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New Trump Wildlife Services Appointee Worked for Trophy Hunting Lobby for 20 Years
23 March
Politics
A former lawyer for a trophy hunting group now works at Fish and Wildlife Service. Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket via Getty Images
President Donald Trump's controversial trophy hunting council may have been disbanded, but trophy hunters and their advocates still have influence at the Department of the Interior.
<p>Anna Seidman, former lawyer for pro-hunting group <a href="https://www.safariclub.org/" target="_blank">Safari Club International</a> (SCI), is now the assistant director of the Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) International Affairs program, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/safari-club-lawyer-fish-and-wildlife-international-affairs_n_5e73c372c5b6f5b7c540a3db?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL2ltcGFjdC9ncmVlbg&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAK_ZVOEamnV6hGuC-27mmg6oH5lw-VzLn2xHAGrywP2-uQjazD5WcM8Dy0ERH1sD31Ks0Iq4ee6QZ-GdejeFMza2FNZ97rxVa35Y2af7s6dEmuV4_uCLKUb7eip-JUSc33VCXghmnlm5fl9ihq8aXtxqUkTsir6YohfE1vPNnTDY" target="_blank">HuffPost reported Friday</a>.</p><p>During her 20 years of work for SCI, Seidman sued FWS several times and testified before Congress that hunters should have greater access to Alaskan <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>, according to <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/trump-administration-hires-a-trophy-hunting-advocate-to-1842429159" target="_blank">Earther</a>. But she will now be in charge of a program designed to protect <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> around the world.</p><p>"I'm not quite sure how this will happen with someone in charge who's advocated against stripping creatures of these protections," Earther's Yessenia Funes wrote.</p>
<p>Funes pointed out that Seidman's appointment is in keeping with other Trump administration hiring decisions, such as the choice of former coal lobbyist <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler" target="_self">Andrew Wheeler</a> to head the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> (EPA). Seidman's new boss <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/david-bernhardt" target="_self">David Bernhardt</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/david-bernhardt-interior-secretary-zinke-2628039635.html" target="_self">was also a controversial hire</a> who has so many conflicts of interests he has to keep a notecard on hand to keep track of them.</p><p>In an email to HuffPost, an FWS spokesperson called Siedman "an effective, innovative leader with 20 years of legal and policy experience, including expertise in international environment and natural resource management."</p><p>Those 20 years were gained at SCI, where Siedman worked from 1999 to 2019 as director of legal advocacy and international affairs, according to her <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-seidman-8a931191" target="_blank">LinkedIn profile</a>.</p>
<p>But SCI's influence in the Trump administration predates Siedman. Bernhardt, in addition to lobbying on behalf of oil and gas interests, also counted SCI's sister organization Safari Club International Foundation as a former client, HuffPost reported. SCI donated $11,000 to Trump's 2016 campaign and was one of the lobbying forces behind the rule change allowing the importation of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-ban-elephant-trophy-imports-2509968977.html" target="_self">elephant</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/lion-trophy-trump-2510261807.html" target="_self">lion</a> trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. It also auctioned off a hunting trip with Donald Trump Jr. in February, and SCI President Paul Babaz was a member of administration's disbanded trophy-hunting council, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/488630-former-trophy-hunting-group-lawyer-joins-trump-administration" target="_blank">according to The Hill</a>.</p><p>SCI was founded in 1972 and has more than 50,000 members. It bills itself as "protecting hunters' rights and promoting wildlife <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>," according to HuffPost.</p><p>But a 2015 report from the <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/" target="_blank">Humane Society of the United States</a> and <a href="https://www.hsi.org/" target="_blank">Humane Society International</a> found that the group had contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of animals in its 60 years of hunting contests, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/safari-club-attacked-for-incentives-to-kill-rare-animals/" target="_blank">CBS News reported</a>. That includes 2,000 lions, 1,800 leopards, nearly 800 elephants and 93 black rhinos, the report found.</p>
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Botswana Auctions Off First Licenses to Kill Elephants Since Ending Five-Year Ban
12 February
Animals
An elephant in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, on June 15, 2018. Michael Levine-Clark / Flickr
Botswana held its first auction of licenses to hunt elephants Friday since President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted a five-year ban on the controversial practice in May of 2019.
