Tony Weaver has defended Botswana’s decision to reintroduce trophy hunting. Personally, he doesn’t ‘quite understand what motivates hunters’, but intellectually, he fully...
The elephant (head) in the room: A critical look at trophy hunting
Trophy hunting has occupied a prominent position in recent scholarly literature and popular media. In the scientific conservation literature, researchers are generally supportive...
The Great Elephant Debate: Myth-busting jumbo fallacies
Botswana has a growing population of humans and cattle, not elephants. Outside protected areas, desertification caused by cattle over-grazing too often gets ignored. Hunting will...
Yes, I’m a hunter. My targets are duplicity, lies and cruelty
The trophy hunting industry is on the wrong side of history, serves the macabre leisure pursuits of a handful of the wealthy elite and yet, bizarrely, we environment writers are...
Iconic Namibian Elephant Killed By Hunter
Namibia's most famous elephant bull known as Voortrekker ("Pioneer") to thousands of tourists was shot last week by a trophy hunter, ten years after he first escaped the...
Botswana trophy hunting poached 385 elephants
At least 385 elephants were poached in the last year, however the Botswana government has just set an annual quota of 400 elephants to be killed by trophy hunters and...
Botswana brings back trophy hunting
Botswana has now committed to a policy built on myths, while the rest of the world takes stock of the implications ecological crisis. Botswana’s Ministry of Environment, Natural...
Botswana lifts ban on elephant hunting
Lifting of ban attributed to ‘political play’. The Botswanan government announced yesterday that it was “lifting the hunting suspension in an orderly and ethical manner” – a...
Elephants reduced to a political football as Botswana brings back hunting
Splashing in the Zambezi River at Botswana’s Chobe National Park. Shutterstock Ross Harvey, University of Cape Town Botswana has reinstated trophy hunting after a 5-year...
Trophy hunting in Africa: the case for viable, sustainable alternatives
Photographic camps are more beneficial to communities than hunting. Shutterstock Muchazondida Mkono, The University of Queensland For decades, the public has been fed the myth...
Trophy Hunting, Part Two: End of the game
Lions seen at Willie Jacobs’ farm, Ukutula Lodge, on 31 July 2015 in Brits, South Africa. Jacobs’ farm was heavily criticised after the release of the doc Conservationists who...
Trophy Hunting, Part One: The nasty colonial sport of shooting wild animals
A male white lion, part of a rare white lion pack, in the wild in South Africa. (PHOTO: EPA/LIESL EICHENBERGER) Trophy hunting has historically been the preserve of...
Bloc adopts scientific wildlife management system (African Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area [KAZA-TFCA] countries)
Minister Priscah Mupfumira Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) countries have resolved to adopt a scientific wildlife management system in national...
US poll says ‘No’ to Botswana plans to hunt and cull elephants
As tourism is a mainstay of Botswana’s economy, lifting the hunting ban could, the poll suggests, have severe economic consequences and damage Botswana’s international...
Namibia’s Environment Minister rejects criticism over trophy hunting
Namibia's current and Kenya's former ministers for environment engaged in a lively discussion about the polarising issue of trophy hunting at a debate held in at The Arts Club in...
DEA bactracks on parliamentary resolution on captive lion breeding
Picture: Martin Meja/AP A Parliamentary Resolution to end the Captive Breeding of Lions in South Africa has been ignored by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), who...
Government kicks the can forward yet again as the fate of thousands of lions remains in limbo
Two lionesses rub against a cage fence at a captive breeding centre for large predators at an undisclosed location in South Africa's Free State Province in an undated picture...
A plea to Botswana: Please rethink a “Not Enough Fences” approach (commentary)
The Government of Botswana is considering significant changes to the country’s approach to wildlife management.The proposed policy reflects a worrying lack of recognition of the...
Botswana hunting proposal could put its tourism industry at risk
Botswana’s proposals to lift its hunting ban and to introduce elephant culling has fuelled political posturing, denials, misinformation, and lobbying from pro hunting and culling...
Opposition to trophy hunting is a major social movement for good
In an article to mark World Wildlife Day, Leith Meyer, a veterinarian at the University of Pretoria, writes about the danger of poorly informed social media campaigns mounted by...
Africa is changing: Should its protected areas evolve? Reconfiguring the protected areas in Africa. Appendices 2 & 3 refer to trophy hunting.
THIS STUDY WAS FUNDED BY THE FRANCE-IUCN PARTNERSHIP. France has entered a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the oldest and largest...
Where wild things are under threat, wildlife trade needs to be dealt with
Tigers rub against a cage fence at a captive breeding centre for large predators at an undisclosed location in the Free State, South Africa, in this undated Before more...
Trophy hunting for conservation and development in Namibia? The limitations of economic benefits and the role of science
Recent years have shown an increase in the, often heated, debate on trophy hunting, with some important developments taking place in southern Africa. To name just some that have...
Dereck Joubert sets the record straight about trophy hunting impact on lions and refutes claims of so-called benefits
© Dereck and Beverly Big Cat Conservation Opinion post by Dereck Joubert I’ve been asked to respond to the following remarks that came up in a discussion following the...
