Ban Sought on U.S. Trophy Hunters’ Imports of Famed Amboseli Elephants
Center for Biological Diversity: Population Subjected to Trophy Hunting for First Time Since 1994
biologicaldiversity.org
WASHINGTON— Conservation groups and scientists filed a petition with the United States government today to stop U.S. hunters from importing elephant trophies from the famed cross-border Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro elephant population inhabiting Kenya and Tanzania. For 30 years this longest-studied elephant population was safe from trophy hunters but now some of the world’s most iconic male elephants are at risk of being killed in the Tanzanian portion of their range if trophy hunting is allowed to continue.
Today’s petition to the Interior Department and the Fish and Wildlife Service seeks a permanent rule banning U.S. trophy imports from the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro elephant population. The petition was filed by Amboseli Trust for Elephants, ElephantVoices and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Over the past nine months, five mature males have been killed by trophy hunters. At least two of them qualify as “super-tuskers,” with one or more tusks weighing 100 pounds. Among the five killed, only one has been identified — an elephant named Gilgil. In an unprecedented practice, all the carcasses were burned and some were also buried, presumably to prevent identification of the animals.
“Singling out male elephants with large tusks takes away the natural elements of competition and survivorship, allowing younger, less tested, perhaps less vigorous males to reproduce,” said Cynthia Moss, director of Amboseli Trust for Elephants. “A population that is hunted becomes unnatural because humans are choosing who should pass on his genes and who should not, who should live and who should die.”
Before the latest killings, no males from the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro population had been shot for their tusks since 1994, when four were killed. Following that incident, an informal agreement was reached between the two countries to protect the population from hunting on the Tanzanian side of the border. Kenya does not permit trophy hunting.
