How do you view trophy hunting (poll)

[CMP]

I am almost completely against trophy hunting.
I think that it is a waste of life and should be avoided to kill an animal unless you eat it, and in trophy hunting, you don't eat it. That is not entirely a emotional or philosophical response, either, as wastefulness of food contributes to one of the biggest contributors of habitat loss- ranching.

Regarding the conservation benefits- I strongly feel that ecotourism is a much better alternative. The industry relies upon the environment to be as close to nature as possible. When there is a healthy ecosystem, everyone benefits, even humans, through healthier and improved crops, soil, and domestic animals. However, I do acknowledge the fact that in some instances, it might be 'necessary'. I don't like it, but I need to do more research before I can come to the conclusion that trophy hunting has not positively contributed to conservation.

Regarding the economy- this is a sensitive topic, but I believe, like mentioned above, when there is a healthy ecosystem, everyone benefits, through healthier and improved animals, crops, soil, and water. For many of these economies, trophy hunting will not deliver nearly as much as ecotourism, and ecotourism is a larger industry that is 'renewable'. Rather, trophy hunting is a short term solution to fixing larger issues, and through large fees to hunt could be contributing to illegal poaching. I lean towards ecotourism, but this is a sensitive and delicate matter, so I will say I have not made up my mind regarding the economy.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

A quite critical question from my part, does trophy hunting also imply proper usage of the meat or not? Even without that, one can still argue that if managed well the conservational benefit of regulated trophy hunting can be important. But of-course, if this can also be used as another source of food-production this seems like a welcome bonus to me.

I don't know wether this has been done before, but an interesting model could be on where the hunter has rights to the trophy (skin, antlers, ... whatever they want for my part) but that any excess meat is sold into the local food-circulation. This could be an additional source of proteins to (slightly) reduce the need for illegal hunting of bushmeat.

The argument of colonialism is an interesting one. As most African countries are technically free economies, isn't a foreigner running a business there technically just another businessman? I do agree that talks should be held with local people about ancient hunting grounds taken away from them, but wether it's a local businessman or a foreign one doesn't change the fact that they don't have access to it anymore. As most people that caused this don't run things anymore, you can argue that any reserve-owner is keeping this continuous cycle of "theft" going regardless of his/her origin ("theft" is because I don't to make an absolute statement about wether this should still be counted as theft or wether they should actually be considered accountable).

Edit. before I probably get a lot of comments criticizing the above. I'm just talking about the owner/employer. The people he/she hires is a whole other matter. One in which I think it would be the rightest thing to do to work with local people, but with our globalization and free economies one can even argue wether it's not a person's right to choose who he employs. Similar to how companies in Belgium are employing people from Eastern Europe for various reasons. Somethings to do jobs Belgian people don't want to do but sometimes also to do jobs that Belgian people could and would have done instead if it wasn't so much cheaper to use foreign labor forces. Is this wrong, maybe. But it's kind of the model the world is using right now, and in a certain way it's up to a country to regulate this if they want to (yes I know, corruption, bribes, ... doesn't create a country that fully reflect's people's voices).

So to summarize: I'm not saying that it should be the way it is with foreign owners and workers, but it is in a certain way the model that we as a world have created. And yes, without a doubt Europeans, Americans and now also Eastern-Asians have a slightly larger responsibility in creating this model. But singling one group of people out as the one and only cause ... maybe not the most accurate representation of the entire system.

Thank you for your comment @Jarne!

I don't think the meat is always harvested from the carcass leftovers of trophy hunting.

However, it certainly seems to frequently be harvested and "donated" to native / indigenous African communities and has been raised as another argument in favour of trophy hunting.

Those are some interesting points there and food for thought in terms of trophy hunting being a reflection of the current economic model of neoliberalism.

