Trophy Hunting

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Re: Trophy Hunting

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Trophy hunting: rural communities respond

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Guest Blogger in the OPINION EDITORIAL post series.

OPINION POST by Ishmael Chaukura and others

Below is a Communities Response letter by Ishmael Chaukura of the Masoka Community in Zimbabwe, along with a number of concerned parties from 4 southern African countries. It was originally published in Science Magazine in response to an article calling for trophy hunting bans and also references Amy Dickman’s answer to that same article. According to the representative of the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe, it “is vital to ensure that discussions on conservation are informed by those who live with wildlife and that their livelihoods are protected, and rights upheld”:

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An elephant crosses the fence separating a northern Botswana national park and community land © Elephants for Africa

Dear Sir/Madam

A recent letter in Science by Dickman et al about trophy hunting unleashed passionate debate in the Western media. These discussions have involved over 400 conservationists, academics and animal rights advocates from the US, Europe and Australia, voicing strong, if divergent, opinions on effective conservation strategies.

Much of the discussion focuses on Africa, but with the notable exception of Dickman et al’s letter, key voices missing from the debate are those of rural people and governments who live with and manage African wildlife, and who will ultimately determine its future. As legitimate representatives of many thousands of people from key wildlife range states (Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia), we would like to correct this and have our perspective and voices heard.

Sustainably managing megafauna is complex, and successful conservation must start with we who live directly with wildlife. Whilst many in the West view elephants, lions and other wildlife through a romantic, idealized lens, our daily reality of living with these magnificent and valued, yet often dangerous, animals requires more pragmatism.

We, who live surrounded by this wildlife, worry daily that our children may be killed on their way to school, or that our livelihoods will be destroyed. In Botswana, 36 people were killed by elephants in 2018. In Zimbabwe, at least 30 people were trampled by elephants in 2019. Every death is a tragedy, and often involves family breadwinners. Recently, two Zimbabwean siblings disappeared from their home. Only the dismembered head of the two year old was recovered from the suspected hyena attack, and the four year old has never been found. The harsh reality is that if wildlife is just a threat to us, and our incentives to conserve it are removed, its future will be as bleak as that of the wolves, bears and other carnivores of Europe and the US.

For centuries our people have lived with wildlife, and its value is deeply ingrained in our cultures. During colonial times our rights to manage and benefit from these resources were removed. This led to dramatic loss of wildlife and its habitat – a disaster for conservation, our traditions and our livelihoods. Following independence, our governments restored our rights and integrated wildlife into rural economies. This enabled the development of socio-economic incentives to live with and sustainably manage our wildlife. Whilst it varies nationally, up to 90% of these economic incentives are provided through sustainable, regulated hunting. This has led, in Southern African countries such as ours, to increasing wildlife populations and habitat, often even beyond formally protected areas, in stark contrast to most Western countries.

We acknowledge that banning wildlife trophy imports into foreign countries is within the right of those governments. We further recognize that regulated hunting may appear a counter-intuitive conservation strategy to many. Yet if your objective is conservation – not solely the recognition of individual animal rights – import bans are misguided and have important implications for our human rights. We are concerned that hundreds of millions of dollars have been gobbled up in misleading animal rights campaigns without any benefit for the custodians of African wildlife – African people. Banning trophy imports risks significantly reducing the value of our wildlife, reducing incentives to tolerate and manage wildlife as an integral component of our livelihoods. Imposing such disastrous policies on us negates our sound conservation record. Once again, wildlife numbers will plummet and our rights to sustainably manage our natural resources will again be undermined.

We recognize and respect the rights of Western conservation scientists and animal rights advocates to discuss how best to manage African wildlife. However, we request that your discussions are informed by our voices as custodians of this wildlife. Discussions should acknowledge both our conservation successes and our communities’ right to earn a livelihood through the culturally appropriate, sustainable management of our resources for the benefit of our people. Any less is to deny our human rights.

