Killing elephants for sport is plain wrong: Varney

A policy reversal from President Trump. This is unusual, and in this case very welcome.

He's done a 180 on the decision to allow elephant trophy imports. Better yet, the ban may be made permanent. Good.

This program deals with politics and money. Hunting elephants in Africa is not our normal topic. But today, it is front and center because the idea of killing any of these beautiful creatures, for any reason, especially for so-called sport, is out of the question.

Many years ago, I lived in East Africa. I had the good fortune to see elephant on the Serengeti plain in Tanzania and in the Ngorongoro Crater. I watched them in Kenya and in the forests of Uganda. Later, I watched them in India and Thailand. They are beautiful and intelligent creatures, and their numbers are falling. Shooting them with a 5.05 gun, which is like a small cannon, cutting off their heads and tusks and mounting them on the trophy wall back home, is, to me, revolting. It is just plain wrong.

I don't know why the administration made the decision to allow these trophies back into America—it could only encourage elephant killing. I have rarely seen a decision so widely and emotionally condemned.

The vast majority of Americans are surely pleased that the decision has been changed, and surely delighted that we may now get a permanent ban.

There are occasions when beautiful creatures need protection. The good news is that President Trump agrees.