Conservationists push at CITES conference to ban trophy hunting

FILE PHOTO: A lion wears a tracking collar as it walks inside Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park in Hwange, October 15, 2015. The park was home to country's most famous lion, Cecil, killed by U.S. Dentist Walter Palmer in July. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo

(Reuters) - A group of activists is trying to persuade an international conservation conference to ban trophy hunting, which outrages some animal lovers but has long been tolerated by some environmentalists as a way of protecting wildlife.

More than 50 members of the European Parliament and 50 environmental groups, led by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, signed a petition to the triannual CITES conference taking place this week in Geneva.