This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

President Trump claimed over Twitter he would, “be very hard pressed to change” his mind that the “horror show” of trophy hunting, “in any way helps conservation of elephants or any other animal.” After the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it would resume importing bontebok, elephant and lion “trophies” from Africa, the President said nothing! Tell him to reinstate the ban on elephant, lion and bontebok trophy imports! 

The Obama Administration had established rules banning the importation of animals covered by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) if the countries where the killing occurred could not prove a “conservation-by-death” value for those species. This ended the import of elephant and lion body parts by trophy hunters. 

Safari Club International (SCI) and the National Rifle Association (NRA), the leading advocates for slaughtering wildlife, successfully sued to have the ban overturned by the United States Court of Appeals in December 2017 by arguing the Administrative Procedures Act had not been followed wherein the USFWS must publish the proposed rule in the Federal Register and solicit public comment before making decisions about whether trophy hunting in a particular country promotes the conservation of a species threatened with extinction. 

After that court decision, USFWS allowed importations, but failed yet again to have a public comment period before coming to that decision. 

President Trump can pretend all he wants that he doesn’t like trophy hunting, but the fact of the matter is that he chose Ryan Zinke, a known trophy hunter, to head the Department of the Interior, which directly oversees USFWS policy.  

Don’t buy the lie. Tell President Trump that he must keep protections in place for elephants, lions and bontebok by telling his trophy hunting hire, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to stop USFWS from issuing import permits because it failed to follow administrative procedures for rulemaking. Call and write President Trump today! 

What YOU Can Do

Elephants, lions and bontebok need calls made and emails sent to President Donald Trump asking him to stop USFWS from issuing permits for trophy imports. 

1) Call President Trump at 202-456-1111 between 9 am to 4 pm EST. The White House switchboard operator will answer. Tell the operator you want to send a message to the President. You can say something like this: 

I would like President Trump to please order Secretary of Interior Zinke to stop all elephant, bontebok, and lion trophy import permits and reinstate the ban. The USFWS has not followed administrative procedures that would allow me, as a citizen, to participate in the decision to import, or not import elephants, bontebok, and lions killed by trophy hunters.

2) Follow up your call with an email to the President by submitting our letter by filling out the form on the right-hand side of this page.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.