Hunters sue to challenge New Jersey big-game trophy ban

TRENTON, N.J. — A lobbying group and New Jersey hunters want a federal judge to overturn a new law that makes it illegal to import or export big-game trophies of threatened or endangered animals.

Conservation Force and a group of hunters filed a federal lawsuit Friday, seeking to have the law signed last month by Gov. Chris Christie voided. The suit says lawmakers ignored federal regulations governing trophy hunting.

Lawmakers approved the measure in response to the killing last year of Cecil, a Zimbabwean lion, by a Minnesota dentist. The killing shed a spotlight on trophy hunting, and airlines including Delta Air Lines and United Airlines last year banned transporting parts from animals killed in hunts.

Conservation Force says in the lawsuit that licensed, regulated, tourist safari hunting is an essential component of conservation programs and helps fund operations that safeguard wildlife habitats and fight poaching in Africa. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the import of trophy animals, requiring that hunters get permits and that the animals be killed as part of hunts based on a science-based conservation strategy that enhances the species in the wild.

Democratic state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who sponsored the measure, said he doesn’t believe there’s anything in the federal regulation to pre-empt the state law.

“They have a monetary interest at stake here, and the public has a humane interest,” he said of the group filing the lawsuit. “I expect the humane interest will prevail.”

Robert Viden Jr., one of the hunters involved with the suit, said in a filing that the money he has spent on big-game safari hunts has gone to support rural people in Africa and help “reduce the conflict between people and wildlife.”