Rep. Betty McCollum,  Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Daniel M. Ashe, and Barack Obama

On 1 July 2015, Cecil the lion was killed outside of the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe after being shot by a bow 40 hours earlier. After being tracked for 40 hours, he was finally killed with a gun before his tracking collar was cut off along with his head. 

Unfortunately, this egregious murder is only one example of a much larger problem: trophy hunting abroad. By definition, trophy hunting seeks the unusual, rare, and exotic. People do not travel abroad to hunt deer or other animals they could conceivably use for food and easily hunt within the United States. Trophy hunting abroad negatively impacts animal populations when most ecosystems are already struggling. 

We have an obligation, as a wealthy and powerful country, to hold our citizens to a higher standard when they travel abroad. While Cecil's killer may escape prosecution on procedural or technical ambiguities, killing a famed lion by luring it off a reserve is a disgusting act that should be illegal under American law. 

We are asking you to bring a bill before Congress outlawing the imports from trophy hunting. Trophy hunting only "benefits" the wealthy hunter when he hangs the carcass on his library wall. It hurts animal populations, hurts ecosystems, opens up avenues for poaching, and myriad other issues. 

The ethically and environmentally sound practice would be to ban trophy hunting abroad altogether, but a step toward that would be outlawing any spoils from those hunts being imported back to America. Cecil brought more attention to this ongoing issue, and with that attention, hopefully Congress will do the right thing.