http://www.news24.com/Africa/Z...-hunt-legal-20120326

Harare - Zimbabwe's parks authority on Monday said US property magnate Donald Trump's sons were licenced to hunt game on a trip two years ago, after photos of their trophies sparked online outrage.

Trump's sons Donald Junior and Eric made a hunting expedition in Zimbabwe in 2010. Their pictures went viral on social media this month, showing them posing next to carcasses of a leopard, an elephant, a crocodile and an array of other animals.

The images drew condemnation on Facebook and Twitter, where their hunting trip was slammed as unethical. Donald Trump Jr has insisted on Twitter that he did nothing wrong.

"They were accompanied by a professional hunter, and we have done a background check on him and his licence is still valid," Caroline Washaya-Moyo, spokesperson for the parks authority said in a statement.

"Also with the Trump brothers was a ranger from the parks department who was monitoring the hunt. The animals they hunted are available for hunting in Zimbabwe."

Although leopards are endangered, she said they can be hunted under strict conditions set by the Convention for the Trade in Endangered Species. Zimbabwe's parks have a quota of 500 leopards that can be hunted each year, she added.

The statement came after Johnny Rodriguez, chair of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said his organisation was investigating whether the Trump brothers' hunt was legal.

The trip was organised by Pretoria-based Hunting Legends International, which specialises in big game hunts for the wealthy. The company has also insisted that the big game hunt near Victoria Falls was done by the book.

For those that have the e-mail address for Camping world we should e-mail them this article and ask for a response and a PUBLIC apology to the Trumps.

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Originally posted by leopards valley safaris:
For those that have the e-mail address for Camping world we should e-mail them this article and ask for a response and a PUBLIC apology to the Trumps.

What he said! +1

.

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Originally posted by leopards valley safaris:
For those that have the e-mail address for Camping world we should e-mail them this article and ask for a response and a PUBLIC apology to the Trumps.

Public Apology ?....should sue the whole damn lot!
Let's hear what our learn-ed friends on AR have to offer in this respect.
From what I know, one can sue for a whole lot less in the States.

Folks - Honestly, this letter helps NOTHING! (Caroline) the spokeswoman for the Parks Authority - INCORRECTLY indicates the Leopard is in fact "Endangered"!!! My lord, what is going on with this goof balls in Zim Parks?

ABCNews.com has drudged up the story once again and it is on their website again today (3/27). They are now claiming that there is an investigation in progress to find out if the outfitter they used was licensed in Zimbabwe. A lot of anti-hunters are posting on the story again. I posted a pro-hunting post, and so did a few others, and would encourage everyone here to do the same. It has been my experience that ABCNews.com will NOT delete pro-hunting posts.

Need for a CITES permit implies "endangered" to some degree & somewhere. Leopards are on IUCN list as "near threatened" but extinct in some countries such as Libya & possibly Korea.

The chances of CITES changing the "E" to some other word are very slim.

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Originally posted by Nakihunter:
Need for a CITES permit implies "endangered" to some degree & somewhere. Leopards are on IUCN list as "near threatened" but extinct in some countries such as Libya & possibly Korea.

The chances of CITES changing the "E" to some other word are very slim.

Sir - I respectively disagree. To use the word "endangered", as in this case, by a Zim Parks official, not someone in Libya, implies the leopard as a species is "endangered" - which is completely false.

I am not aware of any case, where a species officially listed as "endangered", is legally allowed to be hunted? No doubt as another post here on AR claims, news agencies are back on the case.

Aaron, I think we are arguing for the same side but got mixed up a bit..... I did not say that the leopard is endangered but "near threathened" according to IUCN.

regarding endangered species being hunted, what about Rhino? Black rhino permits are still issued once in a while.

Ya, but the black rhino you refer to are privately owned, as I understand it. Not, a free-ranging wild species with truly "endangered" status, say like the snow leopard for example. Totally different circumstances!

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Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Ya, but the black rhino you refer to are privately owned , as I understand it. Not, a free-ranging wild species with truly "endangered" status, say like the snow leopard for example. Totally different circumstances!

My understanding of the Black Rhino hunted in Namibia is that they were free ranging not privately owned. Yes the individual Black Rhino was identified as prey based on post breeding male status and perhaps that makes it feel different but I don't think they were privately owned.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

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Originally posted by Frostbit:

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Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Ya, but the black rhino you refer to are privately owned , as I understand it. Not, a free-ranging wild species with truly "endangered" status, say like the snow leopard for example. Totally different circumstances!

My understanding of the Black Rhino hunted in Namibia is that they were free ranging not privately owned. Yes the individual Black Rhino was identified as prey based on post breeding male status and perhaps that makes it feel different but I don't think they were privately owned.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Jim - I thought they were privately owned there too (private conservancy - wild/free ranging) but I could definitely be wrong on that one?

Regardless, for "Caroline" - the Zim Parks official to make a statement claiming the Trumps were hunting the "endangered" leopard, is just unbelievable!

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Originally posted by Nakihunter:
Aaron, I think we are arguing for the same side but got mixed up a bit..... I did not say that the leopard is endangered but "near threathened" according to IUCN.

regarding endangered species being hunted, what about Rhino? Black rhino permits are still issued once in a while.

Black Rhino are Critically Endangered ... and have been so since 1996.

Leopard are CITES appendix I...and the 'general term for animals on appendix I is 'endangered'. which is why it was such a big victory for Zimbabwe (And Botswana and Namibia) to get elephand uplisted to appendix II. The hunting quota hasn't changed (Zim was allowed 400 trophies for export when they were on appendix I and still the same today) But the perception that they are 'endangered' when we have far too many of them was a strategic victory.

Leopard - CITES gives us a quota of 500
Cheetah 50 (which the US refuses to recognise or allow the import of cheetah trophies) and Croc 200 (wild croc are appendix I and 'endangered as well- just go for a paddle down the zambezi in a canoe and you will see how 'endangered' they are, but scientists and officials hate to modify the 'Facts' when thumped over the head with truth

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...... just go for a paddle down the zambezi in a canoe and you will see how 'endangered' they are, but scientists and officials hate to modify the 'Facts' when thumped over the head with truth

Now ain't that the truth ?!!....go figure!

These are the 'experts' (most of whom probably don't even know where some of these African countries are located) who by some misconceived notion, determine how we should manage our wildlife industry!