Feds to ‘Re-evaluate’ Elephant Policy after Mid-Term Elections

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it will wait until after mid-term elections to “re-evaluate” a controversial new policy on elephant hunting. But conservation groups including Dallas Safari Club (DSC) worry that political gamesmanship in America is already compromising sustainable elephant management in Africa.

Yesterday, the agency promised a December review of a suddenly announced ban on importing elephants lawfully hunted in Zimbabwe (and Tanzania) in 2014.

Since the April announcement, DSC has criticized the ban as a politically motivated stunt that would only hinder wildlife conservation and rural communities in Africa. Seeking a reversal, DSC and its partners began providing data and info to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fully understand the situation on the ground in the affected countries.

But the agency on July 23 confirmed the ban and, in the next-to-last paragraph, the suspicious timeline for revisiting it – adding to concerns that politics are trumping science, according to DSC Executive Director Ben Carter.

“Basically, this agency is taking a timeout from science-based conservation policy,” he said.

“All signs point to politics, because science, facts, on-the-ground expertise and even common sense aren’t moving the needle with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Carter. “By effectually banning lawful hunters, this administration is de-funding a system proven to protect elephants where they are threatened, and manage elephants where they are overpopulated.”

He added, “This agency has offered nothing to replace the lost revenue, knowledge or leadership that hunters provided for elephant conservation in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. It has opened a gate for poachers because now there is less stewardship of a valuable resource.”

Carter said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also ignored the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council, a federally recognized advisory body of respected conservation organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Management Institute and other groups, universities and agencies. The council had identified flawed processes, logic and data used to formulate the ban.

Ed Johnson

Hunting, fishing, and the outdoors, is no stranger to Ed Johnson. Groomed in the outdoors by a grandfather and two uncles, since he was a small child, with a fly rod in one hand, and a bow in the other, Ed has 50 years of bow hunting experience behind him. He has record bow kills in the Safari Club International record books with a collection of some 60 mounts and has taken 17 species with bow in Africa. He has received awards for North America's Top Ten and Goats of the World and Wild Sheep of the World.

He is a member of Safari Club International, Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), North American Hunting Club, NWTF, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, ICAST, and retired co-founder and owner of the Bass Pro Crappie Masters All American Tour.  Ed still maintains his status as a professional photographer and is an avid freelance writer for numerous outdoor publications. He was featured in several hunting videos with Roger Raglin, and On The Water and In the Woods, with Cody and Cody.  He serves on the pro staff and pro staff review board for Commando Hunting Products and is senior adviser and consultant and Trusted Expert Pro Staffer for Trusted Outdoor Gear  and OutdoorHub.com

His love for the Ozark whitetail and old tom turkey is still his passion. Ed is quite active in promoting the outdoors and enjoys sharing hunts with others, especially first timers!  His mission in life is to expose people, young and old, to this great pastime of hunting and fishing. Each year he takes a group into Ontario for bear hunting and fishing. In a time when it is getting more difficult to get kids exposed to nature, Ed believes all outdoors men and women, can and will play an important role in helping to expose more children to the outdoors. The bottom line….our hunting industry future. Ed has coined the phrase "teach a child to hunt and fish and you will never have to hunt the child"!