Enacts the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to banning the importation, transportation and possession of certain African wildlife species and products

• Democratic21

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Luis R. Sepúlveda says this is needed

The continued importation, possession, sale and/or transportation of the so-called "Big Five African Species"-lions, leopards, elephants, black rhinos, white rhinos and giraffes-is detrimental to the survival of these species. All of the Big Five African Species are threatened with extinction if the current rate of illegal poaching continues. Additionally, some Afri- can countries are considering (or have already) legalizing sport hunting and exportation of Big Five African Species. Such countries have based the legalization on the faulty logic that legalizing hunting of Big Five African Species will decrease the illegal poaching and trade of these animals. Such logic is not only erroneous, but also detrimental to the survival of the Big Five African Species. There is growing scientific evidence that legal trade of trophy-hunted species preserves and reinforces the illegal sourcing of the same. For example, South Africa, home to the second largest black rhino population in the world, received permission by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to sell permits for trophy-hunted rhinos in 2004. Many of these hunts are purchased by Amer- icans, and the trophies are imported into or through the state of New York. The country has since seen a marked rise in illegal rhino poach- ing, with the World Wildlife Fund reporting that rhino poaching has increased 5,000% since 2007. Accordingly, by banning the importation, possession, sale and transpor- tation of all Big Five African Species within New York, the State will not be encouraging or abetting the continued demise of these species by sport-hunting. Only a complete ban can stem the tide of illegal traf- ficking caused by the legalization of hunting and capture of the Big Five African Species in some African, countries.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.