Yours sincerely,

Ishmael Chaukura

CAMPFIRE Inter-ward Chairperson – Mbire District, Zimbabwe

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Northern Botswana: children walk the elephant gauntlet twice a day to get to and from school. © Simon Espley



Full Letter: RE. Communities Response in Science Magazine. Ishmael Chaukura (CAMPFIRE Inter-ward Chairperson Mbire District, Zimbabwe), Gakemotho Satau, Kutlwano Russel, Tumeleng Mogodu, S.K. Moepedi, Kerapetse Bantu Peter, Amos Ben Mabuku, Hilda N. Nathinge, Max Mayemburuko, Theo Naruseb, Brisetha Hendricks, Stein Katupa, Zaack Dirkse, Geoffrey Tukuhuphwele, Never Ncube, Delani Mabhena, Phillip Mpofu, Zoolakes Nyathi, Morning Manguba, Isaac Msebele, Land Ndebele, Innocent Mavunela, Patson Simango, Kumbula Jimmy, Naison Ndhlovu, K. Njanjeni, Nyalani Mgaduwi, Chief Shana, Sinikiwe Nyathi, Jabulani Ndubiwa, Promotion Dzomba, Sarudzai Goredema, Osca Marowa, Public Museruka, Ishmael Jack , Julius Chokubooka, Justin Mawachi, Cossam Chikondoma, Godfrey Ndlovu, Chief Tategulu, Chief Matupula, Chief Siphoso, Dr Rodgers Lubilo


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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“Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.”

J Nozipo Maraire


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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An undercover look inside one of the world's biggest hunting conventions

2020-02-13 14:45 - Marisa Crous

As animal protection organisations fight for the survival of many African wildlife species, an undercover investigation by Humane Society International and the Humane Society of the United States recently exposed exhibitors peddling wild animal products and pay-to-slay trophy hunts at the Safari Club International convention in Nevada, USA.

What they uncovered was shocking, to say the least.

The SCI convention is one of the world largest trophy hunting expos with over 870 exhibitors from 34 countries and more than ten thousand attendees. Sale offerings at the February 2020 event included a captive-bred lion hunt in South Africa for $8 000. One South African outfitter said hunting a giraffe costs “only” $1 200 because they have “too many giraffes” and need to “get rid of the animals.”

Among some of the pay-to-slay options was a “dream hunt” with Donald Trump Jr. in a luxury yacht in Alaska to kill black-tailed deer and sea ducks was sold at auction for a whopping $340 000. A taxidermy ibex mountain goat that Trump Jr. reportedly killed was on display on the convention floor.

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(PHOTO: Humane Society)

Other horrifying hunting trips for sale at the SCI 2020 convention included:

• A $350 000 hunt for a critically endangered black rhino in Namibia.

• An outfitter advertised its “Trump Special” - a $25 000 hunt for a buffalo, sable, roan and crocodile.

• A $6 000 hunt for any six animals that a customer can choose to kill in South Africa, such as zebras, wildebeest, warthogs, impalas, hartebeest, gemsbok, nyala, and waterbuck.

• A $13 000 hunt for black-backed jackal, African wildcat, caracal and bat-eared foxes in South Africa.

• A tuskless elephant hunt in Zambia for $14 500.

• A polar bear hunt in Canada sold for $60 000.

• An Asiatic black bear hunt in Russia for $15 000.

• Four South African exhibitors offered to sell or broker captive-bred lion hunts.

Audrey Delsink, wildlife director for Humane Society International/Africa said, “We are devastated to see the SCI convention offering so many opportunities to destroy our already-threatened wildlife, including giraffes which was listed on Appendix II by CITES last year. Giraffe numbers have declined by 40% in the past 30 years, plummeting to fewer than 69 000 mature animals left in the wild, and here we have exhibitors offering their destruction.

"The sale of canned lion hunts at the convention is also a huge concern - violating SCI’s own ban that it implemented in 2018. In South Africa there are more lions bred in captivity than exist in the wild, with as few as 3,000 wild lions roaming freely compared to 8 in captivity. Studies show that captive lion breeding and canned trophy hunting do not support conservation, are wrought with welfare travesties and are simply money-driven industries that benefit a handful. It’s time for this needless cruelty to stop.”

Jeff Flocken, president of Humane Society International, said, “Our shocking investigation shows that no animals are off limits to trophy hunters. From shooting giraffes, hyenas, zebras, elephants, hippos, primates and lions in Africa to deer, ibex and wild boar in the UK and Europe, the trophy hunting industry reveals its true nature – one that is motivated by the thrill to kill, and not by conservation.”

According to CITES trade data, South Africa is the second largest hunting trophy exporting nation after Canada.


