Leopard Trophy Permits Lawfully OK’d By Agency, Judge Says

Invalidating permits that allow the importation of sub-Saharan African leopard trophies won’t dissuade American hunters from killing leopards, a federal judge ruled.

Environmental groups sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2020, alleging that it approved applications to import leopard trophies from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and other countries without adequate population information and without considering its conservation status in those countries.

Leopard populations in southern Africa are declining due to illegal killings, ceremonial use, trophy hunting, and the loss of habitat and prey, the suit said.

But Judge Jennifer G. Zipps of the US District Court for the District of ...