Feds Hand Out Lion Trophy Permits To GOP Donors

The Huffington Post reports:

The federal government has issued more than three dozen permits allowing hunters to import lion trophies from two African nations since 2016, according to copies of the applications obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.  Thirty-three Americans were issued permits to import 38 lion trophies between 2016 and 2018, at least half of whom have donated to Republican lawmakers or are affiliated with the hunting lobby Safari Club International.

Several people who received the permits have links to Republican fundraising efforts, according to Friends of Animals. Steven Chancellor, an Indiana businessman given a permit for a lion killed in 2016, raised more than $1 million for Republican lawmakers at an event that same year featuring then-candidate Donald Trump.

Other approved permits went to hunters including Philip Glass, a Texas rancher and Trump donor who took a $100,000 trophy safari in Zimbabwe that was filmed in a documentary, and Kent Greenawalt, who has donated around $100,000 to Republican candidates and committees.

Chancellor alone has reportedly killed “least 18 lions, half a dozen elephants and two rhinos.” Much more at the link.