 

[Jarne]

Regarding the economy- this is a sensitive topic, but I believe, like mentioned above, when there is a healthy ecosystem, everyone benefits, through healthier and improved animals, crops, soil, and water. For many of these economies, trophy hunting will not deliver nearly as much as ecotourism, and ecotourism is a larger industry that is 'renewable'. Rather, trophy hunting is a short term solution to fixing larger issues, and through large fees to hunt could be contributing to illegal poaching. I lean towards ecotourism, but this is a sensitive and delicate matter, so I will say I have not made up my mind regarding the economy.

This way you assume that ecotourism and trophy hunting are two methods that can never be combined. I think in certain areas like Kruger where rangers now cull certain species like elephants, buffaloes and hippo trophy hunting might be a suitable replacement for this. After all, these species are already shot wether it's by someone who pays or someone who is paid. Not that I think that ecotourism and trophy hunting are properly combined on the regular, but I think in theory they could be (or possibly subsistence hunting instead of trophy hunting) in some cases where animals are able to differentiate between hunters and tourists.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I am almost completely against trophy hunting.
I think that it is a waste of life and should be avoided to kill an animal unless you eat it, and in trophy hunting, you don't eat it. That is not entirely a emotional or philosophical response, either, as wastefulness of food contributes to one of the biggest contributors of habitat loss- ranching.

Well I would personally say that I think it is actually quite a philosophical response regarding how you believe our extractive activities on the natural world should be / what form they should take.

Again, there are no wrong or right answers here on this issue, everyone has their view on the topic or is formulating theirs and that is ok as it is just a thread to encourage debate and thought on this topic.

 

[Jarne]

Thank you for your comment @Jarne!

I don't think the meat is always harvested from the carcass leftovers of trophy hunting.

However, it certainly seems to frequently be harvested and "donated" to native / indigenous African communities and has been raised as another argument in favour of trophy hunting.

Those are some interesting points there and food for thought in terms of trophy hunting being a reflection of the current economic model of neoliberalism.

Not just neoliberalism, but also a case bordering on neocolonialism from people saying how things should be in those countries. Europeans and (New)-Americans have ****ed things up. But what right have we to dictate how such countries should move on now. Whilst it's clear that in many African countries politics are not the best representation of what people want, I'd still take it as the best way of voicing their wishes. And if they want to adapt this neoliberalistic model, then that's their right. And if they want to regulate foreign investors/workers/businesses, then that's their right as well.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

This way you assume that ecotourism and trophy hunting are two methods that can never be combined. I think in certain areas like Kruger where rangers now cull certain species like elephants, buffaloes and hippo trophy hunting might be a suitable replacement for this. After all, these species are already shot wether it's by someone who pays or someone who is paid. Not that I think that ecotourism and trophy hunting are properly combined on the regular, but I think in theory they could be (or possibly subsistence hunting instead of trophy hunting) in some cases where animals are able to differentiate between hunters and tourists.

I think in some cases trophy hunting and culling of surplus animals in game reserves has been combined as a management strategy.

Not 100 % sure but I think that it has been done with African elephant, white rhino and even black rhino.

I have absolutely no idea how effective this strategy is though but I suppose that if an animal is to be culled anyway then it makes little difference whether the bullet that ends the animals life (hopefully humanely and efficiently) comes from a game warden or a trophy hunter.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Not just neoliberalism, but also a case bordering on neocolonialism from people saying how things should be in those countries. Europeans and (New)-Americans have ****ed things up. But what right have we to dictate how such countries should move on now. Whilst it's clear that in many African countries politics are not the best representation of what people want, I'd still take it as the best way of voicing their wishes. And if they want to adapt this neoliberalistic model, then that's their right. And if they want to regulate foreign investors/workers/businesses, then that's their right as well.

Yes, again, I'm undecided on the topic of trophy hunting but I can definitely understand Africans who get irritated when Europeans or North Americans who have never had to live alongside these large and potentially dangerous animals dictate through social media how they should govern their natural resources.

