(After all, the highly successful Endangered Species Act was passed during Richard Nixon’s Republican presidency.) Here are seven ways trophy hunting hurts conservation: 1. Joe Rogan and Cameron Hanes discuss the importance of hunting to conservation. There is no place in a forward thinking civilized society for killing sentient beings, especially endangered species. “You spend an extended period of time learning from people on their land. Rev up your mental engines and get your juices pumping in this high-octane petroleum quiz. It is hard to believe killing the odd old aggressive rhino is going to genuinely help black rhino wildlife populations. On the other hand, trophy hunting can be a useful aspect of population control, most especially in the removal of problematic animals. Then, a month ago, in an interview with Piers Morgan on the UK’s ITV, Trump expressed firm opposition to recent attempts to encourage trophy hunting imports: I didn’t want elephants killed and stuffed, and have the tusks bought back into this. One response even labeled the Dickman letter “defeatist” for defending business-as-usual practices instead of promoting these alternative conservation activities. If you are experiencing problems, please describe them. But the monetary incentive to manage sustainable populations for hunting is the only protection lions currently have. Though Pres. Republican or Democrat, right or left – these allegiances should have no bearing on whether an animal gets to live. Trophy hunting is an outdated relic of a colonial-era obsession for killing wildlife for sport. France, Australia and The Netherlands have recently banned importing trophies from certain species. For example, fences made of beehives have been effective at keeping elephants from destroying crops in Kenya and Tanzania (elephants are afraid of bees, which can sting their eyes and other tender parts). The Dickman letter acknowledges that current levels of transparency for trophy hunting leave “considerable room for improvement,” but it also argues that the practice is still important to reduce poverty through sustainable wildlife management, a major element of African countries’ ongoing call for a New Deal for Rural Communities. We’ve seen this with elephants, rhinos, lions and other species. Ninety-nine percent of human rabies cases are contracted through dog bites. But, it doesn’t need to be this way. Trophy hunting is the stalking and killing of wild animals with guns or bows and arrows with the purpose of obtaining part of the animal as a trophy to represent the success of the hunt. Nowak’s letter cited a study that showed local inhabitants in Kyrgyzstan “receive basically no economic benefits” from trophy hunting, and a report from Economists at Large found that communities in trophy hunting areas only see, on average, about 3 percent of the gross revenue. In addition, the report found that trophy hunting income represents less than 2 percent of total tourism revenues in Africa. “Trophy import bans present an opportunity to rethink how we can conserve wildlife in non-extractive ways that are consistent with shifting public opinion,” the letter stated. Some of these alternatives are novel and experimental, but that is the nature of adaptive management.”. Trophy hunting is by no means a perfect solution, but the IUCN Cat Specialists Group says, “Properly managed trophy hunting was viewed as an important solution to long-term lion conservation.” There will always be some abuse from unscrupulous individuals. And, people can talk all they want about preservation and all of the things that they’re saying, where money goes toward – well, money, in that case, was going to a government which was probably taking the money, okay? Player Help | All Access Help. The controversy started this past August when an initial letter in Science — from conservation biologist Amy Dickman of the University of Oxford, four additional authors and more than 120 other signatories — argued that banning trophy hunting would “negatively affect conservation efforts” and that “hunting reforms…should be prioritized over bans.”. Other options include transitioning to resource management by indigenous communities, which has successfully protected natural resources in parts of Ethiopia. We need to BAN all bloodsports and start trying to save habitat for future generations. “There needs to be transparency about where benefits derived from it are going.”. Along with some governments, they claim that “well-managed” trophy hunting is an effective conservation tool, which can also help local communities. Do you know about the threats facing nonhuman life on Earth? But, trophy hunting proponents don’t see it that way. Is trophy hunting really the economic boon it is presented to be? … “To remain wedded to this one practice that has so many ethical issues around it, without even having a serious conversation about other options, is a problem,” she says. Animals don’t have political investment, and their protection ought to stand apart from messy politics. Killing animals for fun is an activity which divides opinion. Learn about the causes and effects of water scarcity at a global level, and about its strategies and solutions. What his comments show is that wildlife conservation is a non-partisan issue. The hunters glamorize the killing of animals, believing it demonstrates their virility, prowess and dominance. “Alternatives to trophy hunting are a big part of the current discourse,” says Chelsea Batavia, a post-doctoral researcher in Oregon State University’s Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society. An example is a series of bushcraft hunter-gatherer training courses taught in conjunction with the Hadza people in Tanzania. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2006.00034.x. It is clear that there have been, and continue to be, cases of poorly conducted and poorly regulated trophy hunting that require urgent action and reform. If it is 20% of revenues now, surely tourism could be encouraged and trophy hunting whittled down to zero, without causing much detriment. The Dickman letter argues that these new options are not “viable alternatives” in most places, especially regions that “are too remote or unappealing to attract sufficient visitors.”