Extinction & Trophy Hunting

Each year, hundreds of thousands of wild animals around the world are killed in trophy hunts, where the primary motivation is to obtain animal parts (that is, their heads, hides or claws and even the whole stuffed animal) for display and for bragging rights, but not for subsistence. Cruel and unsportsmanlike practices like baiting, hounding and trapping—also captive hunts, in which hunters pursue animals who can’t escape—ensure that animals don’t stand a chance and hunters bag an easy prize.

According to a much touted study , trophy Hunting is big business in Africa bringing in a revenue of 175 million EUR. The researchers argued that private hunting operations in Africa control more than 1.4 million square kilometers of land, 22 percent more land than is protected by national parks. As demand for land increases with swelling human populations, conservationists can garner more effective results by working with hunters.

But almost a decade later, Africa faces an unprecedented wildlife catastrophe. Many iconic species, especially those favored by trophy hunters, are in a sharp decline mainly due to widespread poaching and habitat loss but an analysis of six African countries – South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania – where trophy hunting has long been regarded as an effective conservation tool, shows that trophy hunting, contrary to the common view, not only is having negative impacts on wild populations, but that there is also an extremely close link between legal hunting and poaching.

This in-depth look into the powerhouse industries of big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation in the U.S. and Africa unravels the complex consequences of treating animals as commodities.

What is Trophy Hunting?
Trophy hunting is hunting of wild game for human recreation. The trophy is the animal or part of the animal kept, and usually displayed, to represent the success of the hunt. The game sought is typically a large or impressively ornamented male, such as one having large horns or antlers. Generally, only parts of the animal are kept as a trophies (usually the head, skin, horns or antlers) and the carcass itself is used for food or donated to the local community.

Trophies are often displayed in the hunter's home or office, and often in specially designed "trophy rooms," sometimes called "game rooms" or "gun rooms," in which the hunter's weaponry is displayed as well.

The animals selected for hunting are often those with large secondary physical features related to mating. That means males with large antlers, manes, horns, or tusks are picked out.

As it so happens, these animals are the most likely to pass on their genes through reproduction. Taking them out of the population for sport has a shockingly large effect on their overall survival rate.

Sport hunters, those who kill animals for recreation rather than out of necessity, imported more than 1.26 million trophies to the U.S. in the decade from 2005 through 2014

Each year, trophy hunters in British Columbia kill hundreds of grizzly bears for their heads, paws and hides. Those that support this slaughter claim it's necessary to maintain balance in nature and provide economic advantages, yet conservationists and activists say otherwise.

Types of Trophy Hunting
Latest reports show that, 1.2 million animals have been killed by people in the name of trophy hunting. That breaks down to about 70,000 animals each year.

• Ranch hunting

Ranch hunting is a form of big-game hunting where the animals hunted are specifically bred on a ranch for trophy hunting purposes. Many species of game such as the Indian blackbuck, nilgai, axis deer, barasingha, the Iranian red sheep, and variety of other species of deer, sheep, and antelope from Africa, Asia, and the Pacific islands were introduced to ranches in Texas and Florida for the sake of trophy hunting.

• African trophy hunting

Trophy hunting has been practiced in Africa and is still a practiced in many African countries. According to a study sponsored by International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the revenue generated by hunting tourism in seven Southern African Development Communities in 2008 was approximately 167 million EUR.

• North American trophy hunting

After the attention gained from the Killing of Cecil the lion, activists turned to North American wildlife, in particular the cougar. The cougar, also called the mountain lion, puma, or panther, is hunted for sport across its expansive habitat. According to the Washington, the only federally protected populations in the country are the Florida panther and the Eastern cougar, believed to be extinct.

Several states—including Colorado, Utah and Washington—in recent years have proposed an increase in cougar hunting for various reasons, such as the desire to decrease human and livestock conflicts and/or to increase native deer populations. California is the only state throughout the West that prohibits cougar hunting.

Bryan Christy visits a big game park in Zimbabwe to see how conservation balances with the big game hunts funding the park.

Is it Legal?
Unfortunately, there are places in the world where animal species considered “vulnerable” or even “endangered” may legally be hunted. Your mind may think of places such as African safari, but surprisingly endangered animals have been hunted are a lot closer.

Pro-trophy hunting organizations, such as Safari Club International (SCI), Dallas Safari Club (DSC), and the National Rifle Association (NRA), have long used their wealth, power, and privilege to lobby for more hunting rights and less regulations or restrictions on trophy imports.

Places such Texas, for example, where the breeding of exotic animals for hunting purposes is a billion-dollar industry employing over 14,000 people. Some of these exotic species are endangered, but for several years were exempted from hunting restrictions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if captive-bred. The rationale behind this industry is that there is an incentive for private industry to breed and repopulate these species if profit can be made from “captive hunting” a small number of them.

Sport hunters say their activities support conservation by boosting local economies and providing incentives for the preservation of land and wildlife for high-paying hunters.

Conservationists, animal welfare advocates, and many scientists, however, say sport hunting puts pressure on vulnerable populations, disrupts social networks, and doesn’t pump up local economies as much as hunters argue. Many also argue that destroying wildlife for pleasure is unethical.

Here are few of the magnificent vulnerable or endangered animals that may still be hunted:

Lions
The USFWS is currently considering whether to list the African lion as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Over the last three lion generations, the IUCN estimates that the lion population has fallen by 30 percent. They may number as few as 39,000. African lions may legally be hunted in various locations on the African continent, including Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Senegal. They are also specially bred in South Africa for captive or “canned” hunting by tourists on paid safaris.

