US ‘bans’ lion hunt in Africa

03 Jan, 2016 - 06:01 0 Views

The Sunday News

THE United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has classified lions in Southern and Eastern Africa as threatened, with those in the Central and Western regions covered by full endangered status, a move expected to bring about tighter restrictions on the importation of lion trophies.
The ban was triggered by the illegal hunting down of Cecil, a popular lion at the Hwange National Park, by American dentist Dr Walter Palmer, who had paid thousands of dollars to kill the lion.

While the US cannot regulate hunting in other countries, the move is significant because around half of all lion hunting in Africa is conducted by Americans and will grossly affect the tourism sector. According to FWS data, more than 5 600 lions have been killed and imported by American hunters over the past decade.

Efforts to get a comment from Tourism and Hospitality Minister, Dr Walter Mzembi were fruitless while Environment, Water and Climate Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri said her Ministry’s officials were yet to review the new laws.

However, conservationist and safari farmer Mr Langton Masunda blasted the move by the Americans saying instead of purporting to conserve the lion population in Africa, they were far from doing this as the move would result in an increase of poaching activities from local communities.

“This move is retrogressive and anti-conservationist bearing in mind that 70 percent of the hunting business in Africa comes from America hence this is a disguised ploy just to weaken our economies. Besides, we have communities that rely heavily on hunting and tourism, so these new regulations will now see these communities struggling to survive which will see them now resorting to poaching and at the end of the day instead of conservation more and more of these animals will die due to the poaching activities,” said Mr Masunda.

He said it was mind boggling that America could try and control a population which they did not even have.
“This year we will be having the world Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) meeting, where naturally such decisions have to be made but surprisingly just one country passes such a huge legislation, clearly showing that they have no regard at all of the convention. Why should such a meeting take place when some other country has a big brother mentality?

“I think this should now act as a lesson to all of us that as Africa we should now adopt a look East policy where we identify these new and emerging markets, with the aim of attracting them to our countries. We cannot have one country thinking they can do as they please knowing that it is our economies which they are destroying,” said Mr Masunda.

In a statement sent out by the Safari Operators Association Zimbabwe (SOAZ) to its members; FWS on 21 December 2015 announced the listing of two lion subspecies under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in Africa and India.

The new regulations were published in the US Federal Register on 23 December  2015, and will go into effect 30 days after publication, that is on 22 January 2016.

“In response to the dramatic decline of lion populations in the wild, the US Fish and Wildlife Service today announced it will list two lion subspecies under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Panthera leo leo, located in India and Western and Central Africa, will be listed as endangered, and Panthera leo melanochaita, located in Eastern and southern Africa, will be listed as threatened.

“Concurrent with this listing rule, to protect lions and other foreign and domestic wildlife from criminal activity, Service Director Mr Dan Ashe also issued a Director’s Order to strengthen enforcement of wildlife permitting requirements. The order, which aligns with President Barack Obama’s National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking will ensure that violators of wildlife laws are not subsequently granted permits for future wildlife-related activities, including the import of sport-hunted trophies,” reads part of the communiqué.

It further noted that the world lion population has especially been on the decline over the past 20 years, dropping by over 43 percent due to habitat loss, loss of prey base, and retaliatory killing of lions by a growing human population.

“The western and central populations of African lion are more genetically related to the Asiatic lion. These lions are now considered the same subspecies, Pl leo. There are only about 1 400 of these lions remaining; 900 in 14 African populations and 523 in India. Considering the size and distribution of the populations, population trends and the severity of the threats, the Service has found that this subspecies meets the definition of endangered under the ESA.

“The subspecies of Pl melanochaita likely numbers between 17 000-19 000 and is found across Southern and Eastern Africa. The Service determined that this subspecies is less vulnerable and is not currently in danger of extinction.

However, although lion numbers in Southern Africa are increasing overall, there are populations that are declining due to ongoing threats. As a result, the Service finds the subspecies meets the definition of a threatened species under the ESA,” reads the statement.

It also put restrictions on importation of sport-hunted trophies and animal parts into the US defining the activity as a privilege and not a right.

“Importing sport-hunted trophies and other wildlife or animal parts into the United States is a privilege, not a right; a privilege that violators of wildlife laws have demonstrated they do not deserve.

“We are going to strengthen our efforts to ensure those individuals — people who have acted illegally to deprive our children of their wildlife heritage — are not rewarded by receipt of wildlife permits in the future,” FWS director Mr Ashe is quoted as saying.

 

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