Some unconfortable facts for opponents of hunting
Top experts say big animals do far better in African countries which allow hunting than those which ban it
Those who oppose hunting assume that it must be reducing the survival chances of Africa's iconic animals. The surprise then is that the conclusion of serious people who have studied the evidence is that the opposite is true:
- European Commission: it "actively benefit species conservation" [1]
- Michael Gove, UK environment secretary: it is "an effective conservation tool" [2]
- Guardian columnist, George Monbiot: it "allows populations of highly threatened species to recover" [3]
- Oxford University Professor Amy Dickman: it "maintains vast areas of land for wildlife" [4]
The big picture is that those countries which remain the best for protecting big wild animals are Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania. They are 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the world. [5] And all of them use regulated paid-for hunting to finance anti-poaching efforts. The UK—which killed its big animals off hundreds of years ago—languishes at 123rd. No wonder Sir David Attenborough says it is "one of the most nature-depleted places in the world".
Drill down and you see individual species flourishing where there is paid hunting:
- White rhino numbers increased "11-fold" in South Africa and Namibia since hunting began in 1972 [6]
- Zimbabwe's conversion to game ranches saw "quadrupling of wildlife populations" between the 1970s and 2000. [7]
But what should really scare campaigners for a ban is what happens when they succeed. For the consequence is the massive slaughter of animals by poachers:
- Botswana A ban on hunting in Botswana last decade saw a 593% increase in fresh elephant carcasses being found [8]
- Kenya Since Kenya banned hunting there has been a 84% fall in numbers of impala and a 43% fall in numbers of elephants [9]
Sources:
- [1] European Commission: it “actively benefit species conservation”: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2022%3A581%3AFIN&qid=1667989438184
- [2] Michael Gove: “an effective conservation tool”: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7908/CBP-7908.pdf
- [3] George Monbiot: “allows populations of highly threatened species to recover”: https://twitter.com/GeorgeMonbiot/status/1486274032945315840
- [4] Amy Dickman: “maintains vast areas of land for wildlife”: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/24/opinions/trophy-hunting-decline-of-species-opinion-dickman
- [5] Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania are 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the world for megafauna (big animal) conservation - and all of them use regulated paid-for hunting to finance anti-poaching efforts. The UK is 123rd. For data see column I in the spreadsheet in Appendix A of Lindsey et al 2017: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989416300804#tbl1
- [6] White rhino numbers increased “11-fold” in South Africa and Namibia since hunting began in 1972 (p.6): https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/conl.12877
- [7] Zimbabwe’s conversion to game ranches saw “quadrupling of wildlife populations” between the 1970s and 2000 (p.463,4.3): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320706003831
- [8] A temporary ban on hunting in Botswana last decade saw a 593% increase in fresh elephant carcasses being found: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221930675X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989416300804#tbl1
- [9] Since Kenya banned hunting there has been a 84% fall in numbers of impala (figure 4) and a 43% fall in numbers of elephants (figure 3): https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163249#sec013
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