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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I Better not Comment ..but these are NOT MEN that have to do this to prove their MANHOOD


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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:evil: :evil: :O^
Inside the global conservation organisation infiltrated by trophy hunters
Posted at 14:20h in feature1, we-feature1 by Oxpeckers Reporters
Indepth investigation by Roberto Jurkschat shows trophy hunters and luxury fashion brands have been working for years to influence the IUCN, the world’s leading authority on science and endangered species conservation
https://oxpeckers.org/2020/02/inside-the-iucn/?

Brilliant article!


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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The above letter from Mr Chaukura is very succinct and hits the nail on the head. \O


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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Lobbying is not being used only to influence the political law-makers :evil:


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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Are trophy hunters serial killers?

BOOK REVIEW
By Don Pinnock• 4 June 2020

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Supported by wealthy and powerful organisations like Safari Club International, the Dallas Safari Club and the National Rifle Association and egged on by countless awards and record book listings, trophy hunters have gunned down 1.7 million wild animals in the past decade. About 250,000 were endangered species. This is detailed in an alarming book, Trophy Hunters Exposed, by environmental activist Eduardo Goncalves.

Trophy Hunters Exposed is a book that’s bound to cause fury and denials by hunting organisations. But, with the names of trophy hunters, the exact tally of their kills, their cruelty and their Facebook boasts forensically detailed, it will be hard to rebut.

The book, just released, essentially throws down the gauntlet to the so-called sport of killing animals for fun and prestige.

Goncalves profiles some of the world’s most prolific (or, depending on your view, notorious) hunters and lists their kills, which run into many thousands. They may be heroes to hunters, he says, but given their desire to kill again and again, their bloodlust needs to be analysed in the light of serial killers.

These include Malcolm King, a British businessman who has 125 Safari Club International (SCI) Record Book entries and dozens of awards for killing hundreds of wild animals; Charl Knight of Take Aim Safaris in Gauteng who has taken part in more than 400 hunts in every African country open to hunting, and Paul Roberts, a British hunter who has one of the world’s biggest collections of trophies.

Also listed are Jacques and Micheline Henrijean who have logged 240 kills in six continents, Spaniards Tony Sanches-Arino with 4,044 kills (1,317 being elephants) and Marcial Sequeira with 2,000, Trump fundraiser Steven Chancellor with 428 and Zimbabwean Ron Thomson with 5,930.

Thomson told The Sun newspaper: “I didn’t have any sentiment. I’m totally unrepentant, a hundred – ten thousand – times over for any of the hunting I’ve done. I happen to enjoy it.”

Listed also are the names of 500 hunters who have won Safari Club International (SCI) Big 5 awards for shooting a lion, an elephant, a leopard, a rhino and a buffalo. SCI offers about 80 different prizes to hunters who shoot the most animals, who kill them in the greatest number of places and who use “novel” ways to kill them.

In the book’s foreword, adventurer Ranulph Fiennes says: “We are told that we face a biodiversity crisis every bit as serious as the climate crisis. Yet the slaughter, inexplicably, continues unabated. The time has come to decide whether or not to close this chapter of our history. The choice is now in our hands.”

The research had its genesis in Botswana’s unbanning of hunting in 2019. That so alarmed Goncalves that he created the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, which is rapidly gaining traction in Britain, where he lives.

“There are no more than 20,000 African lions left, 7,000 cheetahs, 5,000 black rhinos, yet it is still legal to hunt them for trophies,” he says. “It’s not about killing for food or human necessity. This is about vanity. It’s killing for enjoyment. They want to boast about it, post a picture and stick the animal above the fireplace.

“It’s also not about conservation. They’re taking the biggest, the best and the strongest. It’s weakening the gene pool of threatened species. That’s just wrong in an advanced civilisation in the 21st century.”

SCI has about 200 chapters in different parts of the world as well as across the US. Its members are calculated to have killed at least 2,000 lions, 1,800 leopards, 800 elephants and as many as 500 black rhinos.

Why do hunters hunt? Goncalves steers his narrative into some disturbing places.

“Trophyism is hunting for dominance and status, flaunting your wealth.” Killing sentient creatures, he says, is nothing less than murder. “It is done with premeditation and without provocation or biological justification. The animals are entirely innocent creatures killed for ego-gratification and fun.”

Quoting conservationist Gareth Patterson, he says repeated shooting of wild animals is serial killing for gratification and no different from killing innocent people. “Like the serial killer, the trophy hunter plans with great care where and how the killing will take place, in what area, with what weapon.” He refers to Graham Collier, writing in Psychology Today, who says “thrill killing” is a mark of both serial killers and trophy hunters.

