African Lion CITES I Update

Hunting collegues - We all owe John Jackson of Conservation Force a huge thank you. Today was the deadline for Countries to submit agenda items for the CoP meeting in March. No one petitioned to up-list Lion from CITES II to CITES appendix I status. It apparently remains a remote possiblity that a petition was submitted at the last minute and the schedule was not updated yet, but all indications seem to be that the for now, Lions will remain a CITES Appendix II species.

This is a hige victory for DG hunters and the credit goes to that small and highly dedicated group working to implement sound management programs throughout Africa.

Let"s hope that the latest information is correct and the uplisting has been defeated for now. Much work remains, even if this year the up-listing was defeated by conservation management and sceince. This issue will will come up again.

We sportsmen and women need to be viligent in our support for those organizations that support our rights to hunt domestically and abroad, was well as the organizations that support one of the most fundemental of American rights: the right of individuals to keep and bear arms free from the unreasonable intrusion of governmet.

My personal thansk to Mr. Jaclson and and everyone who worked so hard to maintain the tradition of Big 5 safari hunting based on sound game management practices.

Good news indeed, especially for the lion

Thanks for that timely update! Very good news for now...