Last week, for reasons that weren’t entirely clear, the Trump administration announced the end of an Obama-era ban on hunters bringing the trophy heads of elephants they’d killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia back to the U.S. The move immediately drew fire, even from some prominent Republicans.
On Friday night, as NBC News reported, the president halted his administration’s new policy.
President Donald Trump on Friday announced he is suspending a controversial decision to lift the ban on importing trophies of dead elephants from Zimbabwe and Zambia into the U.S., which had been assailed by conservation and animal rights groups.
“Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts,” Trump said on Twitter.
He added last night, “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.”
It wasn’t altogether clear why the administration made the decision in the first place. There was some speculation that Trump World was motivated by a desire to undo every decision from the Obama era, without regard for merit. The Washington Monthly‘s Nancy LeTourneau had a compelling piece arguing that the decision was intended to be a thumb in Hillary Clinton’s eye.









