Enacts the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to banning the importation, transportation and possession of certain African wildlife species and products.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1616
SPONSOR: Rosenthal TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
enacting the "Big Five African Trophies Act" relating to foreign game
PURPOSE:
To amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to foreign
game.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one establishes the title.
Section two amends title 5 of article 11 of the environmental conserva-
tion law by adding a new section 11-0535-b.
Section three amends subdivision 1 of section 71-0919 of the environ-
mental conservation law by adding a new paragraph g.
Section four establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The continued importation, possession, sale and/or transportation of the
so-called "Big Five African Species" - lions, leopards, elephants,
giraffes, black rhinos and white rhinos-is detrimental to the survival
of these species.
All of the Big Five African Species are threatened with extinction if
the current rate of illegal poaching continues. Additionally, some Afri-
can countries are considering (or have already) legalizing sport hunting
and exportation of Big Five African Species. Such countries have based
the legalization on the faulty logic that legalizing hunting of Big Five
African Species will decrease the illegal poaching and trade of these
animals. Such logic is not only erroneous, but also detrimental to the
survival of the Big Five African Species.
There is growing scientific evidence that legal trade of trophy-hunted
species preserves and reinforces the illegal sourcing of the same. For
example, South Africa, home to the second largest black rhino population
in the world, received permission by the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to sell permits for
trophy-hunted rhinos in 2004. Many of these hunts are purchased by Amer-
icans, and the trophies are import into or through the state of New
York, The country has since seen a marked rise in illegal rhino poach-
ing, with the World Wildlife Fund reporting that rhino poaching has
increased 5,000% since 2007.
Accordingly, by banning the importation, possession, sale and transpor-
tation of all Big Five African Species within New York, the State will
not be encouraging or abetting the continued demise of these species by
sport-hunting. Only a complete ban can stem the tide of illegal traf-
ficking caused by the legalization of hunting and capture of the Big
Five African Species in some African countries.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.584 - Referred to Environmental Conservation; S.3302 - Passed
Senate
2021-22: A.716 - Referred to Environmental Conservation; S.2814 - Passed
Senate
2019-20: A.7566 - Referred to' Environmental Conservation; S.4325-A -
Passed Senate
2017-18: A.10287 (Sepulveda) / S.4686-A (Avella)
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
