Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) plans to introduce a bill named for Cecil the lion that aims to fight the sport hunting of potentially threatened or endangered species.

“Let’s not be cowardly lions when it comes to trophy killings,” Menendez said in a news release announcing his Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large (CECIL) Animal Trophies Act.

The bill would extend U.S. import and export restrictions to species that have been proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act, giving those species the same protections as the ones already on the list.

The U.S. United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the African Lion as threatened in October, but has yet to finalize the protections, Menendez’s office said.

“Cecil’s death was a preventable tragedy that highlights the need to extend the protections of the Endangered Species Act,” Menendez said. “When we have enough concern about the future of a species to propose it for listing, we should not be killing it for sport."

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