<p>Masisi's government has argued that legal hunting is necessary to reduce conflict between elephants and humans, but some conservationists fear that reintroducing the practice could actually encourage more illegal <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">poaching</a>, <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN20119C-OZATP" target="_blank">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>"SHAME ON YOU President Masisi, we will not forget," human and animal rights group the <a href="https://emsfoundation.org.za/" target="_blank">EMS Foundation</a> tweeted in response to Friday's auction.</p>
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<p><br>The government was prepared to auction off seven hunting packages permitting the killing of ten elephants each. However, only six bidders were able to put down the reserve fee of 2 million pula ($181,000), according to Reuters. The packets were purchased by expedition operators who will sell them to trophy hunters at a markup, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/botswana-elephant-hunting-permits_n_5e3f7b7fc5b6b70887015580?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaHVmZnBvc3QuY29tL2ltcGFjdC9ncmVlbj9ndWNjb3VudGVyPTEmZ3VjZV9yZWZlcnJlcj1hSFIwY0hNNkx5OTNkM2N1WjI5dloyeGxMbU52YlM4Jmd1Y2VfcmVmZXJyZXJfc2lnPUFRQUFBTWkyZ0V3Yy1xSVJiYnF0RHBFWHlMYldxdXNhTW5PYThWU1VHd0w5ZkxzdUt6bk9KOHlzNkVlTTBkOFVXTTg1c1hFX1lzQWx2RjF5VWFnQXk2WUZNODY1aEpHYm5PeTN4bDhNbWFoOUpsQThrS2JUbEZVb0xSQ3hfZlBLdVg2ZGcwZng5R1ozOXRHaktGb25pZm0xRm5ETWdqUUpzc2FSYXJ1TDIwRklTSjBx&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAdxsvFT3Ak3muDFbPZAuzdV_QALTsMzFxDtjm7Nz9-mE-f63F8-juaTEfveSYG5wqE2Hexiikkkn7ueMpVbNZ5FhPzmGgG1wOSTJFUelZDkdpEXMr9XUQQXaIT5PmMTwHMgb6pln4rISEbZPqOCDUSGubNbG_TpCN5hpuQS1c_h" target="_blank">HuffPost explained</a>. Most trophy hunters who come to southern Africa are from the U.S., and Botswana will allow foreign hunters to shoot 202 of its 272-elephant quota for the year, as well as to export the trophies. The hunting season will officially begin in April, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/botswana-auctions-licenses-to-hunt-70-elephants-in-effort-to-reduce-conflict-with-humans/2020/02/07/d1e34366-4920-11ea-8a1f-de1597be6cbc_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>Elephant numbers in Africa as a whole have fallen by more than two thirds since 1979, from 1.3 million to only 415,000 in 2015, according to HuffPost. In Botswana, however, the animals' population has been on the rise, increasing from 80,000 in the late 1990s to 130,000 today, Reuters reported. The country now hosts nearly a third of Africa's elephants.</p><p>Botswana's previous president Ian Khama instituted a ban on hunting elephants in 2014, <a href="https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/botswana-holds-controversial-auction-elephant-hunting-licences-doc-1os0km2" target="_blank">according to AFP</a>. But Masisi has turned lifting the ban into a political issue, The Washington Post explained. Rural residents are frustrated with elephants who enter villages and trample crops, and feel that conservationists are mostly foreigners who funnel the proceeds from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> tourism away from the local economy.</p><p>"Elephants have killed a lot of people and destroyed livelihoods. I think government is doing the right thing in reducing their numbers," Tiro Segosebe, who lives in the capital of Gaborone but whose home village is in one of the areas most impacted by human-elephant conflict, told Reuters.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> groups argue that hunting is not an effective means of curbing conflict between elephants and humans, and that the proceeds from hunting won't actually benefit rural villages. Rosemary Alles, co-founder and president of the <a href="https://march4elephantsandrhinos.org/stop-the-killing-of-272-botswana-elephants/" target="_blank">Global March for Elephants and Rhinos</a>, explained the problems with Masisi's approach to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/botswana-elephant-kill-auction-trophy-hunt-shoot-extinct-africa-a9325041.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>:</p><blockquote>"Studies have shown that local communities do not reap the benefits that they are promised from the hunting industry.<br><br>"Killing 272 elephants in Botswana will not control elephant numbers, it will not reduce human-elephant conflict and will not create jobs in areas where opportunities are scarce.<br><br>"Appropriate land-use planning including dedicated migratory corridors will aid elephant dispersal and increase the probability of amicable human elephant coexistence."</blockquote><p>Khama has also criticized his successor's decision.</p><p>"I have been against hunting because it represents a mentality (of) those who support it, to exploit nature for self interest that has brought about the extinction of many species worldwide," he told AFP.</p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Rhino, springboks, zebra, elephant and lion in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. ugurhan / E+ / Getty Images
<p>The Department of the Interior (DOI) has disbanded a controversial council that promoted big game hunting after a judge ruled that environmental groups could challenge the legitimacy of the council in court, as <a href="https://apnews.com/8570435359a2cef4c226de114f53377e" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p>
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Donald Trump, Jr. speaking with attendees at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, DC. Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
By Eoin Higgins
A national hunting group is under fire from animal rights groups for auctioning off the opportunity to spend a week in close quarters with Donald Trump Jr. in Alaska for a luxury "dream hunt" of Sitka black-tailed deer.
