Tool or Threat: Is Trophy Hunting of Lions of Conservation Value?

 

African Lion & Environmental Research Trust

http://www.facebook.com/lionalert

Read more about this polarizing issue here: http://lionalert.org/page/view/page/trophy-hunting

“Trophy huntinghas long been associated with conservation, with many western

conservation policies stemming from colonial hunting especially in sub-Saharan Africa. As a highly emotive topic, it has drawn great debate in recent times, with polarized arguments either heralding it as an important and necessary conservation tool, or attacking it as a grotesque, unsustainable and deleterious practice. This paper discusses the conservation role of trophy hunting through an evaluation of ecological evidence and human values. This paper focuses predominantly on its significance as both a tool and threat to African lion conservation, but its
principles will apply for other felids. Trophy hunting of lions stimulates protection of habitat and maintenance of sustainable populations in areas where there is no conservation alternative.

However, there is little evidence of human and ecological conservation benefits, and the practice is replete with poor management and corruption. The potential of trophy hunting as a conservation tool is context/taxa specific. Its value may be considered in terms of the conservation of species, populations or
individuals. Each level can in turn be considered in terms of its
contrasting instrumental and intrinsic value. Trophy hunting is thus both a tool and threat to lion conservation. Ultimately, this discussion accepts that regardless of the scales of analysis used, or the apparent practical and theoretical issues surrounding it, trophy hunting is here to stay. The practical, not theoretical, debate is thus not whether trophy hunting is a conservation tool, but whether it can be improved so that animals and humans can benefit as much as possible from this polarizing practice.”

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