The United States Fish and Wildlife Service lifted the ban on importing sport-hunted trophies of Elephants into the U.S. on Thursday and some of the world’s top supermodels are up in arms about it.
The lifting of the ban has outraged tons of conservationists, but a large part of the pushback is coming from supermodels who have a soft spot for the endangered animals and fear what the lifting the ban may cause.
“Nothing justifies killing harmless animals to use its parts only as material goods, decoration or even worse as a trophy to satisfy someone’s ego or pride,” Gisele Bündchen wrote in an Instagram post. “If we want a better future, we must take care of the wildlife. When you hurt one species you are hurting them all, including us humans. We are all connected.”
“Devastated to hear that the US government is lifting protections against Elephants,” Nina Agdal wrote in her own post, including a selfie of her and an elephant. “I’m so lucky that I was able to get to see them in the wild back in Tanzania and I my hope is that everyone gets to have that same experience!! Elephants are beautiful creatures that shouldn’t be hunted,” she added, before voicing her support for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust which is an orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation center.
Kate Upton, Aline Weber and Behati Prinsloo also posted messages voicing their disapproval of the removal of the ban, put in place by President Obama.
Leonardo DiCaprio, a well-known friend of the modeling community, also commented on the ban being lifted with a social media post. DiCaprio shared a photo of one of the majestic animals along with a quote from the Frank Pope, who is the CEO of an organization called Save The Elephants.
“How someone could want to shoot such an intelligent, empathetic animal as an elephant is beyond me,” the quote reads. “But what is most concerning for elephants is that renewed imports of trophy ivory into the US might undermine the all-important ivory trade bans put in place by America and China.”