While the practice of so-called “canned hunting” can still go ahead, trophies from these kills can no longer be imported into the USA.
The US Fish and Wildlife Services have put a ban on imports of captive bred lion trophy heads, skins, claws, teeth, and other lion parts from those kills.
Anyone who wants to important a trophy will have to provide “evidence of the hunts benefiting the long-term survival of the species in the wild”.
The move to have these trophies banned started earlier this year when lions were declared as a protected species.
The ban does not include trophies taken from wild or wild-managed populations if they have been authorized by the South African government
“We cannot and will not allow trophies into the United States from any nation whose lion conservation programme fails to meet key criteria for transparency, scientific management and effectiveness,” director of the US Fish and Wildlife Services, Dan Ashe, said.
According to reports, around 8000 lions are bred for the purpose of being hunted on game ranches in South Africa.
“This is huge,” Ian Michler, a conservationist and the narrator of Blood Lions, a documentary released last year that exposed the canned lion industry, told Nat Geo.
“If we can start seriously clamping down on the demand side, then it will impact things here in south Africa.”