ENDANGERED SPECIES: Cecil-inspired House bill would reduce sport hunting

Over two dozen House Democrats yesterday announced their support for a bill to restrict the import of stuffed or mounted "trophies" of species that have been proposed for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The new bill is a companion to the "Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act," or "CECIL Animal Trophies Act" for short, introduced in the Senate earlier last month by New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez. The name is a reference to the photogenic, black-maned lion that was lured outside a national park in Zimbabwe and killed by an American trophy hunter this summer.

The death of Cecil the lion sparked outrage across the Internet and the Capitol over the sport hunting of lions, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed adding to the list of threatened species in 2014.

The House bill introduced yesterday by Natural Resources Committee ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) would make it harder for such an incident to occur again by blocking the import of all trophies made from species proposed for listing, unless a shipment is explicitly approved by the secretary of the Interior, who oversees FWS.

The legislation would also direct the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office to analyze what conservation benefits, if any, trophy hunting provides to international wildlife conservation.

Earlier this month, Grijalva urged Fish and Wildlife to do similar country-by-country reviews, among other things. He wants to ensure that American hunters aren't contributing to the unsustainable harvesting of wildlife (E&E Daily, Sept. 9).

Early support for the legislation is very partisan. Twenty-seven lawmakers have already agreed to back Grijalva's bill, all of them Democrats.

Similarly, Menendez's S. 1918 has six Democratic supporters in the Senate.

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