After Cecil The Lion's Death, Airlines Refuse To Ship Exotic Hunting Trophies
Airlines this week began refusing to ship exotic animal-hunting trophies amid global revulsion to the killing of Cecil the lion.
Delta led the charge on Monday, announcing a ban on the freight shipment of all lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies worldwide. American Airlines soon followed suit, refusing to transport the same list of creatures.
The moves come in response to an international brouhaha over the death of a Zimbabwean lion, allegedly lured out of a national park -- where he was a widely loved attraction -- and slaughtered by Walter Palmer, a Minnesota dentist and hunter. Widely circulated images of Palmer standing behind the slain animal sparked outrage, prompting calls to extradite him to Zimbabwe to face potential charges. U.S. senators even drafted a bill, the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act, to further restrict the import of exotic kills.
Palmer's fate remains unclear. But, in the meantime, a growing number of airlines are taking a stand.
Here is a running list of airlines refusing to transport certain big-game trophies:
United Airlines
"We restrict the shipments of lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies on our aircraft and follow all US domestic and international regulations, which prohibits the possession of trophies or other items associated with protected species," the company said Tuesday in a statement on its Facebook page.
United spokesman Charlie Hobart told The Huffington Post that company's "records indicate that we have not shipped these types of trophies in the past."
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
