In early September, trophy hunters in Botswana shot and killed two elephants that were wearing satellite collars, according to a news outlet in Botswana. One elephant died on Sept. 3 and the second died the next day.

Those collars had a purpose. Scientists used them to follow where the elephants traveled and how they used the land around them, research that helps protect elephant herds for the future. Now both animals are dead, and the information they were sending back has gone silent with them.

The Center for Biological Diversity reported in a 2026 case study that American trophy hunters are frequent visitors to Botswana. It is not yet known who killed these two elephants. But Americans who want to bring an elephant trophy home generally need an import permit from the U.S. government, and that permit can be refused.

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decide which elephant trophies are allowed into the country. They have the power to deny permits for these two collared elephants. They can also go further and stop every elephant trophy import from Botswana.

Elephants are not prizes to hang on a wall. Each one shot for sport is a loss for its herd, for the scientists who study them, and for everyone who wants these animals to survive for generations to come.

Sign the petition to tell the Department of the Interior and USFWS to deny these permits and ban elephant trophy imports from Botswana, before another collared elephant is lost.