Thread: Donald Trump's regime reverses ban on elephant trophies..

Originally Posted by Rushy

I understand the arguement that the fees derived from big game hunting fund anti poaching initiatives in Africa but for me there is an obscenity that attaches to killing a magnificent animal and justifying it in the name of protecting its kind. I am not saying don't kill the animal, I am just saying call it what it is (trophy hunting). As to the poachers that feed the demand from Asia for ivory and tiger penis etc, they certainly need to be stopped (shot on sight will do) but more so the demand end of the transaction needs to be tackled as if there was no demand then those involved in the supply end would halt there activities ( basic economics 101).

Fair call Rushy and I can see why people are opposed to trophy hunting.

That said, who are we to sit here in our first world country, shooting whatever we like and justifying it by saying we will eat it or it’s a pest, but vilifying someone who does it in Africa because it is a different animal to what we shoot/eat/farm etc.
As said above, this country is full of trophy hunters chasing stags.

Despite the anti poaching side of it, which is a very valid argument, there is also the matter of making the animals valuable as a commodity to their “owners.”
What is generally not understood is that nearly all hunting in Africa is done on private gamefarms or on concessions which are tribal land and contracted to safari outfits.
Hunting quotas are actively managed in these areas by the farmer (no farmer would ever kill all their stock) or be the outfit who then answers to the tribal council, that are also required to do anti poaching patrols, clear snares, employ tribespeople as game scouts and actively manage the hunting stock.
One of the big responsibilities of the hunting outfits is to manage problem animals that destroy crops and kill tribespeople.
Most of the meat and some of the trophy fees go to the tribe and provide income for infrastructure, food and clean water.

Most animals that are classed as “threatened” like lions and elephants are due to habitat destruction, they are in fact overpopulated in many areas for the land area.

Take away the revenue from hunting, as these are not areas that will be frequented by photo safari clients, and you take away the animals value, they become more valuable as food than as a commodity. That are seen as crop raiding pests and threats and get slaughtered for meat and ivory and protection of livestock, the Bush gets cleared to plant more crops and grow grass to feed livestock.
No patrols mean the bush gets full of snares and thousands of animals die a painful death.

For the gamefarmer this also means a loss of income and he must change his farming practice to crops or livestock, again, habitat destruction which is the main threat to conservation.

Look at Kenya, since they banned hunting, the funds dried up and the poachers moved in, their wildlife has been decimated .


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