“What prompts some people to kill animals for sport and souvenirs?” asks Goncalves. “Some scientists believe trophy hunting is a form of sexual gratification.” He quotes Dr Joel R Saper of the University of Michigan, who says: “Hunting may reflect a profound yet subtle psychosexual inadequacy.” It’s also what’s described as “costly signalling”, a form of exhibitionism.

Among the many quotes from hunters is an article by a hunter’s wife who accompanied her husband: “My heart was pounding at an excessive pace, my clothes were soaked through. How the human body jolts to life when all senses are simultaneously alive. To say I was fevered with excitement would be a vast understatement.”

The general public, however, clearly has no taste for trophy hunting. In two UK polls, 80% and 86% said it should be banned. In the US, nearly 70% of survey voters opposed it and almost 80% were against imports of trophies from species such as lions and elephants.

And there’s the cruelty. Animals suffer, seldom dying by a single shot. Trophy hunting, says Goncalves, is not sanitised killing as hunters like to insist, but often involves extreme cruelty. Hunters are often poor shots and fail to drop an animal first off.

Both Montana and Texas wildlife departments found wounding rates to be 51%. In Michigan it was 58% and in Vermont 63%. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources found that shot deer travelled an average of 74 yards in agony before dying.

These rates are higher for traditional weapons, yet SCI awards prizes for killing done with archery arrows, crossbows and muzzle loaders.

The hunting industry – its clubs, its gun merchants and its political bribery – comes in for withering criticism in the book. For many years, but particularly under the Trump administration, hunting organisations have campaigned for “liberalisation” of wildlife laws, to strip back legal protections which restrict sport-hunting of wildlife – and they’re succeeding.

Since 2000, SCI has spent $140-million on protecting the freedom to hunt through policy advocacy, litigation and education for federal and state legislators in the US.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Trump administration unveiled plans to open 2.3 million acres of land at wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries for hunting and fishing.

The SCI also spends millions of dollars and pounds each year on lobbying and has poured large amounts of money into campaigns of candidates at election time, including that of Trump’s Interior Secretary when he ran for Congress.

The industry receives, in turn, money by auctioning off hunts for animals like polar bears and from sponsorships that are often surprising. Many are from household brands and manufacturers such as Yamaha and the Boy Scouts Association. It has partnered with the Salvation Army to provide “shooting programmes” for thousands of children.

The SCI’s Records Book, says Goncalves, encourages hunters to shoot the biggest animals of each species by stipulating a minimum “score” of size or weight for a trophy to be eligible. “In so doing it has driven a process of artificial selection within species which has left many – including lions and African elephants – fighting for their survival.”

When defending trophy hunting in the media, says Goncalves, hunters often claim it has conservation or job-creation benefits. However, when describing the hunts in industry journals and online forums, there is rarely any mention of this.

“Instead, hunters’ accounts often include graphic details of the shocking injuries and suffering experienced by animals and focus on the sheer thrill of the hunt.”

Blame for the mass killing of wild animals is also attributed to the UN wildlife trade organisation CITES, which lists species that the international community has determined are threatened with extinction.

“CITES currently allows [wild animals] to be killed for no other reason than to provide sordid entertainment for a privileged few. Trophy hunting is exempted from many of CITES’ restrictions on wild animal trade because it is – somewhat bizarrely – not considered to be a commercial activity.”


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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Almost 1,600 polar bears were shot by hunters in 2010-18

WWF targeted over trophy hunts

BY DOMINIC KENNEDY, INVESTIGATIONS EDITOR - 6TH JULY 2020 - THE TIMES UK

The nature charity WWF provides lobbying and practical help for the trophy hunting of wild animals, a former campaign staffer has disclosed in a book.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature has a little-known record of backing the shooting of big game for sport and has recently been involved in trying to stop legal obstacles being placed in the paths of the hunters, the book claims.

The attack on the charity is made by one of Britain’s leading animal activists: Eduardo Gonçalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, a former chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports and a former WWF campaign manager.

“WWF’s position on trophy hunting will almost certainly come as a surprise to many of its supporters, most of whom — like the vast majority of the public — are strongly opposed to the bloodsport,” Gonçalves writes.

“WWF is in danger of being vastly and potentially disastrously out of step with public opinion on the issue. Its stance could seriously contaminate WWF’s brand and hit supporter income, and possibly that of the wider conservation and charitable sector.”

