Yesterday I wrote a brief piece regarding some news I was hearing from reliable sources that Lufthansa Cargo had altered their policy on the transport of Hunting Trophies in Africa. This involved a memo that apparently had been issued by LH Cargo’s manager in Johannesburg, South Africa.

After reaching out to my Lufthansa contacts last night, I was pleased to wake up to emails confirming yesterday’s suspicions.

Coming directly from Lufthansa Cargo, it is clear as to what LH’s updated policy is on the transport of Hunting Trophies in Africa:

EFFECTIVE MAY 30, 2015:

‘Lufthansa Cargo has decided not to transport any trophies of the African fauna, e.g. lions, elephants and rhinos, in or out of Africa – including legally hunted or legally acquired trophies.’

No longer is there the technicality regarding CITES policies that allows for export of some trophies if they are legally hunted. As far as my language skills are concerned, I interpret the LH statement as covering a wide range of animals and the trophies will not fly aboard Lufthansa aircraft even if they were ‘taken’ legally.

This topic has been near and dear to me for quite some time and I’m happy to see that LH has joined the ranks of other airlines such as South Africa, Emirates and British Airways who also have policies in place that prevent this kind of transport.

To me, this looks like the beginning of a trend in the airline industry and if enough voices start calling for bans on Trophy transportation, airlines will have no choice but to listen.

Ideally, these policies should become ‘Alliance’ policies where organizations like Star Alliance, Skyteam or OneWorld would require member airlines to adhere to a uniform set of rules when it comes to topics such as this.

It is interesting to note however that Delta came out with a ‘defiant’ statement recently indicating that they will continue to transport hunting trophies in and out of Africa. I wonder how long that lasts…..but I digress…..

For now, enjoy the fact that Lufthansa has listened to our voices and has taken steps necessary to play an important role in this important matter.



