Hunters Conserve Wildlife

Despite intensifying calls to ban or restrict trophy hunting in Africa after the killing of a lion named Cecil in Zimbabwe, most conservation groups, wildlife management experts and African governments support the practice as a way to maintain wildlife.

Hunting is vital to the conservation and sustainable management of wildlife populations. Both the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species recognize the importance of hunting in conservation and have special provisions in their regulations to ensure hunting continues.

This article explores the complex historical and contemporary entanglements between hunting and wildlife conservation in the United States from a regulatory perspective.

Strong supporters of land and wildlife conservation, hunters in the U.S. are in decline. Will a new generation take the field?

Today, with a restored population of 25 million to 40 million whitetails, foresters complain that high concentrations of deer are inhibiting the growth of new trees all over the landscape. They are threatening rare plants and the birds and animals that count on the forest understory for survival.

Hunting’s popularity has waned across much of the country as housing tracts replace forests, aging hunters hang up their guns and youngsters sit down in front of Facebook rather than venture outdoors. The falloff could have far-reaching consequences beyond the beginning of the end for an American tradition, hunting enthusiasts say.

Corey Knowlton, a professional hunter, paid $350,000 for a hunting trip to Namibia to shoot and kill an endangered species. This episode, producer Simon Adler follows Corey as he dodges death threats and prepares to pull the trigger. All the while, we try to uncover what conservation really means in the 21st century.

Trophy hunting isn’t a clear win or lose then when it comes to conservation efforts. With the issue not settled, the matter comes down to a question of philosophy. Is the killing of one animal a justifiable means of protecting an entire species, or can we encourage life without causing death?

Cashing in on the desires of some to shoot rare species and display their remains back home in lavish “trophy rooms” – macabre mausoleums filled with dead animals – is what is driving Namibia’s approach, not the conservation needs of the species. The best way to conserve critically endangered species like the black rhino is to ensure that every animal remains alive and contributing to the genetic diversity of the species.

Are these animals worth more to local economies alive or dead? One African conservationist estimated that eco-tourists from just one lodge paid more in a week to take pictures of Cecil than the $55,000 that Palmer spent to put the lion’s head on his trophy wall. Over his lifetime, a living Cecil could have brought in $1 million in tourism

The death of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe at the hands of trophy hunter Walter Palmer sparked international outrage, incited widespread debate about the ethics of trophy hunting, and provoked calls to the U.S. government to ban the import of trophies from other countries. But some conservationists are arguing that people in the United States should be paying more attention to the trophy hunting of our own lions — mountain lions, that is.

But when we tell ourselves that we're humanely harvesting venison out of reverence for the deer -- rather than killing a sentient being to satisfy our palate -- we're not so much connecting with our food as we are manipulating language to avoid knowing what we don't want to know.

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, according to a new analysis of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s import data by Humane Society International and the Humane Society of United States. That’s an average of 126,000 trophy imports a year, or 345 a day.

The National Survey reports results from interviews with U.S. residents about their fishing, hunting, and wildlife watching.

A whopping 98 cents out of every dollar generated by the sale of the Federal Duck Stamps goes directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat in the National Wildlife Refuge System. It has been called one of the most successful conservation programs ever initiated.

Congress extended the life of an existing 10 percent tax on ammunition and firearms used for sport hunting, and earmarked the proceeds to be distributed to the States for wildlife restoration.

Once a species becomes listed as \"endangered\" or \"threatened,\" it receives special protections by the federal government. Animals are protected from “take” and being traded or sold.

What's driving these high-profile culling programs? Are they necessary? Can they be done ethically? And what's at the heart of the debate between their proponents and their detractors?

After nearly wiping out many wildlife species 50 years ago, Americans are once again living close--sometimes uncomfortably so--to all kinds of feral creatures. Why wildlife in the U.S. needs stronger management.

Wildlife conflicts are a real problem in some communities, but hunting is not the solution. Whether the problem is deer eating tulips or colliding with cars, Lyme disease, or bears getting into garbage, there is always an effective, nonlethal way to handle it.

The bear population has risen in the state, but conservationists wonder what a weeklong hunt will accomplish.

Although it seems counter-intuitive, the removal of a few surplus male black rhinos can enhance rhino conservation -- in addition to generating much needed revenue to protect and conserve rhinos.

Don’t offer me condolences about Cecil unless you’re also willing to offer me condolences for villagers killed or left hungry by his brethren, by political violence, or by hunger.

Filmmaker and conservationist Dereck Joubert addresses the economic arguments for hunting.

Current economic and social circumstances seem to necessitate at least some trophy hunting if local communities are to tolerate the presence of wildlife. If Westerners wish to ban trophy hunting, then it seems they need to put their money where their mouth is, and pay a lot more for their photo safaris than they do now.

In Botswana, a hunting ban has meant a precipitous drop in income. Over the years, villagers had used money from trophy hunters, mostly Americans, to install toilets and water pipes, build houses for the poorest, and give scholarships to the young and pensions to the old.

The authors present a novel approach to help answer the question \"Who really pays for wildlife in the U.S?\"

A majority of Americans, 56%, opposes hunting animals for sport, and most Americans, 86%, consider big game hunting to be especially distasteful.