African Lion Conservation Crippled by USFWS Ruling

By Justin Stakes

Op-Ed by Ben Carter
Executive Director
Dallas Safari Club

Dallas, TX -(AmmoLand.com)- In a year when the vocal anti-hunting minority was as loud as it was uninformed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is going against its own proven conservation policies and those of foreign countries in an effort to appease anti hunters at home. The end result is severe crippling of lion conservation efforts in Africa.

On December 21, a USFWS press release announced the addition of two lion subspecies to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This politicizing of wildlife conservation and oppressive restrictions on specimen importation will result in a devastating reduction of funds necessary to conserve the species in their home range, causing African lion populations to plummet.

According the USFWS statement, Panthera leo leo, located in India as well as western and central Africa, will be listed as endangered. However, Panthera leo melanochaita, with a population of more than 19,000 and growing thanks to sportsmen-funded conservation efforts, will now be listed as “threatened.” The USFWS service claims unidentified pockets of P.l. melanochaita populations, a subspecies of lion found throughout southern and eastern Africa, …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand