--- title: Donald Trump Lifts Hunting Ban: Internet Responds description: President Donald Trump lifted a ban on elephant trophies and the internet is spreading photos of Donald Trump Jr.'s post-elephant kill pose. canonical: https://time.com/5027350/donald-trump-elephant-ban-jr/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-16T15:49:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T00:14:41.000Z og:title: People Are Upset That President Trump Lifted an Elephant Trophy Ban og:description: They circulated an image of Donald Trump Jr. hunting. og:url: https://time.com/5027350/donald-trump-elephant-ban-jr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1a096334af1443b/6988d800bc6cfcf50e3e2797/trump-jr-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Jr. watches his father Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump leave the stage on the night of 2016 Iowa Caucus in Des Moines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Upset That President Trump Lifted an Elephant Trophy Ban twitter:description: They circulated an image of Donald Trump Jr. hunting. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1a096334af1443b/6988d800bc6cfcf50e3e2797/trump-jr-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People on Twitter Are Upset That President Trump Lifted an Elephant Trophy Ban > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b3cf6a61-0105-4a08-8be3-9af14792aece&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Once Criticized the 'Horror Show' of Trophy Hunting. Now He's Lifting a Ban on Elephant Part Imports [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Once Criticized the 'Horror Show' of Trophy Hunting. Now He's Lifting a Ban on Elephant Part Imports](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qysC7dIK.m3u8) (1:27)  _Published 2017-11-16. The Trump administration has lifted an Obama-era ban on importing legally hunted elephant remains — known as trophies — from Zimbabwe and Zambia_ by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:14 AM UTCPublished: Nov 16, 2017 3:49 PM UTC The Trump administration has lifted an Obama-era ban on importing legally hunted elephant remains — known as trophies — from Zimbabwe and Zambia by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:14 AM UTCPublished: Nov 16, 2017 3:49 PM UTC The Trump Administration’s decision to lift a ban on importing elephant kill trophies spurred outrage on Twitter, with many users sharing an old photo of [Donald Trump Jr.](http://time.com/4975821/trump-jr-kimmel-weinstein/) holding an elephant tail after a hunt. Back in 2012, [Donald and Eric went trophy hunting in Zimbabwe](http://time.com/3990496/donald-trump-children/), killing an elephant and cheetah among other large animals, facing passionate and [longlasting backlash](http://time.com/3990496/donald-trump-children/) once the [photos surfaced](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/pics-rump-adult-sons-hunting-game-africa-resurface-article-1.2308107). So when the [it was reported](http://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-admin-reverse-ban-elephant-trophies-africa/story?id=51178663) that President Trump reversed the Obama-era ban on hunters importing trophies of elephants killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia during government-approved expeditions, critics moved quickly to recirculate the photo. Elephants are listed as endangered, but an Endangered Species Act stipulation lets the government give people permits to import trophies if there’s evidence that the “hunting actually benefits conservation for that species.” “Legal, well-regulated sport hunting as part of a sound management program can benefit the conservation of certain species by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation,” a [Fish and Wildlife spokesperson said in a statement](http://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-admin-reverse-ban-elephant-trophies-africa/story?id=51178663). Animal rights activists were not happy. “It’s a venal and nefarious pay-to-slay arrangement that Zimbabwe has set up with the trophy hunting industry,” Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society, told [the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/11/15/trophies-from-elephant-hunts-in-zimbabwe-were-banned-in-the-u-s-trump-just-reversed-that/). Both of Trump’s sons have defended hunting. “Anyone who thinks hunters are just ‘bloodthirsty morons’ hasn’t looked into hunting,” Donald Jr. told [_Forbes_](https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankminiter/2012/04/09/tmz-is-wrong-about-donald-trump-jr-and-safari-hunting/2/&refURL=) in 2012\. “If you wait through long, cold hours in the November woods with a bow in your hands hoping a buck will show or if you spend days walking in the African bush trailing Cape buffalo while listening to lions roar, you’re sure to learn hunting isn’t about killing.” That didn’t stop people from being incensed by the ban lift, many suggesting that his sons’ love of the hunt influenced the President. > [](https://twitter.com/Weinsteinlaw/status/930959251312447489) > [](https://twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/931136047118942208) > [](https://twitter.com/StopExOrd13792/status/931028225706348544) > [](https://twitter.com/DancingTheMind/status/931118136811835393) > [](https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/931141203659239425) > [](https://twitter.com/BiologistDan/status/931181499155611648) > [](https://twitter.com/jeremynewberger/status/931152857709056002) **Correction**: The headline of the original version of this story incorrectly described the ban Trump reversed. It was a ban on hunters importing trophies of elephants legally killed in Zimbabwe and Zambia, not a ban on poaching, which is illegal. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5027350/donald-trump-elephant-ban-jr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5027350/donald-trump-elephant-ban-jr/"},"headline":"People on Twitter Are Upset That President Trump Lifted an Elephant Trophy Ban","datePublished":"2017-11-16T15:49:49.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T00:14:41.000Z","description":"President Donald Trump lifted a ban on elephant trophies and the internet is spreading photos of Donald Trump Jr.'s post-elephant kill pose.","url":"https://time.com/5027350/donald-trump-elephant-ban-jr/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","politics","viral","Donald Trump","Donald Trump Jr."],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1a096334af1443b/6988d800bc6cfcf50e3e2797/trump-jr-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1a096334af1443b/6988d800bc6cfcf50e3e2797/trump-jr-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Jr. watches his father Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump leave the stage on the night of 2016 Iowa Caucus in Des Moines","caption":"Donald Trump Jr. watches his father Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump leave the stage on the night of 2016 Iowa Caucus in Des Moines","creditText":"Jim Bourg—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5027350/donald-trump-elephant-ban-jr/","name":"People on Twitter Are Upset That President Trump Lifted an Elephant Trophy Ban"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Once Criticized the 'Horror Show' of Trophy Hunting. 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