophy.

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
piss on that demented idiot Biden

https://blog.humanesociety.org...n-for-elephants.html


Endangered Species Act proposal would be a win for elephants

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson
November 18, 2022



There’s a golden opportunity to help protect African elephants now that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a new Endangered Species Act rule. If finalized, the new rule would better regulate imports of African elephants and their parts, like hunting trophies, to the U.S. We have long advocated that the existing regulations are not strong enough.

African elephant populations are in steep decline. Since the early 20th century, the number of elephants in Africa has plummeted from as many as five million to approximately 400,000. The tide of sport-hunted African elephant trophies that flood into the U.S., year after year, unabated, is making things worse. Just last year, the very rare forest elephant was scientifically classified as critically endangered, having declined by 62% between 2002 and 2011. The savannah elephant was scientifically classified as endangered, having declined by 30% between 2006 and 2016.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for ensuring that any import of an African elephant (or elephant trophy) must promote the conservation of the species and does not contribute to the decline of the species. Current regulations are not strong enough. For instance, the import of live elephants is not even subjected to permit oversight, a position we strongly objected to the last time these regulations were amended.

The proposed rule would be a vast improvement in the following ways:

The proposed rule would only allow imports of trophies, skins or live elephants from African countries whose national wildlife legislation is designated in Category One under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Importantly, that list does not include Botswana, Tanzania, or Zambia, countries which are major destinations for trophy hunters. That means this rule could effectively eliminate trophy imports of elephants from those countries, which would be huge.
Even for countries that currently have the Category One designation—such as South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia—the proposed rule would add additional criteria for the U.S. government to evaluate before issuing a permit for trophy or live elephant imports.
The proposed rule would require that substantial evidence be submitted by range countries (those with jurisdiction over any part of the natural geographic range of the African elephant) before the Service could make the required “enhancement finding” for an import permit. Such information would include whether the populations are large, stable or increasing; whether the foreign governments have the capacity to obtain sound scientific data on the populations, have the legal capacity to manage the populations, and follow the rule of law; and whether viable habitat is secure and not decreasing or degraded. For live elephants, this information would include the assurance that the imported elephants are not pregnant, were legally taken and that family units were kept intact.
In addition, the rule would require that funds derived from trophy hunting are used primarily for elephant conservation. We have long argued that a more formalized process for the consideration of any permits is essential for conservation and legal compliance. Under the current regulations, most of the countries exporting trophies to the U.S. consistently fail to provide convincing science-based evidence in support of their hunting quotas and reliable information on trophy hunting revenues.
To be clear, our perspective is that trophy hunting is an anachronistic and horrific practice that we should no longer tolerate. But while we continue to advocate that trophy hunting cannot lawfully be sanctioned under the Endangered Species Act, we welcome additional regulation to mitigate the serious harms that trophy hunting causes. This new rule would be an improvement, and the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society International, Humane Society Legislative Fund and allied partner organizations have been fighting for stronger regulations for years through litigation.

Because the proposed rule aims to produce genuine conservation benefits for African elephant conservation and improve the welfare of captive elephants in the U.S., we’ll be fighting for the approval and implementation of these new regulations. However, it is not the only commitment we’re making on this front. We are also supporting bipartisan language in the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill before the U.S. Congress that prevents funds from being used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue permits for the importation of African elephant or lion trophies from Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia—three countries of particular concern.

We’ll submit substantive comments supporting the proposed rule during this 60-day comment period, and you can communicate your enthusiasm for this positive step forward for elephants, too. When it comes to protecting these magnificent animals, there’s really no time to lose.

Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

None of this prevents someone from going to Africa and hunt them, it just means you can't bring it back to the US. How in heavens name does this Sara women think that's going to help save these elephants. While I'd love to hunt an elephant, between the high cost (and difficulty in bring back any trophy parts) and a wife who is adamantly opposed in general principal to me hunting an elephant I'll never experience this pinnacle of hunting. So sad!

Bison,

That's exactly what they want, to discourage hunting, even where and when it would be in the best interest of the species as a whole.

So what does this actually mean?

In 2011 I shot an elephant in Zim and brought the tusks back. Is this now legal or not?

Indy
posted 22 November 2022 01:31 Hide Post
So what does this actually mean?

In 2011 I shot an elephant in Zim and brought the tusks back. Is this now legal or not?

DSC's take on it in the link below:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u...vBLVljsqghjMGXNKfQCM

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
piss on that demented idiot Biden

Trump said hunting is a horror show!

Piss on Biden and Trump. Go DeSantis!