 

[Jarne]

I have absolutely no idea how effective this strategy is though but I suppose that if an animal is to be culled anyway then it makes little difference whether the bullet that ends the animals life (hopefully humanely and efficiently) comes from a game warden or a trophy hunter.

This is of-course also a big point of fair criticism against not culling by trained professionals, they might cull way more humane than a trophy hunter.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

@Jarne That said, I remember watching a documentary on trophy hunting on youtube once and (probably because of having watched a news report on the species earlier) the youtube algorithm recommended a video of an American trophy hunter entitled "hunting a werewolf" in Africa.

I was curious about the title of the video so clicked on it and what it turned out to be was some pretty graphic footage of some w***** from Texas spear hunting a brown hyena in Namibia.

I've seen footage of other African mammals being hunted as trophies but for some reason was never really so affected by it , however, this particular video struck me as totally vile and a needless waste of an animal of conservation concern. The camera had actually been attached to the spear to give a very graphic view of the hunting.

I do remember thinking to myself "Why did he need to kill a brown hyena?" and "who allowed this son of a **** to do that ?".

Not sure whether that is just a reflection of my own bias for brown hyena or how I was feeling that day or what exactly my reaction to it means but I can also quite see how many people feel opposed to trophy hunting through seeing that kind of footage.

 

[Jarne]

@Jarne That said, I remember watching a documentary on trophy hunting on youtube once and (probably because of having watched a news report on the species earlier) the youtube algorithm recommended a video of an American trophy hunter entitled "hunting a werewolf" in Africa.

I was curious about the title of the video so clicked on it and what it turned out to be was some pretty graphic footage of some w***** from Texas spear hunting a brown hyena in Namibia.

I've seen footage of other African mammals being hunted as trophies but for some reason was never really so affected by it , however, this particular video struck me as totally vile and a needless waste of an animal of conservation concern. The camera had actually been attached to the spear to give a very graphic view of the hunting.

I do remember thinking to myself "Why did he need to kill a brown hyena?" and "who allowed this son of a **** to do that ?".

Not sure whether that is just a reflection of my own bias for brown hyena or how I was feeling that day or what exactly my reaction to it means but I can also quite see how many people feel opposed to trophy hunting through seeing that kind of footage.

Aren't brown hyena's quite common? Not that I think they need to be culled like some other species to protect certain productive environments, but I'm not sure wether it really harms their populations either.

But spear hunting as a method of trophy hunting? Really? That seems like quite the painful and slow method for killing an animal, especially when compared to modern technology. If you're a local low-tech tribe I kinda understand that you don't use a gun, but as a hunter flying over from the other side of the planet?

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Aren't brown hyena's quite common? Not that I think they need to be culled like some other species to protect certain productive environments, but I'm not sure wether it really harms their populations either.

But spear hunting as a method of trophy hunting? Really? That seems like quite the painful and slow method for killing an animal, especially when compared to modern technology. If you're a local low-tech tribe I kinda understand that you don't use a gun, but as a hunter flying over from the other side of the planet?

It is classed as "near threatened" by the IUCN and is suffering an extended and continuous population decline across its range.

Apparently occurs in highest population densities around agricultural land in Namibia and South Africa attacks on livestock documented so perhaps trophy hunting is used as a management strategy with "sustainable offtake".

The species apparently is not in high demand by trophy hunters but you can find offers for guided hunts for at least $1950 dollars.

I think the spear hunting attraction is probably precisely that "getting back to basics" / "primal" thing but I dont really know what the motive is really as I don't get the mentality to begin with.

I would agree with you that a rifle seems a more clinical and humane method of dispatching an animal.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Aren't brown hyena's quite common? Not that I think they need to be culled like some other species to protect certain productive environments, but I'm not sure wether it really harms their populations either.

But spear hunting as a method of trophy hunting? Really? That seems like quite the painful and slow method for killing an animal, especially when compared to modern technology. If you're a local low-tech tribe I kinda understand that you don't use a gun, but as a hunter flying over from the other side of the planet?

