We have a huge cheer for the Environment Committee of Connecticut’s General Assembly, which voted 24-5, with one abstention, in favor of SB 20, “An Act Prohibiting the Import, Sale, and Possession of African Elephants, Lions, Leopards, Black and White Rhinos and Giraffes,” a bipartisan bill drafted by Friends of Animals and co-sponsored by state Sen. Bob Duff and state Rep. Brenda Kupchick.

The legislation now heads to the Senate floor. 

Connecticut is on its way to becoming the first state to pass an outright legislative ban on the import, possession and sale of the parts of these magnificent vulnerable, threatened and endangered species.

The state, home to FoA’s headquarters, does not have clean hands when it comes to pushing Africa’s Big 5 closer to extinction. Our state is supplying customers to the grave, immoral trophy hunting industry.

From 2005-2015, 59 trophy hunting permits were issued to Connecticut residents by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so people could hunt and kill leopards for their trophies. Six additional permits were provided to CT residents to kill African elephants in Botswana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. And from 2005-2016, Connecticut residents killed 39 lions and one giraffe and imported their trophies.

The CT communities that have been issued the most permits for trophy hunting: Greenwich, North Haven, Norwalk, Berlin, Stamford, Westport, Weston, Easton, Southington, Middletown.