<p>The Safari Club International (SCI) will auction the trip at its annual convention. Bidding currently stands at $10,000.<em></em></p>
<p>"This annual event is the largest meeting in the world of people who celebrate the senseless killing, buying, and selling of dead animals for bragging rights," Humane Society president and CEO Kitty Block <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/04/donald-trump-jr-trophy-hunting-auction-nevada-aoe" target="_blank">told</a> The Guardian Tuesday. "As our planet suffers an extinction crisis, it is business as usual for the trophy hunting industry and SCI, who continue to revel in spending millions of dollars every year to destroy imperiled wildlife."</p><p>According to The Guardian:</p><blockquote>The four-day event organized by Safari Club International (SCI) and advertised as a "hunters' heaven," will culminate on Saturday with an auction for a week-long Sitka black-tailed deer hunt in Alaska with Trump Jr, his son, and a guide. At the time of writing, <a href="https://auction.safariclub.org/item.aspx?i=35311827" target="_blank">bidding for the yacht-based expedition stands at</a> $10,000 (£7,685).<br><br>Other prizes include the chance to shoot an elephant on a 14-day trip in Namibia, an all-inclusive hunt package to Zimbabwe to kill buffalo, giraffe and wildebeest, and a 10-day crocodile hunting expedition in South Africa. The proceeds from the auction, which campaigners say could exceed $5m, will fund SCI's "hunter advocacy and wildlife conservation efforts," according to the organization.<br></blockquote><p>Trump Jr.'s presence at the event led Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson and member Al Jardine to call on their former bandmates to pull out of a scheduled appearance at the conference. </p><p>"This organization supports trophy hunting, which both Al and I are emphatically opposed to," tweeted Wilson, linking to a petition against the performance.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-1224412847314276353" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1224412847314276353&created_ts=1580757745.0&screen_name=BrianWilsonLive&text=This+organization+supports+trophy+hunting%2C+which+Both+Al+and+I+are+emphatically+opposed+to.+There%E2%80%99s+nothing+we+can%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FgJN3yOq9QJ&id=1224412847314276353&name=Brian+Wilson" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="EQ5ZVN1580925960"></iframe><p>The president's son will deliver a keynote address to the convention, a move that Independent reporter Chris Riotta <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisriotta/status/1222587970936545284" target="_blank">noted</a> was a bit on the nose for SCI, a group that claims to be concerned with conservation and protection.</p><p>"His speech comes as the Trump White House continues a rollback of global wildlife protections," said Riotta.</p><p>As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/12/endangering-endangered-species-seems-be-family-hobby-trump-jr-denounced-killing-rare" target="_blank">reported</a>, Trump Jr. was criticized in December over a hunt he took part in Mongolia where he killed an endangered sheep but was granted retroactive permission after a private meeting with the country's president.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/04/amid-global-extinction-crisis-donald-trump-jr-auctions-himself-luxurious-wildlife">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Donald Trump Jr. killed an argali sheep like this one on a hunting trip in Mongolia. powerofforever/ iStock / Getty Images Plus
During a hunting trip in Mongolia this August, Donald Trump Jr. shot and killed an endangered argali sheep, and received a permit only after the fact.
<p>ProPublica, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-donald-trump-jr-went-to-mongolia-got-special-treatment-from-the-government-and-killed-an-endangered-sheep" target="_blank">which broke the news of the kill Wednesday</a>, reported it was unusual for the Mongolian government to issue permits after a hunter has left the region. Trump Jr. was given other forms of special treatment. He was protected on his hunt by both U.S. and Mongolian security services, and afterwards had a private meeting with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga.</p><p>"What are the chances the Mongolian government would've done any of that to someone who wasn't the son of the United States' president?" Kathleen Clark, a legal ethics professor at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, asked ProPublica.</p>
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<p>Trump Jr.'s spokesperson said the trip was purchased at a National Rifle Association charity auction before his father ran for office. It is not clear if the trip included meetings with government officials or the chance to kill an argali. Trump Jr. also killed a red deer on the trip, a kill that also required a permit.</p><p>The argali is the largest sheep in the world, with curving horns that can measure more than six feet. The species overall is listed as <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15733/5074694" target="_blank">near threatened</a> by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but the Mongolian subspecies is considered regionally endangered, according to the <a href="http://mongolia.panda.org/en/about_mongolia/wildlife/wild_sheep/" target="_blank">World Wildlife Fund</a> (WWF). The U.S. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species-act" target="_self">Endangered Species Act</a> lists the argali as threatened. Between 1985 and 2009, their Mongolian population more than halved from 50,000 to 18,000, ProPublica reported.</p><p>Mongolia issues permits to hunt the sheep, a practice which is ostensibly intended to fund <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>. Those familiar with the permitting system told ProPublica that it encouraged favoritism.</p><p>Jandos Kontorbai Ahat, a member of the current president's political party who arranged the trip Trump Jr. won, said Mongolian <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trophy-hunting" target="_self">trophy hunting</a> permits were "very political."</p><p>There are also sometimes discrepancies between hunting quotas and the number of permits issued. While the hunters' fees are supposed to go to programs like population surveys, argali researcher Amgalanbaatar Sukh told ProPublica he had never received government funding for such a survey.</p><p>ProPublica could not determine if Trump Jr. imported the trophies from his argali kill into the U.S. To do so, he would have needed to apply for permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But his kill comes as U.S. law concerning the importing of hunting trophies is in flux, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/11/donald-trump-jr-mongolia-rare-endangered-sheep-permit" target="_blank">The Guardian explained</a>:</p><blockquote>The legality of the importation of big game trophies into the United States has been, like many other issues in the Trump administration, confusing and ever-changing. The president himself has spoken out against the practice, calling such hunting practices a "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/17/trumps-wildlife-board-claims-trophy-hunting-saves-endangered-animals" target="_blank">horror show</a>" despite his two sons being avid trophy hunters.<br><br>In order to import trophies of animals on the endangered species list, a U.S. hunter must show that its killing would be beneficial overall to the species at large. In 2017, the Trump administration pushed back against such restrictions on trophy hunting from the Obama era before reinstating the ban. A court ruling found thereafter it was done improperly, allowing imports to continue.</blockquote><p>Environmental groups <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trophy-hunting-committee-trump-2548409021.html" target="_self">have criticized</a> the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a> for its trophy hunting policies, including its decision to allow the import of lion and elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia and its creation of the International Wildlife Conservation Council designed specifically to promote trophy hunting.</p>
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A jaguar in Mato Grosso Sur, Brazil. Steve Winter / National Geographic
Jaguars face a number of threats, from habitat destruction and fragmentation for agriculture to poaching, trophy hunting and retaliatory killings by ranchers. The cats are estimated to have lost nearly half of their historic range and to have declined by as much as 20 to 25 percent over the past three generations, which is why the species is listed as nearly threatened on the IUCN Red List.
