Two American hunters are one big step closer to legally killing a pair of black rhinos in Namibia and bringing their body parts home as trophies. On Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced online that it was approving the hunters' requests to import trophies from two upcoming hunts sanctioned by the Namibian government.

After sifting through thousands of citizen comments over the past several months, the U.S. federal agency defended its decision by saying the hunts, which are slated to raise money for conservation, are part of Namibia’s “science-based management strategy for black rhinos.”

In short, the agency said the permit requests meet the legal standard of allowing limited hunting of an endangered species to benefit its