Another Airline Announces Decision to Discontinue the Shipment of Hunting Trophies

According to a memorandum authored by the Africa Director of Lufthansa Cargo, the company has decided to stop its shipment of hunting trophies from "all Africa (Johannesburg Airport) origins." The memo indicates that this change will take place "with immediate effect."

Lufthansa is the third airline to announce changes to its trophy shipment policies, following similar announcements made by South African Airways and Emirates' cargo divisions. In contrast, Delta Air Lines put out a statement on May 13, 2015 in which the airline confirmed that it would not discontinue its practice of transporting hunting trophies. The airline stated that "Delta accepts hunting trophies in accordance with all U.S. domestic and international regulations. . . ."

SCI will continue its ongoing work with our partners in the hunting community to reverse decisions such as the one announced by Lufthansa and to demonstrate that such decisions harm rather than help wildlife conservation. Please continue to monitor your communications from SCI for further developments on this and other issues important to the hunting community.

A strong reason to use Delta whenever possible...

SCI will continue its ongoing work with our partners in the hunting community to reverse decisions such as the one announced by Lufthansa and to demonstrate that such decisions harm rather than help wildlife conservation. Please continue to monitor your communications from SCI for further developments on this and other issues important to the hunting community.


The only communications I see lately coming from SCI on all such matters is repeating "old" news! Is that all they are reduced to, dissemination of common information?

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And I thought the Germans (as a hunting nation) had more sense !

Not good.

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quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:
SCI will continue its ongoing work with our partners in the hunting community to reverse decisions such as the one announced by Lufthansa and to demonstrate that such decisions harm rather than help wildlife conservation. Please continue to monitor your communications from SCI for further developments on this and other issues important to the hunting community.


The only communications I see lately coming from SCI on all such matters is repeating "old" news! Is that all they are reduced to, dissemination of common information?

Mich, you are just a bit off base here. There are 4 of us who were in direct contact with the SCI president about the Delta issue. Trust me, Delta's position came 100% from his efforts. If I recall correctly, there were 19 e mails about this matter in one day.

Here we are losing the battle once again and we get yet another useless comment that does not help the cause.

Gentlemen, wake up. We ARE losing. We need to band together to fight and not between ourselves.

I can't get too excited about this.

It's likely to change some time in the next few years.

These types of bans usually flop.

When someone stands up and flings a big law suit on them for interference in international commerce and acting alone, unilaterally without Government consent, they probably will fold and recant.

Hey !!! I'm NOT kidding.

If you are passionate about this and it actually means something to you, pen a letter to the TOP person in their Government protesting. That may be the Prime Minister or President.

DON'T mess around with the peons. Go to the top.

Licensed hunters of legal game, in compliance with the laws of the hot country, are entitled to the full protection of the law.

Selective discrimination is not successful.

___________________________________________

Afterthought:

BTW if you like Delta's attitude tell their CEO

http://www.huntingreport.com/w...te.cfm?articleid=720


Lufthansa Joins Hunting Trophy "Embargo" Trend

(posted May 29, 2015)

In our June issue, which should be in your inboxes as we speak, we reported that the South African Airlines hunting trophy "embargo" seemed to be snowballing. Emirates Airlines and Singapore Airlines announced their own bans on hunting trophies in May. Now, it seems that Lufthansa AG is following suit.

No official public announcement has been made by the airline yet, but we have obtained a copy of an internal email dated May 27, 2015 from Hermann Zunker, Director of Lufthansa AG Africa Cargo, alerting partners to the ban. In part, the email reads "...we've decided to place a full embargo for hunting trophies on all Africa origins with immediate effect."

We have not been able to verify details of the embargo with Lufthansa yet, but we will inform subscribers via Email Extra bulletin as soon as we know more. It appears that hunting trophy shipments from other parts of the world will not be affected.

As we pointed out in our June issue, there is a campaign underway by anti-hunters to attack legal, sustainable hunting through alternative avenues, including making petitions to airlines. For more on those petitions, see this month's issue of Conservation Force Bulletin. - Justin Jones, Assistant Editor

Get important news bulletins like this sent directly to your email 24 hours before anyone else sees them, plus unlimited access to our database of hunt reports and past articles, a special expanded electronic version of our newsletter and more! Upgrade your Hunting Report subscription to Email Extra today. Click here for more information.

