Ban The Import Of All Wild Animal Trophies!

Hundreds of thousands of wild animals are murdered each year so that bloodthirsty hunters can possess their corpses as trophies!

Add your name if you want to ban trophy imports and put an end to this cruel "sport" once and for all!

"Each year, hundreds of thousands of wild animals in the U.S. and around the world are killed by trophy hunters. The hunters' primary motivation is not to get food, but simply to obtain animal parts (heads, hides or claws and even the whole animal) for display and for bragging rights," according to the Humane Society.

They went on to say: "American trophy hunters pay big money to kill animals overseas and import over 126,000 wildlife trophies per year on average."

Between 2005 and 2014, about 1,260,000 wildlife trophies were imported into the USA, according to the same source.

Let that sink in.

Each of those 1,260,000 trophies represents a life, viciously taken away... for fun.

Each of them represents a family that is missing a mother, father, or mate.

The suffering caused by this "sport" is incalculable.

More that 1,200 species are impacted, including some that are slipping towards extinction: elephants, rhinos, and lions, according to the Humane Society.

Hunters like to claim that they're doing endangered animals a favor.

But they're not.

Trophy hunting encourages "canned hunting" practices, in which tame animals are raised in captivity for the purpose of being slaughtered. These animals typically lack the skills necessary to survive in the wild without human intervention.

Additionally, animals are sometimes killed too young, before they have reached the age of sexual maturity, and before they can reproduce. Consequently, in such cases they do not make any contribution to bringing their species back from the brink of vanishing forever.

Besides, the number of animals being "harvested" is usually based on profits, not on what scientists determine to be sustainable levels. For example, lions are over-hunted in Tanzania, according to Conservation Conversation.

Even when scientists are able to weigh in, many countries where trophy hunting takes place lack the funding to manage the practice adequately, and the hunting industry is able to skirt around regulations with ease.

Worst of all, trophy hunting can permanently damage the genetic health of a species, because the best specimens - the biggest, strongest, healthiest - tend to be preferred by hunters. Once they have been removed from the gene pool, they cannot be replaced.

"From a biological perspective, the long-term survival of an imperiled species is extremely complicated; trophy hunting not only flies in the face of a precautionary approach to wildlife management, but in some cases it has also been found to undermine it.

"A case in point: hunters are not like natural predators. They target the largest specimens; those with the biggest tusks, manes, antlers or horns," reported CNN.

The same source went on to say: "What actions can governments take that better reflect the conservation and animal welfare values of their citizens?

"They can start by stopping trophy imports of critically endangered species like the black rhino and also threatened species like lions -- which have faced a 75% population decline over the past 50 years in the savanna habitat that sustains African lions.

"Australia has recently banned the import of trophy hunted lions. Meanwhile the European Union has just adopted stronger restrictions on trophy imports for a number of species including lions."

Don't you think it's time for the USA to join the rest of the civilized world and ban the import of wild animal trophies?

According to the Humane Society, most trophy hunters are from the USA. If they know they can't import their trophies, they won't travel abroad and murder the animals in the first place.

That's why it's so important to take this action.

Imagine how different the world would be, if more than 1,000,000 animals had not been murdered for the sake of "sport"...

"The world's 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things ... Yet since the dawn of civilisation, humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of plants, while livestock kept by humans abounds.

"60% of all mammals on Earth are livestock, mostly cattle and pigs, 36% are human,

"And just 4% are wild animals." reported The Guardian.

If we don't force trophy hunters to stop their bloodthirsty "hobby", the world's wonderful widlife could soon be gone forever.

Senator Bernie Sanders has been a long-term advocate for animal rights, and has co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation to protect endangered species.

That's why we're asking him to lead a movement in Congress that would ban all wildlife trophy imports to the USA. It doesn't matter if you don't live in the USA - your signature can still make a difference.

Don't you want to protect animals from merciless, cold-blooded killers?

Then add your name to ask Senator Sanders to draft legislation that would ban the import of all wild animal trophies into the USA, NOW!

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