Cecil the lion's death prompts calls to ban trophy hunt imports to US
by Mahita Gajanan in New York from on (#FR2S)
With African lion not listed on federal endangered list, imports are currently legal - but the death of Cecil, Zimbabwe's celebrity lion, has driven calls for change
Conservationists are calling on the US government to ban the the import of lions killed in trophy hunting, following the death of Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion, who was allegedly killed by an American dentist this month.
As the African lion is not currently listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, it is legal to import lion trophies into the US. The US Fish and Wildlife service proposed listing African lions as threatened under the act last October.
