IS TROPHY HUNTING T
EXTINCTION OF ENDAN
conservation of the species hunted, and
given money made from the sport back to
the local community. So how does it
work? A rich person (probably white,
American and male. Maybe a dentist.)
comes along and asks the government for
a legal permit to shoot and kill a black
rhino. The government says “Okay! We
have a black Rhino in this reserve which is
old, infertile, and has killed 5 other rhinos.
Give us $350,000, and we’ll give you a
permit to kill it.” [this actually happened!
(3) ]. So where does this money go? Well,
Before I start, trophy hunting is different in Namibia, revenue from trophy hunting is
to poaching. Poaching is the illegal,
the main way that wildlife conservancy is
unregulated killing of rare animals, often funded (4). In South Africa, a proportion of
done by criminal cartels, where they
trophy hunting profits are given to local
make a profit by selling the animal parts land owners, incentivising these land
to people in other countries. Rhino horn owners to protect and breed these
can fetch up to a price of $100,000/kg,
animals (5).
where each rhino horn ranges between
1-3kg each (1)! This practice is horrible, So does it work? Well, yes! When done
properly, with good regulation and with no
and is internationally condemned, with
corruption, trophy hunting can cause
poacher’s facing life imprisonment and
animal numbers to increase! In 1895,
massive fines (2).
there were less than 100 Southern White
So why don’t people stop poachers?
Rhinos. Now there are over 20,000, with
Well, because there’s no incentive for
25 percent living on private game reserves
these poor African countries to maintain (6).
their animal populations. Why would
farmers and governments care if the lions Before we get excited about the idea of
which eat their livestock are being killed? trophy hunting saving our animals, we
have to address the African elephant in
Some countries however have taken
the room. At the end of the day, hunting is
advantage of the existing demand for
the killing of animals. It is clear that people
trophy hunting, and have used it to fund
are not happy
Trophy hunting is a term which is often
met with disgust. What sick, twisted,
freaks find killing these beautiful animals
enjoyable? What goes through these
people’s mind is a question I cannot
answer, however the effect of trophy
hunters on the ecosystem may change
the world forever. Let me present the
readers of this article with the most
counterintuitive, ethically questionable
solution to the extinction of some of our
favourite species.
with this idea after high profile instances
such as with the killing of Cecil the Lion,
and also the death of the beloved
Harambe. From the perspective of
someone who agrees with this idea,
seeing pictures of hunters posed next to
some of my favourite animals’ corpses
makes me sad. This is a very valid
concern, and there are a lot of ethical
issues with raising animals just so they
can be hunted. Animal rights groups such
as PETA are strongly against the idea of
trophy hunting, and often cite studies that
highlight how easy it is for the system to
become corrupt and give studies that
show that it hasn’t worked. This is true in
that, like all things, when trophy hunting is
badly managed, it will not help
conservation. However, “well-managed
and sustainable trophy hunting [is] an
important conservation tool which
provides livelihoods, incentives for habitat
conservation, … and profits which can be
invested for conservation
purposes” (Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora) (7). Although, it’s not
fair to brush off these ethical groups as
simply tree huggers who won’t accept any
harm to animals even if it’s beneficial.
There’s evidence that older elephants, ie
the ones that would be hunted, are able
to lead herds to water holes, and act as
role models for younger elephants (8).