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REUTERS
WASHINGTON
LAST YEAR, after a Minnesota dentist sparked an uproar by killing a popular lion named Cecil while on safari in Zimbabwe, the US Fish & Wildlife Service placed similar African lions on the endangered species list, making it illegal to import them as trophies to the US.
But for African lions and other threatened and endangered species, there's an exception to this rule: Hunters, circuses, zoos, breeders and theme parks can get permits to import, export or sell endangered animals if they can demonstrate that the transactions will"enhance the survival" of the species.
Often, records show, this requirement is met in part by making a cash contribution to charity - usually a few thousand dollars. The practice has angered both animal-rights activists who say it exploits wildlife and exhibitors who describe the process as unfair and arbitrary.
In the last five years, the vast majority of the estimated 1,375 endangered species permits granted by the Fish & Wildlife Service involved financial pledges to charity, according to agency documents reviewed by Reuters.
For a $2,000 pledge, the Fish & Wildlife Service permitted two threatened leopard cubs to be sent from a roadside zoo to a small animal park. After a $5,000 pledge, the agency approved the transfer of 10 endangered South African penguins to a Florida theme park.
An application now under final consideration would permit a South Carolina safari park operator to send 18 endangered tigers to Mexico to participate in a multimillion-dollar movie - for a $10,000 donation to charity.
Craig Hoover, a senior Fish & Wildlife Service official, said his agency considers many factors before granting an endangered species permit - among them, a species' biological needs, threats and population size. Charitable contributions to conservation programs are just one factor in granting permit evaluations, and not a requirement, he said.
"It's not necessarily all that is considered," said Hoover."There may have been an education component, an outreach component, a captive breeding component."
Under the Endangered Species Act, exception permits may be granted only"for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species."
According to a recent Fish & Wildlife Service document reviewed by Reuters:"Very few of the Endangered Species Act permits that we issue have direct benefits to the species in the wild. Most applicants provide an indirect benefit, such as monetary support, to meet the enhancement requirement."
Late Friday, US Representative Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees, asked the agency to halt the practice.
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28/06/2016
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