Tragically, Cecil the lion’s son, Xanda, was killed by a trophy hunter outside of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Xanda’s death comes almost exactly two years after Cecil’s killing by an American trophy hunter, which generated public outrage at the cruelty of the trophy hunting industry.
Prashant K. Khetan, CEO and General Counsel for Born Free USA, says: “The killing of Xanda is a tragedy, simply put. We need no other statistic than that there are now fewer than 20,000 wild lions left in Africa. And, trophy hunting, absurdly called a “sport”—as though it were the same as putting a rubber ball through a basketball hoop—has played a major role in the dwindling of this incredible species. In the U.S., I hope that Congress will see this latest act of atrocity as an indication that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) should not be gutted; rather, we need to reintroduce and pass laws like the CECIL Animal Trophies Act to afford protections to wild animals so that tragedies like the killings of Cecil, and now his son Xanda, do not become a routine and forgotten occurrence.”[teaserbreak]
Born Free USA has long fought to put an end to trophy hunting. We pushed for at-risk species to be listed on the ESA, which, among other things, restricts trophy imports. Thanks to our efforts and those of our partner organizations, West/Central African and Asiatic lions were listed as ‘endangered’ and East/Southern African lions were listed as ‘threatened’ in early 2016, making it far more difficult for American hunters to bring lion trophies back to the U.S. Following Cecil’s death, we were at the forefront of efforts to develop and promote the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act, which aims to extend import and export prohibitions to sport-hunted species that have been proposed for listing, but are not yet listed under the ESA. We will keep you updated as this story progresses and what you can do to help.