ELEPHANT TROPHIES

November 17, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Your Trump

Every time I think I have seen your Trump do his worst, I am proved wrong by yet another loathsome action. His reversal of (another!) Obama-era ban—this one targeting the importation of elephant trophies from Zambia and Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe, for God’s sake: what was, until yesterday, the tyrant Mugabe’s realm!) in effect nullifies the international censure of the ivory trade. The idea was to end the slaughter of an increasingly endangered species of magnificent animal to satisfy naked human concupiscence and greed.

Do you remember, Congressman, the sickening picture of Trump’s son, Eric, looking so smug as he stands beside his hunting rifle and a fallen elephant, a knife in one hand and the dead creature’s severed tail in the other? I suppose he is now able to import his trophy legally, thanks to his father’s generosity. 

What could possibly be the purpose of this action, if not to please his son and anger those of us who care about our stewardship of this planet and its wild life? To alienate the international community? Or is it nothing but sheer spite against Obama and everything he accomplished, everything he stood for?

Enough is more than enough. Enough with your continued support of this man, whose disrespect now extends even to our fellow travelers in the animal kingdom. How low must he sink before your conscience requires you to disown him?

Yours in anger,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.