Get important news bulletins like this sent directly to your email 24 hours before anyone else sees them, plus unlimited access to our database of hunt reports and past articles, a special expanded electronic version of our newsletter and more! Upgrade your Hunting Report subscription to Email Extra today. Click here for more information.

Whoa !

Hold up. Time out.

I began phoning the airlines that are reputed to be banning shipments. And true to my suspicions there may be some duplicitous double speak and misinformation. &* Which is often the case ).

Skycargo/UAR. Got a busy signal. *( Also phoned Emirates passenger division and they did not know anything ).

Lufthansa. Recorded message - call back.

SAA. The agent did have a recollection of receiving notice but it was limited EXCLUSIVELY to rhinos, elephants and lions !!!!

There is much more to this story than meets the eye I am confident.

Get on the phone. Check it out call the carriers.

So far this seems to be coming out of South Africa.

Wouldn't surprise me to find that some of the sneaky skunks are anti hunters and up to under the covers mischief.

___________________________________________

Too I'm suspecting that some of this may be due to the proliferation of private game farmers selling canned hunts and possibly circumventing the SA regs.

I worked overseas for years and I can tell you that the immigration and customs people and airlines rank right in there with the houses of ill repute. You can have anything for money.

Simple alternatives. Use some other airline. Or go to some other country.

I am told the SAA decision results from SAA being caught with mislabeled cargo which was in reality elephant tusks.

They are banning shipments on cites 1 animals only.

From Lufthansa's website;

'Animals that ‘qualify’ under CITES 1 include Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Tiger, Cheetah, Leopard, Zebra, Giraffe and other large game. Based on my interpretation of CITES 1, it provides for a ban on the commercial export or import of Game that is endangered or can potentially be endangered by harvesting. It does not apply to Game that is not at risk, such as Impala, Kudu and other antelope or small game not listed as an at-risk species'.

http://www.flysaa.com/mw/en/fl...angered_Species.html



South African Airways Cargo Places an Embargo on Selected Endangered Species

Johannesburg - 30 April 2015: South African Airways Cargo on 21 April 2015 issued a Policy and Procedures Advisory to its internal stakeholders advising of the embargo on the transportation of hunting trophies, which is limited to rhino, elephant, tiger, and lion.

SAA Cargo has in the past experienced a problem where some of the shipments containing hunting trophies were misdeclared and was fined in a foreign country. In this particular instance, early in April 2015 a shipment lodged as machinery spare parts was discovered in Australia whilst in transit to Kuala Lumpur. The shipment contained elephant tusks and was seized. We [SAA Cargo] were issued with a Notice of Seizure. “We had to act swiftly to curb the problem of illegal transportation of animals,” says Tlali Tlali, SAA Spokesperson.

SAA Cargo will keep the embargo in place until all other options have been considered and stricter control measures have been put in place to prevent a recurrence. “When such measures are implemented we will advise all stakeholders accordingly in South Africa and at our international stations,” said Tlali.

quote:

Originally posted by d.unger:
They are banning shipments on cites 1 animals only.

From Lufthansa's website;

'Animals that ‘qualify’ under CITES 1 include Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Tiger, Cheetah, Leopard, Zebra, Giraffe and other large game. Based on my interpretation of CITES 1, it provides for a ban on the commercial export or import of Game that is endangered or can potentially be endangered by harvesting. It does not apply to Game that is not at risk, such as Impala, Kudu and other antelope or small game not listed as an at-risk species'.

People need to research what animals are CITES Appendix I, Appendix II, or Appendix III.

Elephant-Appendix II in the following countries:

Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe

Lion in Africa is appendix II

Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra) is the only zebra that is Appendix I.

Giraffe are not even listed.

And the list goes on.

http://www.cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php

Really great input;

This website has the cream of the crop, excellence, intelligence, integrity.

I'm a North American living in the bastion of freedom and in dependence. I'm also of Dutch ancestry and don't ask me why but I have an affection for South Africans.

I'm thinking that what I want to do is motivate my friends in RSA to get more involved. Begin knocking on doors, phoning, writing letters.

I've been a hunter -shooter since I was 8 years old back in 1940. I saw the decline of game here and the phenomenal rebound to proliferation and excess over 7.5 decades. It is do-able with courage, intelligence and conviction.

And I will say that the last great hope for the avoidance of the species extinction lays squarely upon the shoulders of games best friend - the hunter/ conservationist.

I'm promoting the involvement of our friends here, in South Africa, to get more aggressive and to rattle cages.

