"Obama Administration Enacts Protections for Lions"

"WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is expected to extend Endangered Species Act protections for two breeds of lions, in response to a large decline in their numbers in Africa over the past two decades.

The listings are to be announced Monday and include an order that appears to touch on circumstances surrounding the killing of a well-known lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe earlier this year. The order states that the Fish and Wildlife Service will deny a permit to import a sport-hunted lion to anyone who has been convicted or pleaded guilty to violating federal or state wildlife laws.

Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who shot Cecil with a bow and arrow, had pleaded guilty in 2008 to making false statements to the Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear fatally shot in western Wisconsin outside an authorized hunting zone."

Kevin Freking reports for the Associated Press December 20, 2015.