<p>According to research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.126" target="_blank">published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice</a> earlier this month, there may be an overlooked threat facing this most iconic of species: the booming ayahuasca tourism industry.</p><p>The trade in jaguar body parts is growing across Latin America, particularly in Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru and Suriname. Over the past few years, the most serious new threat to jaguars that has emerged is the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/12/wildlife-for-sale-jaguars-are-the-new-trafficking-victims-in-bolivia/" target="_blank">illegal trade in jaguar fangs for the Chinese market</a>. But according to a team of researchers led by Alexander Braczkowski of Australia's University of Queensland, "commercialized ayahuasca tourism may be an undervalued contributor to the trade" in jaguar body parts.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA1NDA1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NjcyMjI0Mn0.BAPvacPn214a4T3h4ZcNfVk9mrUtLl0qYq2DtWf8XSc/img.jpg?width=980" id="98c5a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="773ab1bc5e746ab98382ce8bed83a1c5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Jaguar skin for sale in the Passage Paquito section of Belen market, Iquitos. Steve Winter / National Geographic
<p>"In Southeast Asia, jaguar claws and teeth are worn as jewellery; their skins are bought for home decor; and a glue paste (made from boiled jaguar parts) is consumed to heal various ailments," Braczkowski and co-authors write in the paper. "Most organized trafficking appears to be by contractors working for foreign companies hired to hunt cats to export body parts. With Latin America's current ayahuasca and shamanic tourist boom there are additional demands for jaguar products."</p><p>Braczkowski and the team conducted an investigation between August 2016 and August 2019 into the jaguar parts trade in markets in three Peruvian cities that are considered top ayahuasca tourism destinations: Lima, Iquitos and Pucallpa. They found jaguar skins for sale at prices ranging from $49 to $152, paws that could be purchased for $9, jaguar skin purses available for $6, and stuffed jaguars heads for which the asking price was anywhere from $30 to $91. Jaguar canines can fetch between $61 and $122 each.</p><p>"Every single place we went to look for jaguar skins, jaguar teeth, we found them," Sharon Guynup, a co-author of the paper, told Mongabay.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA1NDA1My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjc5NDE2Mn0.AZ4nRwlEgHbPO1zasgA8-Qv_lPHGiDiaXK2VNWyHEF8/img.jpg?width=980" id="3943d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6a743f6fc691579f311cfd26f5c0b03c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Jaguar teeth for sale in the Passage Paquito section of Belen market, Iquitos. Steve Winter / National Geographic
<p>Through discussions with street vendors, shamans and people working in the tourism industry, the researchers found that jaguar canine pendants, jaguar skin bracelets and other jaguar products are being sold to tourists under the pretense that they somehow enhance the ayahuasca experience. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew made from the ayahuasca vine (<em>Banisteriopsis caapi</em>) and chakruna leaves (<em>Psychotria viridis</em>). It has traditionally been used for spiritual and physical healing in ritual shamanic ceremonies, but has also become popular among recreational users in recent decades.</p><p>"This appears to be a case of rebranding, specifically using 'ayahuasca marketing' for sellers to charge a premium on jaguar parts," the researchers write in the paper. "Local indigenous shamans and healers from the Pucallpa area (Shipibo, Conibo, and Ashaninka ethnicities) denied the notion that jaguar parts enhance the ayahuasca experience for visiting tourists, and suggested that this practice is being marketed by 'charlatan shamans' seeking financial gain from the ayahuasca boom."</p><p>The researchers suggest that one way to effectively halt this growing illicit trade is to more formally regulate ayahuasca tourism and educate both tourists and tour operators. "The shamans we encountered in Iquitos and Pucallpa stressed the importance of the jaguar to the Amazon ecosystem and as a powerful totem in the spiritual world," they write in the paper. "The leadership of ayahuasca retreats could be important champions for jaguar conservation in Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, and other regions where ayahuasca is used, and they could discourage tourists from using jaguar parts."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA1NDA1Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5MTUzMjk2Mn0.WupoJJV8qdK8XFkyDsKHyZ0U5jpPj4aJ5FU6O7jttM0/img.jpg?width=980" id="307ff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6517ec004502f467c76e8f7a5f546e78" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Jaguar teeth and a jaguar skull for sale in a craft market in Yarinacocha Market, Pucallpa. Alex Braczkowski / Mongabay
<p>Peru already has a national anti‐wildlife trafficking policy in place that punishes traffickers with a prison sentence of 3 to 5 years. Guynup said that, during their investigation of local markets, the researchers found a number of purveyors of jaguar products who exercised caution in their dealings with would-be buyers, suggesting that there has been some enforcement of anti-wildlife trafficking laws. But she called for the government of Peru to be more aggressive in enforcing its laws.</p><p>"The Peruvian government needs to recognize that this is happening and address it. There are good wildlife laws in Peru, I think they need to be better enforced and if they're not, there's very little reason for this trade to end," Guynup said.</p><p>"A big factor here is also education, for ayahuasca tourists and for tourists in general, not only on the plight of jaguars but the plight of endangered species in general. It's not that this trade is specifically [due to] ayahuasca tourism, there's a much broader trade that does include trade to Asia. But this is a piece of the puzzle and it's really important for potential consumers to be aware of this and not participate."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA1NDA1OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNTQzMjI1Mn0.n1VoL_w1UMPH9jXjI8FdkCYZ9gIH_Xcw_PFyke0DkfQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="db6ff" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="825a248fae7c59fb678b2efda95e6f68" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><em>Note: A co-author of the paper, Romi Castagnino, works for Mongabay LatAm. She had no editorial input on this article.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media partner <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/ayahuasca-tourism-an-overlooked-driver-of-trade-in-jaguar-body-parts-researchers-say/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Jaguars in Mato Grosso Sur, Brazil. Steve Winter / National Geographic
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Trump Admin Grants First Lion Trophy Import Permit Since Listed as Threatened
13 September 2019
Animals
A male african lion plays with his 4 month old cub at Big Marsh in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Nick Garbutt / Barcroft Media / Getty Images
A Florida man has been allowed to import a Tanzanian lion's skin, skull, claws and teeth, a first since the animal was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to US Fish and Wildlife Service records uncovered by the Center for Biological Diversity through the Freedom of Information Act.
