American, United join trophy animal flight ban

American and United airlines are joining Delta in banning the shipment of trophy animals, after the uproar surrounding the shooting of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe. 

“Effective immediately, we will no longer transport buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion or rhino trophies,” American tweeted on Monday evening: 

Effective immediately, we will no longer transport buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion or rhino trophies.

— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) August 4, 2015

“United restricts the shipment of lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo trophies on our aircraft,” a United spokesperson told the website Mashable.com. “[The bans on animals] that are not already protected species are effective immediately.”

{mosads}The decisions follow the shooting of a popular lion in Zimbabwe named Cecil by Minnesota dentist Dr. Walter Palmer. 

Palmer attracted international outrage after Zimbabwean officials named him as the killer of the beloved lion. Palmer allegedly hired local guides to lure Cecil out of a national park, where he shot and eventually beheaded him. 

Delta is one of the few U.S. airlines that offers flights directly to Africa. 

Other airlines such as British Airways, Air France, KLM, Singapore Airways, Lufthansa, Air Emirates, Iberia Airlines, IAG Cargo and Qantas have issued similar prohibition on trophy animal cargo, according to the website SumOfUS.org, which has petitioned for the bans. 

“The attraction for trophy hunters is being able to display the animal they butchered when they get home,” the website says in its petition. 

“If airlines stopped putting their profits above conservation by banning their transport, the bottom would drop out of the market,” the petition continues. “Tell all global airways to immediately ban the transportation of dead endangered species on their planes.”