Killing of Cecil Pressures United States to Protect African Lion

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The killing of Cecil the lion by a U.S. hunter in Zimbabwe has turned up the pressure on Washington to extend legal protection to the African lion by declaring it an endangered species, but some hunting advocates said that would lead to more regulations that could ultimately harm the big cats.

The United States has the world's most powerful animal protection law, the Endangered Species Act, which has been extended by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to many non-U.S. species including the African elephant and cheetah.

Adding the African lion to the U.S. list would not prohibit trophy hunting but it would require a permit from the service to import lions or their body parts to the United States.

Such a permit would only be issued if the agency determined that importing a lion or parts of it would not be harmful to the survival of the species, said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, which advocates for species protection worldwide.

"Sport hunting has been identified as a threat to the continued existence of the species," said Sanerib, whose group has backed listing the African lion as endangered.

In 2014, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the African lion as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources committee, Raúl Grijalva, and 49 other House Democrats sent a letter on Thursday to the service asking it to finalize listing the lion as endangered.

Apart from the Endangered Species Act, hunters are barred under America's Lacey Act from importing wildlife or parts of animals that have been illegally killed, transported or sold. That law applies to about 5,600 animal species covered under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES.

The African lion is protected under CITES, which requires exporters of the animal to get a permit from its home country. The lion or its parts cannot be imported into the United States unless CITES requirements are met.

Supporters of regulated hunting have said it should not be discouraged because it generates revenue for African countries, which can be used on conservation and to discourage poaching.

Last week, the cargo division of South Africa's national carrier, SAA, lifted an embargo that had been in place since April on the transport of legally acquired hunting trophies of African lion and elephant, rhinoceros and tiger.

In acknowledging the action, South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said in a statement from the Department of Environmental Affairs, "It should be remembered that hundreds of legally acquired wildlife specimens, such as hunting trophies, pass through our main ports of entry and exit monthly without incident. Penalizing an entire industry for the illegal actions of the few is not in the country’s best interests.“

She added that the "sustainable utilization of species, including legal hunting, had historically played a significant role in the growth of populations of species, including lion, elephant and rhino."

The department said "legal, well-regulated hunting in South Africa was a source of much needed foreign exchange, job creation, and community development."

Eleven African countries issue lion hunting permits, according to the Professional Hunters Association.

REUTERS