<p>The documents show that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a permit in May for hunter, Carl Atkinson, to bring home the lion trophy which was taken from a game preserve in July or August, according to <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/trump-administration-allows-florida-hunter-to-import-lion-trophy/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a>. The hunter's attorney, John Jackson III, is a member of the Interior Department's own International Wildlife Conservation Council, which Ryan Zinke created as Secretary of the Interior to highlight the "economic benefits that result from US citizens traveling to foreign nations to engage in hunting," as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/17/politics/trump-zinke-hunting-panel/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"This is tragic news for lion conservation, and it suggests that the Trump administration may soon open the floodgates to trophy imports from Tanzania," said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-grants-first-trophy-import-permit-tanzanian-lion-2019-09-12/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Tanzania is a lion stronghold, but it's been criticized by scientists for corruption and inadequate wildlife protections. Opening the U.S. market to these imports doesn't bode well for the lion kings of Tanzania."</p>
<p>Tanzania is thought to be home to 40 percent of Africa's lions, though exact populations are difficult to count. It has a history of mismanaging populations of lions, elephants and other threatened animals. By allowing hunters to bring their trophies back to the U.S. there are ripple effects. Hunters often seek out mature male lions, which make desirable trophies. Yet, killing one lion often leads to the death of many more. Since those mature male lions are usually pack leaders, a new pack leader will move in and assert dominance by killing the hunted lion's offspring, resulting in the loss of many lions, as the <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-grants-first-trophy-import-permit-tanzanian-lion-2019-09-12/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> noted. </p>
<p>There is no evidence in the acquired documents acquired that the Fish and Wildlife Service considered this in assessing Atkinson's permit application. However, Sanerib said the occurrence is so well-documented that she has absolute faith the agency is aware that the import authorization results in the death of more than just one lion. The outcome is not only harmful because of the death of additional lions but because it diminishes the genetic pool, she said, as <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/trump-administration-allows-florida-hunter-to-import-lion-trophy/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Sanerib also fears that the Fish and Wildlife Service will start to ramp up the speed with which it processes these applications, opening the door for big game hunting. The Trump administration has already lifted an Obama era ban on elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe. The Trump administration also recently allowed a Michigan hunter to import the skin, skull and horns from a rare black rhinoceros he shot in Namibia, according to the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-trophy-hunter-rhino-africa-skin-skull-horn-import-us-michigan-a9097126.html" target="_blank">Independent</a>.</p><p>The rhino hunter was also represented by Jackson who says his group Conservation Force is protecting animals, claiming that hunting promotes healthy populations in the wild.</p>
<p>"I'm working to save wildlife from animal protectionists," Jackson said, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/politics/lion-trophy-import-approved-tanzania/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>Sanerib worries that the influx of money into Tanzania from wealthy hunters will imperil more than just lions. </p>
<p>"We're waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it may land on Tanzania's elephants," said Sanerib, in <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-grants-first-trophy-import-permit-tanzanian-lion-2019-09-12/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "This administration reversed course and lifted the ban on elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe. I'm worried Trump officials will do the same for Tanzania. In the face of the global extinction crisis, we shouldn't let rich Americans kill imperiled species for fun."</p>
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Is the Trump Administration ‘Gaming the Shutdown’ to Serve Energy and Hunting Special Interests?
24 January 2019
Politics
An offshore oil drilling rig. Arbyreed / CC BY-NC 2.0
By Tara Lohan
Two years into the Trump administration, its attacks on environmental regulations, policy and science are already well documented. But the current partial government shutdown, now more than a month long, provides a unique lens through which to view the administration's priorities. The list of what isn't being done is long and troubling, but equally concerning is what is being done during the shutdown.
