Judge rules in Delta’s favour over ban on rhinoceros trophy
A judge has ruled Delta Air Lines has the right to ban the carriage of any goods it sees fit, as long as the rule applies to all passengers.
US District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn dismissed a lawsuit against the airline by a big game hunter for refusing to fly his prize home to the US after an African safari.
A Texan hunter Corey Knowlton and other parties, including the Houston Safari Club, had sued the airline for refusing to ship the endangered black rhinoceros trophy, even though other game is permitted to be carried.
A rhino is part of the Big Five – lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros, and buffalo – which Delta said it would no longer ship after the outcry over the hunting of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe.
The plaintiffs claimed it violated the equal protection common law principle, but this was denied by the judge.
"Delta’s policy bans its shipment of Big Five trophies. Obviously, it does not ban the hunting of Big Five game. Such hunters are free to ship allowed cargo with Delta, including trophies of other game," the judge wrote.
"Although, because Plaintiffs are hunters or other parties who benefit from the hunting of the Big Five, Delta’s ban negatively affects them, that impact does not mean Delta’s decision is unlawful or actionable."
Knowlton had paid $350,000 for the shoot and Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism issued a license to kill the rhino.
He claimed the ban ‘jeopardized benefits of tourist hunting and its centrality to conservation’.
The airline had called the legal action ‘absurd’ as it sought to force Delta to carry Big Five trophies because it allows the carriage of other wildlife.
"If it were true, an airline that accepted hunting shotguns as checked baggage would also have to accept AK-47s and grenade launchers. Not surprisingly, the case law rejects this position," Delta said in its motion to dismiss the case.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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