On Thursday, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would allow a Texas man to import the trophy of an endangered black rhinoceros that he had won as part of a conservation fundraiser.

According to the agency, under the Endangered Species Act, the import of the carcass from Namibia would meet the criteria of benefiting conservation.

Last year, Corey Knowlton bid $350,000 during an auction at the Dallas Safari Club. It was billed as a part of the fundraising effort to save the black rhino.

In a December letter, the club's executive director said that the money raised from such actions is important to support the Namibian government in their efforts to stem the tide of commercial killing of these animals.

The initial request was published in November, since then, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has received over 15,000 comments, and petitions with around 152,000 signatures, demanding the denial of the request.

On Thursday, PETA said that it will file a lawsuit. Seeing the reactions, the hunt was postponed and Knowlton's money was kept in escrow.

Dallas Safari Club spokeswoman Jay Ann Cox, on Thursday, didn't give any confirmation regarding whether a date has been set for the hunt or not.

The agency has also allowed Michael Luzich, a Las Vegas investment manager, to import his black rhino trophy. The government of Namibia has directly sold a hunting permit to Luzich, regarding which Luzich said that he has received death threats after his name became public. He had even hired a full-time security.

Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of Humane Society of the United States, said that the agency has given a 'mixed message', noting that the rhino poaching is increasing.

Further the agency mentioned that it rejected the permission to import an elephant trophy from Zimbabwe because that would not have enhanced the survival of the species in the wild.