<p>Over the past several weeks national parks have been trashed, climate change research stalled and crucial wildfire prevention work halted—all while oil and gas drilling efforts continue to cruise along and national wildlife refuges are reopened to hunters.</p><p>Lawmakers and nonprofits are calling out the administration for using the shutdown to cater to special interests like the oil and gas industry while there's limited oversight, and with possible suspect use of funds.</p><h1>Aiding Industry</h1><p>Several moves by the Interior Department to bring back furloughed staff to attend to oil and gas activities aren't sitting well with some elected officials.</p><p>Arizona's Rep. Raúl Grijalva, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, <a href="https://lowenthal.house.gov/uploadedfiles/1-16-19-boem-letter.pdf" target="_blank">wrote a letter</a> to David Bernhardt, acting director of the Interior Department, admonishing the agency for making sure it's business as usual for oil and gas industry while ordinary Americans and the environment bear the brunt of the shutdown impacts. The letter was also signed by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.).</p>
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<p>"Your department has continued to hold public meetings on oil and gas development on the North Slope of Alaska, refused to extend the comment period for leasing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and opened up Bureau of Land Management field offices to allow drilling permits to continue to be issued," the letter said.<br></p><p>Dozens of furloughed workers from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management were <a href="https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/2019-1-boem-contingency-plan.pdf" target="_blank">brought back to work</a> on January 15 in order to complete plans for a major sale of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf Mexico, which is scheduled for March. They were also processing applications for seismic testing for offshore oil and gas exploration but a <a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/policy/environment/article224756250.html" target="_blank">judge put an end</a> to that on January 18.</p><p>"If you are an oil and gas company awaiting a lease, there is a big open sign at the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management, where federal workers are being brought in—without pay—to service the oil and gas industry," Lowenthal, who's also the incoming chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a <a href="https://lowenthal.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398994" target="_blank">statement</a>. It was telling, he said, that staff members of the <em>same</em> agency who deal with renewable energy are still furloughed.</p><p>It's not just offshore waters, either. The Bureau of Land Management has continued to issue drilling permits on public lands during the shutdown, and some environmental groups are calling into question the legality of those actions, since the public is blocked from participating in the process and can't even reach agency staff on the phone or file public comments.</p><p>"It's not at all reasonable to completely shut the public out from any access to agencies like the BLM while allowing private industry—the oil and gas industry—to have apparently full access to the agencies," Connie Wilbert, director of the Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-01-11/no-park-rangers-or-food-inspections-but-government-reopens-for-oil-and-gas" style="" target="_blank">told U.S. News and World Report</a>. "The public has no way to get access to the agency to find out what's going on, yet right in our local newspapers, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming is saying, 'We're working with BLM to get this stuff open again.'"</p><p>One area of particular concern is oil and gas lease sales planned for February and March that would put more than 2 million acres of public lands across six western states up for auction, even when staff members who would review any environmental issues or cultural concerns from tribes are likely furloughed.</p><p>All of this stands in stark contrast to the 2013 shutdown, when drilling permits and leases were halted, Bloomberg News reported. President Trump has exempted the activity during this shutdown.</p><h1>Gaming the Shutdown</h1><p>It's not just federal workers concerned with oil and gas activities that are being brought back to work. A partial restaffing of 38 national wildlife refuges was ordered "to make sure hunters and others have access despite the government shutdown," the <a href="https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/state_and_regional/article_aefab24a-b82c-5f61-9b10-d698f7f949fe.html" target="_blank">Associated Press reported</a> after obtaining an email from Margaret Everson, principal deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.</p>
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<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTExNTc1MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjc0MzkxM30.CaKBFY_jpcW29JEup5P1sHi6fpAc4caqdLX3i2QAvOg/img.jpg?width=980" id="70664" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dbc695c30e19ae58668578b2406feb28" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">The view from the top of Mount Scott at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">Nenortas Photography / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0</small></p>
<p>Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit that advocates for public employees who work on environmental issues, said he's also concerned by information they uncovered that other nonessential staff from six regional offices of the Fish and Wildlife Service were being brought back from furlough to prepare National Environmental Policy Act assessments for more than 60 wildlife refuges that could open hundreds and thousands of acres of refuge lands to hunting and fishing.<br></p><p>Ruch's organization wrote to the U.S. Government Accountability Office urging it to <a href="https://www.peer.org/assets/docs/doi/1_22_19_GAO_Ltr.pdf" target="_blank">examine the legality</a> of these staffing moves and what source of funding is being using to finance it and other nonemergency work, like the oil and gas lease sales preparation.</p><p>The Interior Department has said that workers are being paid with carryover funds, but Ruch said his organization has no idea where that money is coming from.</p><p>"We don't believe that there are carryover funds," he said. "We think they are operating in violation of the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/legal/appropriations-law-decisions/resources" target="_blank">Antideficiency Act</a>, which is why we are asking the Government Accountability Office to find out what it is they're doing. In the shutdown, people who are working on life and property protection are brought back as excepted workers to work without salary. But these people are doing nonemergency work on salary."</p><p>It doesn't add up, he said, and the Bureau of Land Management doesn't typically have significant surpluses. "We're in the second quarter of the new fiscal year. Where are they getting this money?"</p><p>Ruch said the administration appears to be "gaming the shutdown" and that activities are taking place in violation of the Antideficiency Act for political purposes. But, he admits, it's hard to fully understand what's going on because Freedom of Information Act requests aren't being processed and the shutdown has created a new veil of secrecy.</p><p>"A decision has been made at high levels to try to minimize the inconvenience of the shutdown for favored groups," he said. "And while we understand the politics of it, that doesn't mean it's right or it doesn't bear examination."</p><p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate </em><em><a href="https://therevelator.org/shutdown-oil-gas/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>
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Protesters during a march on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh organized by the League Against Cruel Sports, OneKind and IFAW calling for a fox hunting ban on March 24. Jane Barlow / PA Images / Getty Images
A controversial tradition persisted in England and Wales this Boxing Day as around 250,000 people gathered for annual fox hunts around the country, BBC News reported.
