For the first time since the United States protected lions under
the Endangered Species Act ("ESA") in 2016, the Fish and
Wildlife Service ("FWS") has issued a permit to allow an
American sport hunter to bring back parts of a lion he killed on a
trophy hunt in Tanzania.
Before 2016, lions were not protected by the ESA, so sport
hunters could bring lion trophies back to the United States without
a permit. While the timing may have been coincidental, in January
2016, months after the 2015 high-profile incident in which a
Minnesota dentist killed Cecil the lion during a trophy hunt,
however, FWS extended ESA protection to lions. The sub-species of
lions found in central and West Africa was listed as endangered and
the sub-species found in southern and East Africa (including
Tanzania) was listed as threatened. The threatened sub-species,
Panthera leo melancochaita, has larger numbers and is
considered less vulnerable than the endangered sub-species,
Panthera leo leo.