For Americans, canned hunting in South Africa—where lions are bred on ranches to be shot by hunters within a fenced area—is especially popular. More than 1,500 captive lions were imported to the U.S. as trophies from 2005 through 2014, out of a total of 5,587 lion trophies. But the tide is turning against canned hunting—South Africa’s hunting association recently voted to distance itself from the practice.

Elephants
Elephant trophies too have recently been restricted. In 2014, the U.S. suspended elephant trophy imports from Tanzania and Zimbabwe over concerns about sustainability. The poaching crisis played a big role in that decision. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which regulates trophy imports, also found that there was no clear evidence that trophy hunting money was actually benefiting elephants by supporting conservation efforts. It cited widespread corruption and mismanagement of hunting programs.

A trophy hunter on a kill in Namibia. The government there issues licences as the huge revenue generated goes to fund anti-poaching initiatives and conservation projects.

Leopards
Leopard trophy imports are also restricted. The U.S. lists southern Africa’s leopards as threatened, and all others as endangered. Just recently, South Africa effectively banned trophy hunting of leopards because no one’s sure how many the country has. The government singled out trophy hunting mismanagement and the illegal trade in leopard skins as the biggest threats.

Rhinos
Black rhinos are critically endangered and almost never hunted, with a small number of very high-profile exceptions. Southern white rhinos are somewhat more common, though they’re still considered near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international body that sets the conservation status of species. But southern white rhinos face a major threat from poachers supplying the rhino horn trade, with at least 1,305 killed illegally in 2015. Home to about 80 percent of the world’s rhinos, South Africa is one of the main sources of U.S.-imported rhino trophies.

African buffalo
African buffalo are the most common, and commonly imported, of the Big Five. There are nearly 900,000, with about three-quarters in protected areas, according to the IUCN. African buffalo have gone extinct in Gambia and Eritrea, but they’ve been reintroduced successfully in Swaziland and South Africa, from where Americans imported more than 4,200 trophies in the decade since 2005

Giraffes
With their graceful necks and peaceful demeanor, giraffes are among the most elegant and majestic creatures ever to walk this planet. However, the existence of the world’s tallest land animals is under serious threat, due to the trophy hunting activities of some American tourists.

The giraffe population of sub-Saharan Africa has depleted by a devastating 40 per cent since 1985. There are now only 97,500 of these beautiful creatures remaining.

Solutions

1. Education
Trophy hunting is a cruel and unnecessary practice. The more you learn about the issues the more you’ll see it how bad is for these soon-to-be extinct animals —then you can share that knowledge to educate and inspire others.

While we’re all individuals, people usually fall into one of two distinct groups when discussing animal hunting: Those eager to listen and those who simply disagree with you. For the latter, this is where educating yourself first really helps.

2. Letters and Petitions
There are dozens of petitions online for specific causes, including those looking to ban the import of wildlife parts into the United States from trophy hunts. In many cases, these petitions grab the desired attention of governments or elected officials because it’s difficult to ignore hundreds of thousands of people standing up and voicing their opposition. In this case, Delta Airlines, Air France, Qantas and a number of other airlines pledged to no longer ship trophies of wild animals on their flights.

3. Take to Social Media
Word travels fast with social media, and although it’s important to fact check, using any number of the social media platforms available is a great way to raise awareness and have your voice heard.

Dozens of reputable organizations working to end trophy hunting and improve animal welfare standards including Elephant Aid International, Wildlife SOS, Wild Aid, IFAW, United for Wildlife and Save the Rhino are sharing their work on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

4. Where to Donate?
Not everyone is in a position to travel and volunteer, so donating to those who are can be the next best thing. There are a lot of organizations that accept donations that vow to use the money raised for conservation efforts and to protect endangered species, just make sure you check that they’re reputable before you donate.

What do you do to maintain biodiversity? By tagging us with #theconsciouschallenge you can share your ideas!

Want to contribute to our Ecological Footprint Bible? Submit us your scientific articles! Mail us at info@theconsciouschallenge.org

Sources:

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/an-introduction-to-trophy-hunting/
https://thefederalist.com/2018/12/21/need-talk-trophy-hunting-wrong/
https://qz.com/africa/1621198/trophy-hunting-cant-fix-africas-wildlife-conservation-challenge/
https://www.four-paws.us/campaigns-topics/topics/wild-animals/trophy-hunting
https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/trophy-hunting?CMP=ILC-refresh
https://conservationaction.co.za/resources/reports/effects-trophy-hunting-five-africas-iconic-wild-animal-populations-six-countries-analysis/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/04/trophy-hunters-who-would-kill-lion-elephant-big-game-hunting
https://www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/banning-trophy-hunting
https://www.thedodo.com/does-hunting-help-conservation-1389284014.html
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/5-reasons-trophy-hunting-is-not-conservation/
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https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/What-s-wrong-with-trophy-hunting-6416105.php
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/10/trophy-hunting-killing-saving-animals/
https://conservationaction.co.za/media-articles/does-trophy-hunting-really-benefit-conservation-and-local-communities/
https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/iucn_sept_briefing_paper_-_informingdecisionstrophyhunting.pdf
https://www.bornfreeusa.org/campaigns/wildlife-trade/trophy-hunting/
https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/trophy-hunting-quickly-pushes-animals-toward-extinction/
https://www.unilad.co.uk/animals/giraffes-on-way-to-extinction-due-to-trophy-hunting/
https://www.care2.com/causes/10-endangered-species-you-can-still-hunt.html
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ifaw-pantheon/sites/default/files/legacy/IFAW_TrophyHuntingReport_UK_v2.pdf