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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly begun allowing more trophy hunting of African elephants, despite President Donald Trump s pledge last year to uphold a ban on importing parts of animals killed by big-game hunters.

The agency issued a formal memo Thursday saying it would consider issuing permits to import elephant trophies from African nations on a case-by-case basis, effective immediately. The new guidelines, first reported by E&E News and later by The Hill , end U.S. bans on the import of such trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The decision comes nearly four months after Trump stepped in to halt his own administrations decision to begin allowing hunters to import elephants killed in the two African countries . The president called such trophy hunting a horror show . He drew rare accolades from environmentalists at the time, who said they were surprised that Trump would move to uphold environmental protections .

What the agency just did with this memo is completely contrary to everything Trump has been saying, Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview.

Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal.

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Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal.
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2017

Environmental advocates say its unclear if the new move will result in additional elephant trophy imports, but the guidelines give more leeway to hunters to apply for permits. The Fish and Wildlife Service has already updated its webpages on the import of sport hunted trophies for both elephants and lions .

In November, the agency reversed an Obama-era ban on the importation of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia, determining that sport hunting in those countries would enhance the survival of the species in the wild, a spokesperson said at the time.

The decision was first revealed publicly by Safari Club International, a trophy hunting advocacy group with close ties to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke . The group, along with the National Rifle Association, sued to block the 2014 ban on elephant trophies from Zimbabwe. Late last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the Obama administration did not follow proper procedures when it instituted the ban. Among other things, it failed to invite public comment, the court said.

The Trump administration based its decision allowing case-by-case permits on the courts opinion, writing in the memo that so-called enhancement findings are no longer effective for making individual permit determinations for imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies.

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