<p>Traditional fox hunting, in which hounds both chase and kill a fox, was banned in England and Wales 2004, but hunting groups replaced it with a practice called "trail hunting," in which the dogs follow a pre-set trail of animal urine. Now, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-rights" target="_self">animal rights</a> groups say this revised practice can still lead to the death of foxes if the trail is set close to fox habitat. Charities said there had been dozens of reports just this year of foxes being chased and killed since the hunting season started in November, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/26/foxhunting-ban-being-ignored-say-environmental-groups" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">What is trail hunting?</small>
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</p><p>"Wild animals – including foxes, hare and deer – are still being chased to exhaustion across the British countryside before being torn to pieces by packs of trained hunting hounds," <a href="https://www.league.org.uk/" target="_blank">League Against Cruel Sports</a> Deputy Director of Campaigns Chris Pitt told The Guardian. "With over 85% of people opposing all forms of hunting with hounds, there is strong support for British <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> being given robust protection from those who kill for sport. How can we call ourselves a civilised nation when those who gain entertainment from attacking wildlife continue to go unpunished by the law?"<br></p><p>Responding to claims like these, shadow environment secretary Sue Hayman of the Labour Party said her party would consider toughening up the 2004 Hunting Act if it gained power. New measures could include jail sentences for illegal hunting that are equivalent to the penalties for other wildlife crimes. Another could be the addition of a "recklessness" clause to prevent trail hunts being used as a cover for animal killing, <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2018-12-26/labour-to-consider-jail-terms-for-illegal-hunts/" target="_blank">ITV News reported</a>. </p><p>"Labour's 2004 Hunting Act was a key milestone in banning this cruel blood sport, but since then new practices have developed to exploit loopholes in the legislation," Hayman said.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p>The direct action group <a href="http://www.huntsabs.org.uk/" target="_blank">Hunt Saboteurs</a> that works to disrupt hunts <a href="https://twitter.com/HuntSabs/status/1077943647369232384" target="_blank">posted a picture</a> on Twitter of at least one fox killed this Boxing Day, whose body the group had recovered. They reported that clashes at two hunts between saboteurs and hunt supporters had led to saboteurs being injured. At a hunt in East Kent, one hunt supporter was arrested after landing a saboteur in the hospital with a potential broken eye socket, the group said in a <a href="http://www.huntsabs.org.uk/index.php/92-news/press-releases/644-boxing-day-press-release" target="_blank">press release</a>.<br></p><p>Hunt supporters and counter-protesters also clashed in Bassaleg, Wales. At one point, noise from the confrontation spooked a horse, who backed up into the crowd, <a href="https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/17320257.protesters-and-supporters-clash-at-tredegar-arms-boxing-day-hunt/" target="_blank">The South Wales Argus reported</a>.</p><p>"I have been coming here every year to show I am against the traditional hunt," teacher Ruth Griffiths told The South Wales Argus. "It was shocking to see one of the huntsman lose control of a horse - it ended up going into a crowd of people - which was quite scary."</p><p>Chief Executive Tim Bonner of the pro-hunting group the <a href="http://www.countryside-alliance.org/" target="_blank">Countryside Alliance</a> told BBC News that the Labour Party's focus on fox hunting was out-of-touch. </p><p>"The Labour Party continues to focus on a narrow animal rights agenda, rather than issues that really matter to rural people," he said. </p><p>However, a recent poll from the League Against Cruel Sports found that only one-sixth of 1,072 rural residents surveyed thought the sport reflected country values. The survey also indicated that animal-friendly activities like wildlife watching and hiking were more popular with country dwellers.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p>In Scotland, meanwhile, where fox hunting has been banned since 2002, politicians are also calling for tighter controls.<br></p><p>"The so-called ban has failed and urgent action is needed to close the loopholes that allow foxes to be chased and even killed by hunts," Green Party Member of Scottish Parliament Alison Johnstone said, BBC News reported.</p>
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Four Animal welfare groups sued the Trump administration on Thursday for failing to protect Africa's vulnerable giraffes, Reuters reported.