This isn't for me. I no longer hunt. It is for you.

quote:

The only communications I see lately coming from SCI on all such matters is repeating "old" news! Is that all they are reduced to, dissemination of common information?

Old news? SCI was one of the first organizations to break this story.

This from PHASA this morning:


PHASA HOPEFUL FOR A REVERSAL OF SAA’S CARGO BAN



Pretoria, 1 June 2015 - The Professional Hunter’s Association of South Africa (PHASA) said today it was hopeful that South African Airways (SAA) would reverse a decision to impose an embargo on the shipment of certain hunting trophies and elect instead to place more stringent requirements on the requisite paperwork for transporting animal products.



On 21 April this year, SAA implemented an immediate embargo on the transportation of rhino, elephant, lion and tiger trophies on the carrier’s services worldwide. While no reasons were given in the notice, it later emerged that the decision was prompted by a shipment of elephant tusks misdeclared as machinery parts.



PHASA chief executive Adri Kitshoff, who has been negotiating with SAA to reverse its position on the shipment of trophies, said she believes the airline now has a better understanding of the government’s policy of sustainable utilisation, which is enshrined in South Africa’s constitution and includes trophy hunting.



“Legal, responsible trophy hunting has been a cornerstone of South Africa’s flourishing wildlife industry and the headcount of game under private ownership now exceeds that of all the state parks combined by a ratio of three to one,” she said.



Kisthoff expressed her thanks to the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) for their intervention in the matter as well as to SAA for the opportunity to meet with the carrier’s executives and to explain to them the importance of hunting to South Africa’s economy and conservation programmes.



However, she raised concern over the decision by Emirates Airlines to also stop the transport of certain hunting trophies irrespective of the CITES appendix which allows for the transport of these trophies and Lufthansa to stop the shipment of hunting trophies from “all Africa origins”. “If other airlines were to follow suit, it may have unintended consequences for conservation programmes across Africa,” she said.



Kitshoff said it becomes hugely problematic when commercial enterprises believe they can do a better job of conserving wildlife than CITES, the most authoritative institution on this subject. “This is especially so when it is quite clear that some subjective, unscientific considerations have crept into the decision-making without due considerations of the facts.”



“There is a clear distinction between illegal wildlife products, such as poached rhino horn or ivory, and legitimate hunting trophies. The export of trophies is strictly regulated by both the country of origin, the country of import and, where applicable, CITES. No trophy may be exported without a relevant permit and while abuses of the system may happen, these are extremely rare.”



While the trade of rhino and elephant products is currently prohibited by CITES, it allows a set amount of permits each year for the hunting of these animals, the number for which is determined by scientific research into the health of the population of that species.



“CITES supports the sustainable and controlled hunting of listed species because hunting has proved to assist with that species’ population recovery. This was the case of the Southern white rhino in South Africa, where landowners realised the commercial potential of keeping rhino and marketing them to hunters resulting in an unprecedented growth of the species outside of state parks. Hunting forms part of many wildlife management programmes across the continent and any attempt aimed at curbing it could negatively impact conservation funding in Africa as well as communities and industries such as the taxidermists and specialised freight forwarders who depend on hunting for their livelihoods,” she said.

quote:

Kitshoff said it becomes hugely problematic when commercial enterprises believe they can do a better job of conserving wildlife than CITES, the most authoritative institution on this subject. “This is especially so when it is quite clear that some subjective, unscientific considerations have crept into the decision-making without due considerations of the facts.”

Excellent observation and comment. You could also insert government agencies namely USF&W in the place of commercial enterprise.

You can add Air Canada to the shipping ban on hunting trophies.

Canuck:

I'm a Norte Americano, and a very dedicated affection'ist of my Canadian friends who are certainly, no doubt, my best esteemed friends and fellow hunters. I hunted Canada extensively for 50 years thanking numerous trophy's always with great pleasure and satisfaction.

I phoned Air Canada and grilled them extensively about a ban on transporting animal parts from Africa.

It's really complicated. If you are interested I suggest that you phone them for details,

From what I was able to ascertain the regs DO NOT prohibit game parts from certain aircraft. Only small planes that do not fly to south Africa.

The routing from JFK, NY to Johannsburg , RSA is very convoluted with stops in Toronto, then London and eventually RSA. Numerous stopovers and hours of delays.

