SriLankan Airlines flies in to ATW Cecil Honor Roll

SriLankan Airlines has been listed in the ‘Cecil Honor Roll’ by world’s leading aviation magazine, Air Transport World (ATW) for banning carriage of wild game/hunter trophies on-board its flights from 18 August onwards. 

SriLankan Airlines in a statement declared, “The airline shall refrain from the carriage of game/hunter trophies or any part of an animal killed in the wild or listed as endangered or protected; neither does it endorse nor condone such activities.” The airline is currently reviewing its policy on the carriage of flora and fauna, which will be publicised in due course.

ATW Editor Karen Walker making a comment on the honor roll says, “Airlines, abide by those rules that prohibit the illegal carriage of endangered species and parts, such as ivory tusks. This honor roll is for those airlines that go beyond that and set voluntary rules prohibiting the transport of wild animal ‘trophies’, such as the heads and skins of lions shot in ‘game hunting’ expeditions.” 

The ATW Cecil Honor Roll was established to respect those airlines who banned carriage of wild game/hunter trophies on board their aircraft and currently it has 27 world’s leading airlines listed with many more to join. 

The killing of Cecil sparked a discussion among conservation organisations about the ethics and business of big-game hunting and proposal for bills banning imports of lion trophies to the US and European Union. Further, global media and social media reaction has resulted in close to 1.2 million people signing an online petition ‘Justice for Cecil’, which calls on Zimbabwe’s government to stop issuing hunting permits for endangered animals.

Cecil was a male Southwest African lion who lived in the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe and was 13 years old when he was killed. He was a major attraction at the park and was being studied and tracked by the University of Oxford as part of a larger study. Cecil was wounded with an arrow by Walter Palmer; an American recreational big-game hunter, which was then tracked, and killed with a rifle on 1 July. The killing drew international media attention and sparked outrage among animal conservationists, politicians and celebrities, as well as a strong negative response against Palmer. Two other men are being prosecuted in relation to the hunt and the Zimbabwean government has stated it will seek Palmer’s extradition.

The decision to ban carriage of wild game/hunter trophies on-board SriLankan flights was also made as part of the airline’s ‘planet-friendly SriLankan’ initiative under which many environmental and sustainable activities are conducted. ‘Flygreen, save our planet’ – the voluntary carbon offset program of the airline and the ‘Project BLUEprint’ a training program to promote community based, responsible whale and dolphin watching for tour boat operators are a few of the noticeable endeavours steered by the airline to conserve the environment.