. Research also concludes that a live elephant can bring in more than 30 times in conservation-focused tourism revenue than one sold and slaughtered in a trophy hunt. Wildlife conservation needs to recognise that every animal counts, and to find ways of funding conservation that do not involve more killing. A group of Tanzanians have taken advantage of the unique nature of these systems by forming an NGO to encourage visitors touring a nearby national park to also come see the bee fences on local farms. by Gregory McNamee Talk about your worm’s-eye view of the world. Elephant populations are dwindling rapidly, and picking elephants off one by one as a hobby won’t increase their fragile numbers. Does killing one really save the many? by Prashant K. Khetan, CEO and General Counsel, Born Free USA. They cloak themselves in the claim that they typically kill the old, weak members of the herd who would die soon anyway. After all, how can killing animals lead to conservation? Something similar could happen in the United States, where the recently reintroduced Prohibiting Threatened and Endangered Creature Trophies (ProTECT) Act aims to amend the Endangered Species Act to prohibit the import of trophies from endangered and threatened animals. So for the 59,000 human deaths that happen every year, tens of thousands of dogs suffer and die from rabies too. I don’t want to call these ‘alternatives’ necessarily, because everything mentioned in our letter is already happening.”. It’s a simple concept, and the Republican President gets it; killing something does not help conserve it. Those are the conflicting positions taken over the past few months by dozens of scientists and conservation leaders, whose dueling letters in the journal Science have kicked off a debate over the future of the often-divisive practice of hunting big game for big bucks. “There is so much innovation happening in Africa, led by Africans. Trophy hunting fees help fund conservation. In 2014, the Obama administration decided that permits to import the trophies (i.e., heads and other body parts) of lions and elephants killed by hunters in Zimbabwe and Zambia should be disallowed because of a lack of sufficient evidence of a conservation benefit to trophy hunting. Although these types of activities are starting to take off, they remain limited. Learn about the devastating environmental setbacks that have occurred over the last 50 years. As we await an official announcement of the Government’s final decision, elephants traverse the African savanna in their family groups – blissfully unaware that their safety hangs in the balance, to be determined by a handful of humans with competing vested interests thousands of miles away. Test your knowledge of this "hot" topic with this quiz. Over the past week I have done research, and found many interesting facts about trophy hunting, and today I will share them with you. It has no place in modern society, and certainly no role to play in any Compassionate Conservation programme. Nonhuman life on Earth is suffering. Taking away does not add; it subtracts. S4 E9 25min . 24:56. The authors did admit that many of them consider trophy hunting “repugnant,” but they also argue that controlled trophy hunting is still better than unregulated killing, which they say can have “serious repercussions for conservation and animal welfare” because it’s more prevalent in areas without tourism operations. The authors did admit that many of them consider trophy hunting “repugnant,” but they also argue that controlled trophy hunting is still better than unregulated killing, which they say can have “serious repercussions for conservation and animal welfare” because it’s more prevalent in areas without tourism operations. Use the form below to send us your comments. It now claims that trophy hunting benefits conservation “by providing incentives to local communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back into conservation.” This opened the door to the issuance of permits for hunters to import elephant trophies from Zimbabwe. The Dickman letter, she says, “strongly stated that there is sort of incontrovertible evidence for trophy hunting. Arguments about it flare up every so often, and they usually degenerate into name-calling and mud-slinging very quickly. A lot of us are not against hunting. Katarzyna Nowak, the lead author of that response and a fellow at The Safina Center (as well as a Revelator contributor), says the letter had two main goals. Sustainability is the long-term viability of a community, set of social institutions, or societal practice. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) flipped its view. Trump declared that he has ordered his administration to ban the importing of trophies, we still await an official announcement of the policy. “We wanted to get behind some of the visionary non-extractive efforts already happening and show that trophy hunting is not irreplaceable,” she says. Britannica Earth Scientist John Rafferty examines Earth’s current episode of mass extinction. Learn about global activism that have changed the ways we interact with our precious planet for the better. These animals were not placed on Earth to decorate your walls. Who are some of the past and present voices in the fight to protect our planet? Although most contentions have been around ecological and management issues in trophy hunting, the controversy also has roots in ethical considerations regarding killing animals for recreation and trophies (Dobson, 2012; Nelson et al., 2016). As an issue trophy hunting has been etched into the public consciousness since worldwide … From time to time, I am pleased in this…, by Gregory McNamee If you’re an old-timer, you may remember that the word “Plover!†had magical powers in a certain…, Trophy Hunting: We Can All Agree that Killing Wildlife is not Conservation, many hunts target the large, healthy males. Critics say the benefits are exaggerated and that killing big game animals is wrong. The industry is obviously feeling the pressure, which some experts speculate may have led to the Dickman letter and also contributed to the nature of the subsequent discussion. conservation impact of trophy hunting varies according to numerous factors, includingwhether other viable alternatives are available. Potential of trophy hunting to create incentives for wildlife conservation in Africa where alternative wildlife-based land uses may not be viable, Animal Conservation, 9 (3) 283-291. Born Free USA; by Prashant K. 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