Bottom line;

Air Canada is really complex to understand and their flights from my area are undesirable, Sorry-Air Canada. You are off the list.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of us aren't flying with trophies and aren't choosing the cargo carrier, are we? I have never had a taxidermist or freight forwarder ask me if I had a preference.

Now, for the moment at least, Air France doesn't have any ban on transporting trophies so maybe this is of no consequence to me, since I live in France. But for all intents and purposes, who cares if it flies Air France to Paris and then onward on Delta or any other airline that will ship trophies. What am I missing here?

IMO it's the principle of the thing......if an airline wants to take sides with the tree hugging, PETA types, then they will get none of my money.

quote:

Originally posted by JGRaider:
IMO it's the principle of the thing......if an airline wants to take sides with the tree hugging, PETA types, then they will get none of my money.

Yep! We can vote at the ballot box and we can vote with our wallets and checkbooks. The power of the purse can be very persuasive...

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quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of us aren't flying with trophies and aren't choosing the cargo carrier, are we? I have never had a taxidermist or freight forwarder ask me if I had a preference.

Now, for the moment at least, Air France doesn't have any ban on transporting trophies so maybe this is of no consequence to me, since I live in France. But for all intents and purposes, who cares if it flies Air France to Paris and then onward on Delta or any other airline that will ship trophies. What am I missing here?

Less competition and less choices for the forwarder.... you know what that means to the cost!!! If more airlines get on board with this anti hunting thing it is going to be a big problem.

That's why we need to knock it in the head NOW

quote:

Originally posted by wetibbe:

It's really complicated. If you are interested I suggest that you phone them for details,

My trophies were to come from TZ to Toronto Via Swiss air Cargo. Air Canada was then to forward them from Toronto, Canada to Calgary, But Air Canada is refusing to forward them. Now I have to get them cleared in Toronto or Vancouver.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201506091115.html



Africa: Airlines Sign Pledge to Protect Wildlife

By Carin Smith



Two global organisations are stepping up the fight against illegal trade in wildlife.

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) and the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate in reducing illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, as well as to ensure the safe and secure transport of legally traded wildlife.

Under this MOU, Iata and Cites will have a formal framework for their ongoing cooperation on the implementation of standards and best practices such as the Iata Live Animals Regulations, the Iata Perishable Cargo Regulations, and the Cites guidelines for the non-air transport of live wild animals and plants.

They will also support joint training and communications activities.

Cites is a legally binding agreement with 181 states-parties which sets the rules for international wildlife trade in more than 35 000 species of animals and plants.

At the Iata annual general meeting, delegates were told that in recent years there has been a surge in the illegal trade of wildlife and products such as elephant ivory, rhino horn and rare timbers, with many smugglers abusing the complex international aviation system to evade customs and other enforcement agencies.


"The collaboration between Cites and Iata will help the industry to play a role in stopping the terrible scourge of illegal trade in wildlife that threatens some of the most precious animal and plant life on our planet," said Iata CEO Tony Tyler.

John E Scanlon, secretary general of Cites, addressed the delegates.

"We live in an interconnected world where the great benefits of global air transport are also being abused by criminals to transport illegally traded wildlife.

"Iata and its member airlines can play a critical role in assisting customs and other enforcement agencies by gathering valuable intelligence of suspicious activities and raising awareness among customers, passengers and staff of the devastating impacts of this illegal trade," said Scanlon.

Source: Fin24

quote:

Originally posted by d.unger:
They are banning shipments on cites 1 animals only.

From Lufthansa's website;

'Animals that ‘qualify’ under CITES 1 include Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Tiger, Cheetah, Leopard, Zebra, Giraffe and other large game. Based on my interpretation of CITES 1, it provides for a ban on the commercial export or import of Game that is endangered or can potentially be endangered by harvesting. It does not apply to Game that is not at risk, such as Impala, Kudu and other antelope or small game not listed as an at-risk species'.

Shipments of non CITES listed species have already been turned down by LH in Addis Ababa.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of us aren't flying with trophies and aren't choosing the cargo carrier, are we? I have never had a taxidermist or freight forwarder ask me if I had a preference.

Now, for the moment at least, Air France doesn't have any ban on transporting trophies so maybe this is of no consequence to me, since I live in France. But for all intents and purposes, who cares if it flies Air France to Paris and then onward on Delta or any other airline that will ship trophies. What am I missing here?

Air France doesn't fly everywhere.