Skip to main content

Frosty’s Ramblings It’s Trump versus the elephants

Trump’s Republican Party is represented by the elephant but the president seems to have forgotten it, says PETER FROST

WE have all seen the horrendous photographs of rich US men, women and even children, automatic rifle in hand, kneeling next to, or even on top of some handsome wild creature, be it elephant, lion, rhino or some other exotic and threatened creature.

Social media is full of such pictures that start off as a boastful post from the hunter but more often, on my pages, turn up as a protest against this so-called ugly and ignorant sport.  

When I heard that President Donald Trump has created a new advisory board to rewrite federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos, I thought, but only for a fleeting moment, it might be good news for the animals.  

It wasn’t of course. Rather it was good news for some hunters who are members of Trump’s family and their bloodthirsty mates.  

A review by the Associated Press — no doubt to cries of “fake news” by the man himself — looked at the backgrounds and opinions expressed on the social media posts of the 16 board members appointed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. 

AP concluded that most of the panel members will take the view that the best way to protect critically threatened or endangered species is by encouraging wealthy US citizens to shoot some of them.

One appointee co-owns a private New York hunting preserve with Trump’s adult sons. The oldest son, Donald Trump Jnr, drew the anger of animal rights activists after a 2011 photo emerged of him holding a bloody knife and the severed tail of an elephant he killed in Zimbabwe.

Trump’s sons have also shot polar bears in Canada and are trying to get Brother President to change those rules so they can legally bring home the skin, skull and other morbid souvenirs of their Canadian white bear hunt.       

Trump himself has decried big-game hunting as a “horror show” in some of his tweets but Keith Zinke is an avid hunter at home and abroad. 

Zinke doesn’t have a good record on environmental issues. He opposed various environmental regulations and has opened up federal lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration and extraction.

Zinke's expenditures as secretary of the interior, which include expensive flights, have raised ethical questions and controversy, and are being investigated by the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General. 

Under Zinke’s leadership the Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly moved to reverse the restrictions introduced under president Barack Obama on bringing trophies from African lions and elephants into the United States.

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced that some permits for lion trophies have been issued since October, when imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia were first allowed, though it could not say how many.

A licensed two-week African hunting safari can cost more than $50,000 per person, not including air fare, according to advertised rates. Advocates claim money helps support habitat conservation and anti-poaching efforts in some of the world’s poorest nations, and provides employment for local guides and porters.

Last year, Zinke said: “The conservation and long-term health of big game crosses international boundaries. This council will provide important insight into the ways that American sportsmen and women benefit international conservation from boosting economies and creating hundreds of jobs to enhancing wildlife conservation.”

We know that in reality, tourists taking photos generate far more economic benefit without destroying magnificent and threatened wild animals. 

Sadly we also know that hunters typically target the biggest and strongest animals, weakening already vulnerable populations.

It is unlikely, given his form on other subjects, that Trump will allow those with dissenting views on hunting to be represented on his so-called conservation council. 

Here are some of the appointees who have been given a place. They include celebrity hunting guides, representatives from rifle and bow manufacturers, and wealthy sportspeople who boast of bagging the coveted “Big Five” — elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and Cape buffalo.

Almost all are high-profile members of Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association, groups that have in the past sued the Fish and Wildlife Service to expand the list of countries from which trophy kills can be legally imported.

They include the Safari Club’s president, Paul Babaz, a Morgan Stanley investment adviser from Atlanta, and Erica Rhoad, a lobbyist and former GOP congressional staffer who is the National Rifle Association’s director of hunting policy.

Bill Brewster is a retired Oklahoma congressman and lobbyist who served on the boards of the Safari Club and the NRA. The NRA praised Brewster and his wife’s purchase of a lifetime NRA membership for his grandson when the boy was three days old.

Also on the board is Gary Kania, vice-president of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, a group that lobbies Congress and state governments supporting hunting.

Zinke described the council as representing the strong partnership between federal wildlife officials and those who hunt or profit from hunting. 

Official council paperwork says the panel’s mission was “to increase public awareness regarding conservation, wildlife law enforcement, and economic benefits that result from United States citizens travelling to foreign nations to engage in hunting.”

In its charter, the council’s listed duties include “recommending removal of barriers to the importation into the United States of legally hunted wildlife” and “ongoing review of import suspension/bans and providing recommendations that seek to resume the legal trade of those items, where appropriate.”

A coalition of more than 20 US environmental and animal welfare groups objected to the one-sided make-up of the council, saying it could violate the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires government boards to be balanced in terms of points of view and not improperly influenced by special interests. This coalition actually nominated a qualified representative, but Zinke refused him a place on the panel.

So, as with school shootings, black murders by law enforcement officers and many other examples of gun crime in the US, Trump takes the side of the powerful gun lobby against elephants, polar bears and a thousand other wild creatures around the globe. 

Will you let me finish this oh-so-sad story on a lighter note? The last time I was in the US my visit coincided with the opening day of the deer hunting season. 

That night’s TV news reported that, as with just about every previous opening day, the species most killed or injured by US hunters was other US hunters. 

Perhaps then, the elephants haven’t got quite as much to worry about as I first thought.

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today