The charity’s record is examined in a new chapter, “Does WWF Support Trophy Hunting?”, in the latest edition of his book Killing Game: the Extinction Industry.

Among the positions taken by WWF is that shooting polar bears for sport may help the species. Big-game hunting increases tolerance among Arctic communities of the bears’ presence and so benefits conservation, the international campaign group told the British government at a meeting about banning the import of shot trophy animals.

Michael Gove, as environment secretary in May last year, invited experts to discuss proposals for reform. Paul De Ornellas, deputy director of conservation at WWF-UK, said that trophy hunting was a key element of how indigenous Arctic communities tolerated and accepted polar bears.

“There are examples of well-managed trophy hunting that have positive outcomes for wildlife and people,” Mr De Ornellas said. He told Mr Gove that hasty policy changes and a quick switch from hunting may have “perverse and negative conservation outcomes”.

Shooting polar bears for sport has risen in popularity, with 1,583 trophies taken in 2010-18 compared with 154 in the decade to 1990. Only Canada allows foreigners to shoot the species. The known population of polar bears has fallen from 25,000 in 1993 to 19,000. “Contrary to suggestions by some supporters of trophy hunting, polar bears have rarely been killed by Inuits in Canada as part of their culture, and never for ‘sport’,” Gonçalves writes.

Many communities have strongly opposed foreigners arriving to hunt trophies. Some Inuit settlements have resisted government efforts to recruit them as guides for the industry.
Legal trophy hunting also may used to evade bans on trading in body parts, Gonçalves says. Some animals are destined for China, where they are prized as alternative remedies. Polar bear gall bladders have been imported to Hong Kong, supposedly as trophies.

Boris Johnson has committed the government to ending the trade to Britain of hunted trophy animals.

The WWF is accused in the book of siding with hunters and against animal welfare activists when an international protection agreement was updated last August. Attendance records show that 30 WWF staff and consultants observed the meeting in Geneva of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The WWF’s jointly run wildlife trade monitoring scheme, Traffic, recommended that delegates vote against stricter checks on the trade in giraffes, the saiga antelope and African elephants. Traffic also recommended supporting Namibia’s call to make trading in its white rhino easier.

Mr Gonçalves argues that the WWF initiative took the same side on these issues as the hunting organisation Safari Club International and against the positions of the Species Survival Group, a coalition of 80 organisations.

Practical help given by WWF to trophy hunting has also been discovered. Safari Club International funded the charity to produce a manual for African communities on how to count wildlife populations in 2000. The most important reason, the training material said, was to help to prepare hunting quotas. “If wildlife populations are over-hunted it will lead to a decline in number, but if they are under-used this will lead to the loss of potential income,” it said.

District Quota Setting Toolbox, a WWF manual produced in partnership with Safari Club International for use in Zimbabwe, teaches locals how to measure and calculate the size of trophies. A training exercise uses elephant tusks.

In the WWF booklet Managing Safari Hunting, readers are told: “Safari hunting is just one of the many ways in which rural district councils with appropriate authority can earn money from their wildlife. But it is the most important.”

When in 2013 David Reinke became the first American allowed to bring a dead black rhino home since the species was listed as endangered, the WWF supported his application to import the trophy from Namibia, a federal memorandum shows.

WWF was founded as the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 and has always been closely associated with the Duke of Edinburgh, who remains president emeritus. The Swiss-based organisation has a network of national groups.

A spokeswoman for WWF-UK said: “WWF-UK’s position on trophy hunting is clear. WWF-UK does not fund trophy hunting and has no involvement in trophy-hunting operations.

“We don’t understand why anyone would want to kill and glorify the death of a wild animal for a trophy. We recognise that scientific evidence has shown that trophy hunting can provide some vulnerable communities with benefits from jobs, income and bushmeat, and a more sustainable future.

“We look forward to a time when communities and wildlife can thrive without the need for people in some parts of the world to rely for their safety, livelihoods and economic prosperity on the practice of trophy hunting.”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news ... -q8pnvctbs


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Re: Trophy Hunting

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a surprise to many of its supporters, most of whom — like the vast majority of the public — are strongly opposed to the bloodsport,

Bulldust. It is extremely patronising to subjunctively claim that most of the public are strongly opposed to trophy hunting...maybe those countries who do not have things left to hunt and do not go hungry? O**


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