https://thehill.com/opinion/en...-giraffes-go-extinct



Trump is no fan of trophy hunting — will he let giraffes go extinct?

BY TANYA SANERIB, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 12/08/18 11:00 AM EST 300 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL



Hop on Amazon, eBay or Etsy and you can get one for about $200 — items decorated with real bone from an African giraffe.

It’s a shockingly small price for the body part of an iconic animal that international experts say is spiraling toward extinction.


Yet, no U.S. law prohibits such transactions. Even though Africa’s giraffe populations have dropped nearly 40 percent in recent decades, these gentle giants haven’t joined elephants in getting protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

And the Trump administration seems determined to keep it that way.

In April 2017, conservation groups, including mine, filed a petition urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider listing giraffes under the Act.

More than 19 months later, our urgent request still languishes in bureaucratic limbo. The wildlife service, overseen by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, hasn’t even taken the first step toward protecting these increasingly imperiled animals.

We sued Zinke over this illegal delay. But it shouldn’t take a lawsuit to get federal officials to help prevent one of the world’s most cherished creatures from disappearing forever.

It’s time for President Trump himself to get involved. He shouldn’t let Zinke — a trophy hunter whose Interior Department has an abysmal record of failing to protect imperiled animals — sink this vital safeguard for giraffes.

There’s not much time left. Giraffes capture our imaginations from childhood on, but many people don’t realize how few are left in the wild.

Indeed, their outlook seems to get bleaker by the month. In November, experts with the International Union for Conservation of Nature updated their assessment of Africa’s giraffes to classify two subspecies as “critically endangered.”

Africa now has fewer giraffes than elephants. Yet, giraffe bones are becoming the new ivory — and the United States is heavily implicated in this deadly international trade.

It’s become a fad to use giraffe bones to decorate items like pistols and knives. Giraffe skins, meanwhile, are being employed for everything from boots to bible covers and barstools, according to a Humane Society International investigation.

Our country imports about one giraffe hunting trophy a day — mostly heads atop the animals’ graceful, long necks. It imports thousands of giraffe bones every year.

In short, the United States is an important part of the problem facing giraffes, and Endangered Species Act protection for giraffes would help us be part of the solution.

At last federal officials would have the power to better track and curb imports of bones, trophies and other body parts.

Listing giraffes would also increase funding for conservation efforts in Africa, and that’s crucial. The species is gravely imperiled by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting for meat.

Maybe it seems unrealistic to expect Trump to force his interior secretary to act. After all, the president’s sons have been infamously photographed clutching hunting trophies, ranging from an amputated elephant tail to a leopard and an ungulate’s horns.

But Trump himself has condemned the practice: “My sons love hunting, I don’t,” he has tweeted. He seems to have forced Zinke to make some changes to elephant and lion trophy imports, though imports still continue.

Certainly, protecting Africa’s magnificent animals from casual slaughter seems to be one of the only conservation issues Trump has even bothered to tweet about. Many of the president’s most fervent supporters — from Laura Ingraham to Michael Savage — oppose trophy hunting and back wildlife protections.

And there are signs that his broader conservative base wants stronger environmental action. In a post-midterm poll by the Pew Research Center, just 41 percent of Republicans said Trump has better approaches than congressional Democrats when it comes to the environment.

One thing is for sure: Africa’s giraffes are circling the drain. They desperately need the lifeline of the Endangered Species Act.

If future generations of children know giraffes only as toys — and not the long-necked, living icons of Africa — Trump and Zinke will bear a good deal of the blame.

Tanya Sanerib is the legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s international program.

It is no secret that the CBD has been a thorn in the side of hunters and other real conservationists for a great many years. Their relentless scurrilous lawsuits have consumed governmental monies that could have been better spent. If memory serves me correctly, the CBD was one of the groups that forced the California Dept. of Fish and Game to change its' name to the California Dept. of Wildlife, with unknown amounts of money spent for the changeover. Now the CBD's legal director is angry that our government refuses to "help" the CBD? If it were up to the CBD, sport hunting would be banned entirely. The giraffe issue can be, and should be, handled through CITES. Groups like the CBD are the reason that I am currently waiting on two import permits that are NOT for lion or elephant, including a bontebok that I may never see again. To hell with her and all her ilk!

I have been saying it for years.

Why do countries that are signatories to CITES do not follow a simple rule.

Any animal that has a CITES permit from the country coming out of, should be allowed to be imported to any countries that is a member of CITES.

America has been following a very shady sort of rule for many years, making their own as they go along.

Making no sense at all, but for political expediency!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have been saying it for years.

Why do countries that are signatories to CITES do not follow a simple rule.

Any animal that has a CITES permit from the country coming out of, should be allowed to be imported to any countries that is a member of CITES.

America has been following a very shady sort of rule for many years, making their own as they go along.

Making no sense at all, but for political expediency!

Couldn't agree with you more!!

Why is Trump involved? Oh yeah, that's right, because it's op-ed from "The Hill" that should have been written for "The Onion".

Wading past this annoying clump of journalists, it works like this: IUCN determines a species' status, CITES regulates international trade, and everyone else from Tanya Sanerib (the Center for Biological Diversity is one of the worst scams out here: pure ARA, no science) to Zinke to the USF&WS just shuts the Foxtrot up.

shaking my head.

he has to be the busiest guy ever to screw up all the stuff the media accuses him of.
I sleeplike 4 hours a day and couldn't cause this much trouble if I had obamas auto pen and 3 secretary's re-filling the ink.

+1

Well said Saeed!

Canada atleast seems to be more logical and follows CITES

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have been saying it for years.

Why do countries that are signatories to CITES do not follow a simple rule.

Any animal that has a CITES permit from the country coming out of, should be allowed to be imported to any countries that is a member of CITES.

America has been following a very shady sort of rule for many years, making their own as they go along.

Making no sense at all, but for political expediency!

Except the treaty specifically allows for importing countries have their own importing rules, that can be stricter than the exporting country. Don't like that rule, then amend the treaty.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazy_farmer:
Well said Saeed!

Canada atleast seems to be more logical and follows CITES

recently i do not think Canada and logical belong together CITES apart ...

Might be the leadership..... hahah