Elephants may symbolize the GOP, but Americans’ love for these animals seems to defy political party lines. Yet the head of the Republican Party has jeopardized these animals’ futures.

The Trump administration recently announced it would reverse an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports. The sudden move sparked outcry from elephant fans, including the president himself. Trump quickly took to Twitter to condemn trophy hunting, then backtracked on his announcement, showing how arbitrary his decision to lift the import ban was in the first place.

That doesn’t mean elephants are safe for good, as Trump may still choose to reverse the ban. But the elephant population is still on the decline and a basic ban on trophy imports won’t prevent it from shrinking further, regardless of Trump’s decision

Shannon Farrell, an assistant professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, pointed out that making a practice illegal doesn’t necessarily prevent it from happening.

“I would guess that an underground and black market approach to gaining hunting access would continue, and would perhaps make the problem worse, by making it harder to track what is going on,” Farrell said.

The situation is dire, and proves that Trump shouldn’t try to change the fate of elephants in 280 characters. To truly protect elephants, a plan must be crafted that combines Americans’ devotion to the species with hunting license oversight from African law enforcement.

David Althoff, an associate professor of biology at Syracuse University, credits the species’ decline to humans’ encroachment into elephant habitats and hunting for ivory tusks.

The U.S. currently allows the import of elephant hunting trophies from three African countries: South Africa, Namibia and Zambia. Trump’s potential ban would’ve allowed trophies from Zimbabwe — a country that, like the rest of those in Africa, is watching its elephant population vanish.

Zimbabwe saw a 6 percent decline in its elephant population between 2007 and 2014, according to the most recent elephant census data. There was a 30 percent decline in the overall African elephant population during that period.

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To justify the ruling, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a statement saying the reversal of the ban could enhance the survival of elephants in the wild. The statement reads: “Legal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit the conservation of certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation.”

There are situations where regulated hunting could make sense. Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, a program in Zimbabwe allowed sustainable trophy hunting, and some poor communities prospered while animal populations increased.

In the U.S., where hunting can be monitored, there’s an interest in maintaining game species as well as hunting them. Hunting has become an integral part of wildlife research, management and conservation because funds from hunting regulation keep these programs afloat, Farrell said.

Regulated hunting programs work well when they are managed well. But when unstable governments handle the money, funds often fail to get to their intended target and the species suffers, Farrell said.

That would likely be the case in present-day Zimbabwe, where hunting licensing is corrupt and the government is in turmoil. In a time of political chaos, environmental issues like elephant protection go under the radar.

And it’s unlikely the U.S. could rely solely on African locals to prevent hunting, as its communities often benefit economically from trophy hunting. Instead, Farrell said elephant protection requires cooperation across cultures, especially in places where Western values for wildlife conservation are not a top priority.

Yet the uproar Trump caused when he suggested lifting the poaching ban shows that at least attitudes are changing. Before Trump’s announcement, New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned elephants’ use for entertainment. As Americans’ outrage and Trump’s quick backtracking shows, we aren’t ignoring the elephant in the room.

Allison Weis is a freshman newspaper and online journalism major. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at alweis@syr.edu.

Published on November 28, 2017 at 11:17 pm