Holding Rhinos for Ransom
This week Ben Carter, President on the Dallas Safari Club - the organization the auctioned off the right to hunt an endangered black rhino - spoke about the possibility that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) might deny the auction winner the permit to import the rhino's parts to the United States.
1. The auction was about trophy hunting, not protecting rhinos:
Mr. Carter threatens that the $350,000 may not be donated to rhino conservation the FWS denies the hunter the permits to import his trophy hunt. For the last 5 months the DSC has said that the auction - not the importation permit - would raise money ($350,000) for the Namibian government to protect and conserve the black rhino.
That's brings us to #2.
2. Dallas Safari Club thought they had FWS in their pocket, but they don't:
Carter states that ""the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service promised to cooperate with a qualified applicant". However, now Carter follows up with a big "if". "If the application is rejected, the antis will trumpet victory, but the reality would be a setback for black rhino conservation."
What this all means is that our pressure in working and the Dallas Safari Club is willing to now hold $350,000 ransom for a permit to import illegal endangered species product.
We knew this all along; this is not about saving rhinos, it's about hanging one on a hunters wall.