Cash Is King for Wild Animal Permits, PETA Says

A token donation to environmental causes allows circuses and hunters to vault the hurdles of regulations protecting endangered species, animal lovers claim in Federal Court. Though the Endangered Species Act prohibits any level of possessing or transporting endangered species except under strictly limited circumstances, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is authorized to issue permits for importing and exporting endangered animals only "to enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species." While such enhancement permits were intended to cover "extremely narrow" circumstances, PETA says in a May 8 complaint that Fish and Wildlife Service routinely flouted environmental principles with a "pay-to-play" policy that allowed permit applicants justify their hunting trophies by claiming that their display of the animal's carcass heightens public commitment to conservation and thus enhances the species' survival...more

PETA and its ilk will always oppose any idea that an economic incentive can promote conservation. No sir, Coercive Conservation is the name of their game. Obey or go to prison.