Delta Bans Shipment of Wildlife Hunting Trophies as Freight

Delta Air Lines Inc. on Monday said that it will no longer carry hunting trophies of lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros and buffaloes as freight.

The No. 3 U.S. airline by traffic, the sole U.S. carrier to Africa, said before the ban, its acceptance policy required compliance with all government regulations regarding protected species.

Delta said it would also review acceptance of other hunting trophies with government agencies and organizations supporting legal shipments.

Hunting trophies have been in the news -- creating a storm of outrage on the Internet -- since a Minnesota dentist last month allegedly killed Cecil, a popular 13-year-old protected lion in Zimbabwe, on a hunt that may not have been legal. Zimbabwe is seeking the dentist's extradition and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was investigating.

Consumer group SomeOfUs.org said Monday that it received more than 250,000 signatures on an online petition urging international airlines to take action. "Airlines and other large travel corporations would be foolish to ignore the public reaction to the killing of Cecil the lion, and the growing concern about the plight of endangered species," the group said in a statement lauding Delta's ban. "Now other airlines need to do the same, and stop putting endangered species at risk around the world."

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