Simon Kimmes Essays (1005 words) - Biology, Conservation

Simon Kimmes The Story Behind the Story of Trophy Hunting 909 Trophy Hunting ? What a barbaric activity! How could killing endangered animals help them? T rophy hunting can be defined as when hunters pay money to people, clubs or organizations with the objective of selecting indivi dual animals with exceptional physical attributes (e.g., large horns, tusks, body size, mane or skull length) and usually in the company of a professional hunting guide . Trophy hunting promotes the removal of the older males or other animals in the group that would have crossed the line into the non -reproductive stage. Through a quota s ystem approach, trophy hunting promotes sustainable "thinning of the herd" by removing a fraction of natural population growth rates. A rguably this process falls within the compensatory mortality range and has a negligible impact on overall population sizes . Many people believe that trophy hunting is a terrible thing . The truth is, it can play an essential role in the conservation of African wildlife. I n the 23 African countries that allow sport hunting, 18,500 tourists pay over $200 million (U.S.) a year to hunt lions, leopards, elephants, warthogs, wat er buffalo, impala, and rhinos. The study also found that the p rivate hunting operations in these countries control more than 540,000 square miles (1.4 million square kilometer s) of land. ( National Geographic ) That is equivalent to 22 percent more land than is protected by the current United States National P arks Service . As demand for land increases with swelling human populations, some conservationists are arguing that they can garner more effective results by working with hunters and taking a h and in regulating the industry. Trophy hunting can be sustainable if carefully m anaged . " Trophy hunting is of key imp ortance to conservation in Africa by creating incentives to promote and retain wildlife as a land use ove r vast areas." ( Pickrell , National Geographic ) C onservation-minded people agree that trophy hunting is no t exactly a n ideal model of animal welfare. But many of those same people also acknowledge that it can be a solid model, if executed properly wit h oversight and strict quotas, making it a useful wildlife management tool. I n other places, the fees derived from legalized trophy hunting can fund important animal welfare and conservation efforts on the ground. As W orld Wildlife Fund (WWF) researcher Robin Naidoo points out , in a new paper in the j ou rnal Conservation Biology , the Westerners opposition to trophy hunting is a bit ironic , given how much funding legal hunting generates for wildlife management and conservation in North America. ( Naidoo, Complementary ) Although there are arguments that trophy hunting does not impact economics and conservation efforts equally, Naidoo and his colleagues from the WWF decided to see how Namibia Africa has been e conomic ally impacted by trophy hunting . U sing the information they gathered , they were able to infer what the possible conse quences for the nation might be, if trophy hunting were to be banned - something many Westerners would like to see. As a comparison, they did the same for ecotou rism. ( C onservatio n ) Historically, t rophy hunting has been institutionalized and has evolved since the early 20th century and is currently practiced worldwide in most continents to help conserve species. In recent years, trophy hunting proponents in America , Europe, Australia , Asia, and Afric a are leading the way into a monitored trophy hunting system that can successfully control the numbers of trophy animals brought in by a single hunting license . Often times one license can bring in more dollars than several dozen tourists can. Using scientific oversight, licenses could be given for specific animal species who were already aging or who had already contributed their genes to the population's future. If an an imal must be killed, at least the animals can be chosen based on their genetic age and usefulness to the herd . Proponents will also remind naysayers that hunters would tend to be more willing to travel to out -of-the-way destinations to successfully complete a hunt. These