<p>The groups had petitioned Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="_self">Ryan Zinke</a> and the U.S. <a href="https://www.fws.gov/" target="_blank">Fish and Wildlife Service</a> (FWS) to list giraffes under the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species-act" target="_self">Endangered Species Act</a> in April 2017. The FWS is supposed to respond to such petitions within 90 days, but Trump's FWS did not, triggering the law suit. </p><p>"Giraffes capture our imaginations from childhood on, but many people don't realize how few are left in the wild," <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> (CBD) International Legal Director Tanya Sanerib said in a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/giraffe-12-06-2018.php" target="_blank">press release</a>. "Instead of throwing these unique animals a lifeline under the Endangered Species Act, Trump officials are twiddling their thumbs. Trump will be to blame if future generations know giraffes only as toys and not the long-necked icons of Africa."</p><p>The suit marks the 100th time the CBD has sued the Trump administration in an attempt to protect <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> and the global climate from policies hostile to all three.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p>CBD is joined in the giraffe suit by the <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/" target="_blank">Humane Society of the United States</a> (HSUS), the <a href="http://www.hsi.org/" target="_blank">Humane Society International</a> (HSI) and the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> (NRDC).<br></p><p>"The United States cannot stand idly by and allow thousands of U.S. imports of giraffe parts every year without any regulation while these animals are on a path to extinction. It is time that the United States stands tall for giraffes and gives this at-risk species the protection that it urgently needs," HSUS Managing Wildlife attorney Anna Frostic said in the press release. </p><p>The number of giraffes in the wild has dropped almost 40 percent in the past 30 years, to the point where there are fewer than 100,000 left. The main threats they face are habitat loss, illegal hunting for meat and human fighting, but they are also vulnerable to a trade in skins, bone carvings and trophies. Despite this, the U.S. imports more than one giraffe hunting trophy a day and imported around <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/giraffe-body-parts-for-sale-2598443415.html" target="_self">40,000 giraffe products</a> between 2006 and 2015.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p>Listing giraffes as an <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_blank">endangered species</a> would allow the U.S. to better regulate and curb the trophy trade, and free up funding to support <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>. The Trump administration, however, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trophy-hunting-committee-trump-2548409021.html" target="_self">has put the desires of trophy hunters</a> over the needs of endangered animals before. The same four conservation groups sued the Department of Interior in August because the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/iwcc/" target="_blank">International Wildlife Conservation Council</a> that advises Zinke is filled with people who stand to benefit from expanded trophy hunting, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/01/politics/trophy-hunting-lawsuit/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.<br></p><p>"The Trump administration would rather allow its rich donors to mount giraffe trophies on their walls than protect giraffes," NRDC Wildlife Trade Initiative Deputy Director Elly Pepper said in the CBD release. "Giraffes are headed toward extinction, in part due to our country's importation of giraffe parts and trophies. It's shameful—though unsurprising—that the Interior Department has refused to protect them under the Endangered Species Act and I hope the courts will agree."</p>
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Black bear in Alaska. C Watts / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Andrew Renner, 41, and his son Owen, 18 of Palmer, Alaska were charged this week with several felony and misdemeanor crimes after shooting and killing a mother black bear and her two "shrieking" newborn cubs in their den on Esther Island in Prince William in April.
The pair did not know the bears were part of an observation program by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Their den was monitored by motion-activated camera, meaning the killings were caught on video and audio.
<p>
The younger Renner can even be heard saying, "they'll never be able to link it to us," according to court documents
<a href="http://www.ktva.com/story/38841443/2-accused-of-illegal-black-bear-kills-caught-on-video" target="_blank">obtained by KTVA</a>.
</p><p>
Alaska state troopers
<a href="https://dps.alaska.gov/dailydispatch/Home/DisplayIncident?incidentNumber=AK18027153" target="_blank">reported</a> Wednesday that the video shows the Renners skiing up to the remote den. Owen Renner fires two shots at the denning sow, or mother bear. The elder Renner then kills the "shrieking" newborn bear cubs and discards their bodies away from the den.
</p><p>
Two days after the animals were killed, the men returned to the site to pick up their shell casings and to dispose the dead bear cubs.
</p><p>
Andrew Renner brought the mother bear's remains to the Fish and Game Department in Palmer and falsely reported that he—not his son—killed the sow near Granite Bay in Prince William Sound.
</p><p>
"He further reported that while he realized after shooting it that the sow had teats, no cubs were present or located," the troopers wrote.
</p><p>
Their vessel, vehicle used to facilitate the hunt and hunting rifles have been seized. Charges against the pair include unlawful take of a female bear with cubs, possession and transport of illegally taken game. Andrew Renner was additionally charged with tampering with physical evidence, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unsworn falsification in the second degree. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, the troopers said.
</p><p>
Charging documents in the case, filed by Assistant Attorney General Aaron Peterson, gave more explicit details about the killing.
</p><p>
"Owen Renner shoulders a rifle and fires at least two shots at the bear," Peterson wrote, as quoted by KTVA. "The defendants listen for several minutes and eventually realize that it is not the dead sow, but the orphaned cubs making the sounds. The defendants then move closer to the den where Andrew Renner takes aim through his rifle scope only feet away and fires several more shots, killing the newborn bear cubs. Andrew Renner is captured on video saying. 'It doesn't matter. Bear down.'"
</p><p>
The hunt took place on state land but the topic of trophy hunting has reignited under the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump" target="_blank">Trump</a> administration, which is <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-hunting-alaska-conservation-2571000532.html" target="_blank">proposing</a> to overturn an Obama-era rule that protects iconic predators in Alaska's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_blank">national preserves</a>. The plan would allow hunters to go to den sites to shoot bear cubs and wolf pups, lure and kill bears over bait, hunt bears with dogs and use motor boats to shoot swimming caribou.
</p><p>
<span></span>"There isn't enough outrage in the world to cover the depravity of this wanton crime," Kitty Block, acting president and CEO of the Humane Society, said in a statement to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/08/10/a-mother-bear-and-two-shrieking-newborn-cubs-were-killed-in-their-den-by-hunters-troopers-say/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>. "Whenever a trophy hunter displays such disregard for law and animal life, the organizations that promote trophy hunting—and the elected officials who support their agenda—are quick to condemn the scofflaws. And it would be the right thing to do now. But it would also ring a bit hollow because they are working to make this sort of killing perfectly legal on National Park Service lands in Alaska."
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