Stand With SCI and Oppose Harmful Anti-Hunting Language in Interior Appropriations Bill

TAKE ACTION: https://act.stg.safariclub.org/opmygep

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee marked up the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for FY2023. This bill includes Section 439, which would place an effective ban on the import of elephant or lion trophies from Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

Section 439 is a copy-and-paste of Section 436 in last year’s bill, which was ultimately defeated. Section 439 states that “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to issue a permit for the import of a sport-hunted trophy of an elephant or lion taken in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, or Zambia.” The bill fails to differentiate illegal poaching in African range countries from legal, regulated hunting by Americans abroad and would hurt both wildlife conservation efforts and local communities. 

In response to this misguided legislation, SCI joined 22 other hunting and conservation organizations in a letter to Appropriations Committee leadership standing in strong opposition. The letter states in part, “The fallacy of Section 439 is made clear by the fact that the world’s largest population of lions and second, third, and sixth largest populations of elephants inhabit these three countries.” Read the full letter here.

Neither the hunting regulations in these countries nor the conservation status of these species warrant a defacto trophy ban, and the decision to place restrictions is seemingly random and based solely on emotions. Despite this, the House Appropriations Committee has left this section in the bill as-is, and the bill will now go to the full House of Representatives for a vote. 

TAKE ACTION now and OPPOSE this dangerous legislation!