Elephant, Lion, and Polar Bear Trophy Hunts On Sale at Infamous Hunting Convention in Tennessee

THINK

Feb 19

The event will sell hundreds of domestic and international trophy hunts, including a $100,000 Alaska trip to kill a grizzly bear and a $143,000 lion and leopard hunting trip in Zambia.

Archive images of Safari Club International’s convention in 2020, which took place in Reno, Nevada. Credit: HSUS.

Nashville, Tennessee has been urged to cut ties with an annual convention that exhibits hundreds of hunting trips to slaughter animals including elephants, lions, and hippos.

The yearly convention by Safari Club International (SCI) is taking place this week in the city, and will see over 850 exhibitors sell everything from domestic and international trophy hunts, to trinkets and decorations made from animals.

Hunting guides at the event will be offering trophy hunts for the world’s most imperilled species like elephants and lions, whose populations are facing global declines. Hunts for hundreds of additional foreign and domestic animals will also be sold, for animals including leopards, polar bears, rhinos, hippos, wolves, and grizzly bears.

Specific hunts range from a $2,500 California wild boar hunt, to a 21-day lion, leopard, and plains game hunt in Zambia valued at $143,000. Another notable hunt is a 10-day Alaska Brown and Black Bear Hunt alongside Alaska’ Gov. Mike Dunleavy, priced at $29,500.

And other individual auction items include a mink puffer jacket worth $10,000, a beaver hat bedazzled with rubies worth $5,000, and a knife with a handle made from giraffe bone worth $2,400.

Amongst critics of the controversial event are the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), who say Nashville should “reject this sickening glorification of gratuitous destruction”.

Kitty Block, the president and CEO of HSUS, said “while the vast majority of Americans abhor trophy hunting, Safari Club International continues to raise money off the slaughter of majestic animals from around the world.”

It’s estimated that the auctions at this year’s convention will bring in almost $6,000,000 for Safari Club International, money which could be used to fund the group’s lobbying efforts that include reducing U.S. Endangered Species Act protections and the promotion of trophy hunting.

The U.S. is currently the world’s largest importer of hunting trophies of mammals regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The country imported over 72,600 hunting trophies between 2014 and 2018 - and over 10,00 of which were from species listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

“Trophies of any species listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act should be prohibited from importation into the United States,” adds a spokesperson for HSUS.

The HSUS spokesperson further explained that “congress has been urging the agency to look into its trophy import program for years and this conference is simply another reminder that it is high time for the Biden Administration to take a hard look at blocking such trophies from coming into the United States. We simply cannot keep turning a blind eye to the loss of these iconic species simply so trophy hunters can continue to experience the thrill of displaying their unethical kills, and the Fish and Wildlife Service should act now to quash this activity.”

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