The previous rule, enacted in 2014, came as part of a package of reforms designed to crack down on the trafficking of wildlife and big game mementoes.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has now decided to reverse the ban, meaning that big game hunters who visit Zambia and Zimbabwe will be permitted to bring trophies such as tusks and tails back to the US.
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The department said it had concluded that managed hunting programmes will “enhance the survival of the species in the wild”. The FWS will officially reveal details of the change in policy on Friday.
At first glance, the ruling may seem counter-intuitive, given that African elephants are in decline. Their population has shrunk by 111,000 in the last ten years, with 415,000 elephants remaining in the wild - less than a third of the 1.3 million which roamed the continent in 1980, according to a 2016 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
However, this decline is in large part due to illegal poaching. After consultation with Zambian and Zimbabwean officials, the FWS says it has been persuaded that authorised hunting is beneficial to the long-term survival of the species in this instance.
Regulated hunting programmes aid conservation efforts by “providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation,” an FWS spokesperson said.
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The reversal comes a month after the FWS overturned a ban on lion hunting trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia on similar grounds, USA Today reports.
However, animal rights charities condemned the roll-back of the ban.
"It's a venal and nefarious pay-to-slay arrangement that Zimbabwe has set up with the trophy hunting industry," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, in The Washington Post.
During the presidential election campaign, Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, came under fire for their participation in big game hunting.
A widely-circulated photo showing the pair posing with carcasses of elephants and big cats was met with disgust by animal lovers and activist groups, although Trump Jr defended the trip, saying that locals were “very grateful” for the meat provided by the expedition.
