WASHINGTON — A coalition of environmental and animal-welfare groups is challenging the Trump administration’s decision to allow the importation of the heads, hides and tusks of African elephants as hunting trophies.
Four groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over this month’s announcement that the Fish and Wildlife Service will begin considering permit applications for importing body parts from sport-hunted elephants on a case-by-case basis. The agency said its decision is in response to a ruling that found procedural flaws with a ban by the Obama administration.
The policy change came despite tweets from President Trump decrying big-game hunting as a “horror show.”
Zinke recently appointed a board stuffed with trophy hunters to advise him on conserving threatened wildlife.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
