Anybody heard about this?

Zimbabwe: U.S to Ban Hunting Trophies From Zimbabwe
https://www.thestandard.co.zw/...phies-from-zimbabwe/
THE United States will not allow the importation of hunting trophies from Zimbabwe as it feels government revenues are not being channelled towards the communities where the species reside.
Recently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USWFS) listed two lion subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. The two species are found in India and western and central Africa and eastern and southern Africa. The US government has to approve the listing for the ban to be effected.
US Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, who is responsible for the management and conservation said on Tuesday that as a government, they did not believe enough measures were being put in place to support conservation efforts in local communities.
"We do not allow the importation of trophies right now from Zimbabwe because the US Fishery Wildlife Service does not believe that sufficient measures are being put in place in that country to support the conservation efforts in local communities," Jewell said in a telephonic briefing last week.
"Trophy hunting is difficult to explain but in countries where it works well, the occasional hunt is time limited, typically on animals that are beyond reproductive age."
Jewell said the US Fishery Wildlife Service governed the imports and the importation of hunting trophies and "it is very careful to ensure that when it allows the importation of trophies, it does so with countries that are in fact putting the money from the sale of that opportunity directly into communities to enable those communities to support conservation efforts for the species".
The local hunting industry generated $45 million in 2014.
In Zimbabwe, revenue generated from hunting goes mainly to national conservation parks, which the United States is not happy with as it feels the money should go to communities from where the hunted species are located.
The United States is the biggest market for the local hunting industry ahead of Canada. If hunting products are banned, it is expected other countries will follow suit.
Lion hunting in Zimbabwe is the biggest attraction and contributor to the hunting industry.
In 2014, USWFS suspended imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Tanzania over alleged questionable management practices.
Local tourism players say any ban on hunting would have negative effects on the industry. Government has in the past put a number of measures to grow the industry.
In his 2016 National Budget, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa extended the suspension of duty on motor vehicles imported by safari operators for a period of two years beginning this month. The facility has been in place since 2009 and renewed every year, enabling safari operators to replace ageing game drive fleet.

I personally don't believe this is factual guys , I think it's more of a late or repeat quote which is and should not be relavant now.

It has not been confirmed in the Western Media as of yet that I know of .

I trust that it will be all ok and we can move forward positively. This social media is dangerous and I wish that stuff wouldn't be posted without the actual facts as we all know that this can have a negative effect for us guys especially us Zim PHs and operators .

Hope that I am right that this is BS and pray that common sense will prevail.

Kind regards to all

Wayne Van Den Bergh

http://allafrica.com/stories/201601251351.html


Looks like it may be possibly lion and elephant imports.



Zimbabwe government officials and tourism operators have recently complained about the ban on importation of lion and elephant trophies. What was the rationale behind this move?

The United States Wildlife and Fisheries Services covers the importation of wildlife trophies. We are careful that when we allow this, we work with countries to ensure that the proceeds from the sale of such products go into community service.

We do not allow the importation of these trophies from Zimbabwe because we believe that the country does not have the capacity to direct the proceeds to the recommended use. We also do not believe that Zimbabwe has put in place sufficient measures for local communities to participate in conservation efforts. It is crucial that a country works with us and with local communities to ensure that the resources get to the people.

We have worked closely with the government of Zimbabwe for almost two years to clarify their management structure and assist them in developing conservation plans for elephant. We hope that we can come to the point where Zimbabwe have a demonstrable conservation programme in place that would permit us to allow elephant trophy imports.

The lion has just been listed, and the issue of showing that there is a conservation benefit for lions in the wild would apply to any country from which American hunters try to import lion trophies.

Thanks Kathi

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
The United States Wildlife and Fisheries Services covers the importation of wildlife trophies. We are careful that when we allow this, we work with countries to ensure that the proceeds from the sale of such products go into community service.

We do not allow the importation of these trophies from Zimbabwe because we believe that the country does not have the capacity to direct the proceeds to the recommended use. We also do not believe that Zimbabwe has put in place sufficient measures for local communities to participate in conservation efforts. It is crucial that a country works with us and with local communities to ensure that the resources get to the people.

The lion has just been listed, and the issue of showing that there is a conservation benefit for lions in the wild would apply to any country from which American hunters try to import lion trophies.

All that is well and good (and IMHO should be done anyway) - but where exactly is all this spelled out as a requirement for countries according to the CITIES treaty?

One of the biggest problems the Hunter/Conservationist has is that we are forced to ally ourselves with fundamentally corrupt African governments.

We want proper wildlife management (You can't hunt an extinct species.) But we are permanently saddled with an unreliable partner who is holding all the cards!


.

Zimbabwean journalism is about where American journalism was in the days of William Randolph Hearst. The Standard is one of the better non-government publications, but it still puts out a lot of alarmist material because that sells newspapers. Accuracy and truth aren't at the top of any Zimbabwean newspaperman's to-do list. A good general reference site that contains daily stories from across the board is www.zimbabwesituation.com, but take everything that comes out of Zim with a bag of salt.

It's not real...don't believe everything you see on the internet.

You mean I should be skeptical of these headlines???

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
You mean I should be skeptical of these headlines???

Fascinating!

Not much different from the media in the US when you come to think of it

Leopardtrack,

Saeed did not post those pictures, it was infact Ledvm. Are your comments really necessary?

Leopardtrack;

Saeed small minded???! Is that supposed to be a joke?
Saeed is just the opposite.

You owe him a hugh apologi.

Good hunting
Carl Frederik

http://www.huntingreport.com/w...te.cfm?articleid=755



News Reports on Zimbabwe Trophy Import Ban Are False

(posted January 27, 2016)

A "news report" claiming the US has banned all Zimbabwe trophy hunting imports sparked a flurry of inquiries from Hunting Report subscribers over the last two days. The original story, which was published by the Zimbabwe-based newspaper The Standard is entirely false. The story was also picked up by South Africa-based online media outlet allAfrica.

The truth is, there has been no change in the US Fish and Wildlife Service's policy regarding Zimbabwe trophy imports. We received this assurance from Public Affairs Specialist Laury Parramore at the USFWS. The one possible kernel of truth behind this story is that elephant trophy imports from Zim are still under suspension. Hunting Report readers should be well aware of this: see Article 3545 in our database.

The Standard story seems to have originated from another story run by the Associated Press, which also falsely stated that all trophy imports from Zimbabwe would be banned. The AP story has been picked up by an ABC news website and other online outlets.

The original AP story uses comments from US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in a misleading fashion to suggest that she made statements on the supposed ban. In our discussion with USFWS, it seemed clear that Secretary Jewell's comments were made in reference to the 2014 negative enhancement finding for elephant trophies. We were unable to reach the Department of Interior for comment.

Obviously, this is just another of many examples of flawed mainstream media coverage on hunting issues surrounding Africa over the last year. If any major changes in wildlife policy are announced, Hunting Report subscribers will be among the first to know.

If you read any questionable information in any media, please alert Barbara Crown at barbara@huntingreport.com. We will be happy to unearth the facts for you. - Justin Jones, Assistant Editor

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