Of course , our attitudes towards animals are rarely rational and often emotive and that was kind of what I was trying to get at / highlight with the hyena comment.

I'm personally undecided on the issue of trophy hunting and its merits for conservation but even if I can intellectually see that there are some financial benefits that can go towards conservation seeing the footage of the brown hyena spear hunt and the way in which it was done did leave me feeling a bit disgusted.

 

[Jarne]

Of course , our attitudes towards animals are rarely rational and often emotive and that was kind of what I was trying to get at / highlight with the hyena comment.

I'm personally undecided on the issue of trophy hunting and its merits for conservation but even if I can intellectually see that there are some financial benefits that can go towards conservation seeing the footage of the brown hyena spear hunt and the way in which it was done did leave me feeling a bit disgusted.

And I don't blame you for feeling disgusted, I would too. Seeing a species you love killed in such a brutal way is quite normally not a nice thing to see. Regardless of wether you see the (possible) objective conservational benefit or not.

It is classed as "near threatened" by the IUCN and is suffering an extended and continuous population decline across its range.

I did not knew that, something new learned today.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

And I don't blame you for feeling disgusted, I would too. Seeing a species you love killed in such a brutal way is quite normally not a nice thing to see. Regardless of wether you see the (possible) objective conservational benefit or not.


I did not knew that, something new learned today.

Wouldn't say I love the species, it was just quite shocking in that it lacked the clinical detachment of killing with a rifle.

I do think that there may be some validity to the idea that trophy hunting may deliver some objective conservation benefits.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

So this was a very interesting poll and it seems that the majority of people at 50% who voted for the option that they are against the practice of trophy hunting with only 30 % voting for the option for being able to see both sides.

 

[Pantheraman]

I'm highly against trophy hunting. Here's an interesting article on a study done on trophy hunting where the authors concluded that there isn't enough information to answer the most important questions. But there is a chart on the studies that actually focused on the effect of trophy hunting on animal populations. Take a look at the lion, leopard, wolf, brown bear, and reindeer.
Recreational hunting: 50 years of scientific research - Africa Geographic

 

[Pantheraman]

In this, you also tend to hear "There are no viable alternatives to trophy hunting."

Actually, that's not true. There's the Akashinga Model. Just looking at these women makes you think twice.

Spotlight: Akashinga Rangers | Global Conservation

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

In this, you also tend to hear "There are no viable alternatives to trophy hunting."

Actually, that's not true. There's the Akashinga Model. Just looking at these women makes you think twice.

Spotlight: Akashinga Rangers | Global Conservation

Thats an interesting view @Pantheraman , yes, you do often here that in the context of the debate on trophy hunting.

I haven't yet seen that documentary film in the link you posted though I see it was directed by the film director James Cameron which is interesting, I'll have to check it out at some point.

I have to say that though I recognise it can be a necessity I am a bit wary of much of the millitarization of conservation.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I'm highly against trophy hunting. Here's an interesting article on a study done on trophy hunting where the authors concluded that there isn't enough information to answer the most important questions. But there is a chart on the studies that actually focused on the effect of trophy hunting on animal populations. Take a look at the lion, leopard, wolf, brown bear, and reindeer.
Recreational hunting: 50 years of scientific research - Africa Geographic

Thanks for sharing !

I think that this lack of a scientific consensus on the benefits or drawbacks of trophy hunting is one of the reasons that I find it so difficult to have a concrete stance towards it.

 

[Pantheraman]

Thats an interesting view @Pantheraman , yes, you do often here that in the context of the debate on trophy hunting.

I haven't yet seen that documentary film in the link you posted though I see it was directed by the film director James Cameron which is interesting, I'll have to check it out at some point.

I have to say that though I recognise it can be a necessity I am a bit wary of much of the millitarization of conservation.

I am a bit wary of it sometimes myself, but in this case I feel good about it because it's an all women team. And as for the horror stories we've heard of militarizing conservation, let's face it, a woman would not nor could not screw up that badly.