Connecticut Bill with Felony Penalty for African Taxidermy Returns
March 10, 2021
The Connecticut Joint Committee on the Environment, which includes members from both the House and Senate, has introduced legislation that would prohibit the import and possession of certain African species. Senate Bill 925 would charge anyone who imports or possesses legally killed, processed, and permitted elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, or giraffe taxidermy with felony charges equal to manslaughter and a fine up to $10,000. This is the third consecutive year that this legislation has been introduced.
Take Action! Connecticut citizens should contact their State Senators and State Reps and urge them to oppose Senate Bill 925. Members can find their legislators by using the Sportsmen’s Alliance Legislative Action Center.
“This legislation will directly harm African countries, conservation and people who rely on the revenues generated from hunting,” said Jacob Hupp associate director of state services at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Even more troubling, law-abiding and federally permitted American hunters would be charged with felonies equal to manslaughter. To equate owning taxidermy to killing another human being is absolute lunacy.”
American hunters can legally hunt, kill and import most African big-game species in accordance with proper import permits from both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the African countries where they hunt. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service only issues import permits for hunts that occur in countries that maintain sound conservation plans that help improve threatened and endangered wildlife populations. Additionally, federal law and agencies, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, regulate import processes, not state governments.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing, and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense, and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible.