(CNN) US authorities will remove restrictions on importing African elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia.

That means Americans will be able to hunt the endangered big game and bring trophies home. Big game hunting is an activity that garnered worldwide attention when a Minnesota dentist took Cecil , perhaps the world's most famous lion, near a wildlife park in Zimbabwe.

A US Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman said the move will allow the two African countries to include US sport hunting as part of their management plans for the elephants and allow them to put "much-needed revenue back into conservation."

Critics, however, note the restrictions were created by the Obama administration in 2014 because the African elephant population had dropped. The animals are listed in the US Endangered Species Act, which requires the US government to protect endangered species in other countries.

"We can't control what happens in foreign countries, but what we can control is a restriction on imports on parts of the animals," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.