Section 436 of U.S. House Resolution 4372 will ban the import of taxidermy from legally hunted elephants or lions from Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. While section 436 does not ban Americans from hunting in those countries, it bans the Interior Department from using any appropriated money to issue an import permit.
Take Action Today! Sportsmen’s Alliance members should contact their U.S. Congressmen and urge them to oppose Section 436 of U.S. House Resolution 4372. Members can find their legislators by using the Sportsmen’s Alliance Legislative Action Center.
The effort to prohibit the import of taxidermy from these countries is purportedly an effort to curb poaching in these countries. Unfortunately, this legislation will have the opposite impact. African authorities rely on funding from international hunting to implement programs that control poaching.
Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe have strict hunting regulations and have successful programs to limit poaching. Without the financing from international hunting, the incentive to control poaching and fund anti-poaching programs for threatened and endangered species diminishes greatly. To offset the loss of revenue from sustainable hunting and scientific wildlife management, many local communities will be forced to increase farming or ranching activities, further diminishing critical wildlife habitat.
“It is not the job of the United States Congress to undermine African authorities or local African communities when it comes to their wildlife management,” said Bruce Tague vice president of government affairs at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “This is nothing more than an attack on hunters and a shameful disregard for the lives of rural African communities.”
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.