Does trophy hunting really benefit conservation and local communities?
Every year, thousands of tourists visit South African private nature reserves to see wild animals in unspoilt surroundings. But how many of these travellers know that some of the...
Missing the Mark: African trophy hunting fails to show consistent conservation benefits
A report by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources Executive Summary Hunting of imperiled animals can save species from extinction. It is a claim that...
CITES – Proposals for amendments of appendices 1 & 2 regarding elephant populations of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe
CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA Eighteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties Colombo (Sri Lanka), 23 May – 3 June 2019 Read...
Young Balule Elephant shot 13 times before horrified visitors
Just as the furore about the trophy hunting of the pride male named Skye began abating, another incident has highlighted the ethics of hunting in the Associated Private Nature...
HSI/Africa urges department of environmental affairs to heed Parliament’s call to end captive lion breeding for trophy hunting and the bone trade
HSI/Africa urges department of environmental affairs to heed Parliament’s call to end captive lion breeding for trophy hunting and the bone trade CAPE TOWN (6 DECEMBER 2018) – In...
ADOPTED REPORT – Colloquium on Captive lion breeding for hunting in South Africa: Harming or promoting the conservation image of the country
DRAFT REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS ON THE COLLOQUIUM ON Captive lion breeding for hunting in South Africa: Harming or promoting the conservation...
NSPCA heads for court to halt trade in lion skeletons
The NSPCA has made an urgent application to the Gauteng High Court which contains photographic evidence of alarming and persistent neglect by a game farmer in Alldays....
Kruger Park gets grumpy over lion hunting and bad PR with it’s errant neighbour
It was in Umbabat that a lion was recently hunted and ended up being discussed in Parliament, following accusations that it was an under-age pride male and was baited illegally....
Captive lion breeding for hunting in South Africa colloquium Day 2
Chairperson: Mr MP Mapulane (ANC) Meeting Summary The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs hosted a Colloquium on captive lion breeding entitled Captive Lion...
Captive lion breeding for hunting in South Africa colloquium Day 1, with Minister present
Chairperson: Mr M Mapulane (ANC) Meeting Summary The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs hosted a two-day colloquium on captive lion breeding under the...
Report to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs
Mr Mapulane, members of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs, members of the Colloquium, thank you for inviting me to present my findings and views on trophy hunting...
New poll results: Does the lion breeding industry harm SA’s international reputation?
New poll: vast majority of South Africans believes the lion breeding industry harms the country’s international reputation Economic contribution of the industry is tiny compared...
Information Sheet: Parliamentary Colloquium on Captive Lion Breeding for Hunting
Should we be farming lions to slaughter? The Problems No conservation value Inadequate welfare standards Lack of regulation Inability of DEA, DAFF and Provinces to enforce...
SA licenses leopard hunting
South Africa has opened hunting season on leopards after two years of grace. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) has given permission to shoot two leopards in...
Bribery in Namibia: Government forced community into silence
Dogged by allegations of bribery and unethical operators, a dodgy permitting system, and the contentious hunting of so-called ‘problem animals’ – Namibia’s hunting community has...
The Controversial Lion Hunt in Umbabat – South Africa
1. The Petition 1.1 On the 7th June 2018, a citizen of the United States of America, named in a recent article as Jared Whitworth...
Like the fossil fuel industry, trophy hunting is unsustainable
Trophy hunting is like the fossil fuel industry. They’re both messy, unsustainable, in need of an alternative approach and, ultimately, fail to deliver on their promises. ...
Cash Before Conservation – A damning report on the commoditization of our lions
Criminal syndicates may use the legal trade in lion bones from our captive lion population, as a cover for illegal wildlife trade, reveals new report. A damning report titled...
Has the Department of Environmental Affairs condoned canned lion hunting?
Changes to Cites legislation in 2016 allowing South Africa to establish ‘annual export quotas for trade in bones, bone pieces, bone products, claws, skeletons, skulls and teeth...
Greater KNP Hunting Protocol for Reserves where hunting takes place
PREAMBLE Demands for competing land uses that are not compatible with conservation practices, make the need for viable conservation incentives more urgent. Well governed trophy...
Trophy Hunting: US pro-hunting lobby moves to legitimise the ‘sport’ of a wealthy elite
US policy on trophy hunting has descended into a confusion of mixed messages following a tweet by President Donald Trump that it’s a “horror show”. This coincided with an...
Trump halts lifting of import ban on elephant trophies following global outcry
US President Donald Trump and his Department of Interior Affairs Secretary, Ryan Zinke, have halted the reversal of a ban on importation of elephant hunt trophies...
Op-Ed: Did Oxford University researchers sanction hunting of Cecil the lion and his son, Xanda?
When thousands of people donated nearly R20-million to the Oxford University Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) after the killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, their...
Namibian Tourism Ministry brushes off questionable killing of desert elephants
Two of the only five remaining mature desert elephant bulls that occupied the Ugab region of Namibia have recently been hunted and killed. Tsaurab and Tusky, along with another...
How SA can lose the second rhino war
As South Africa continues to lose rhinos in the poaching war, it seems that the government is failing those fighting it. Although there has been some success in protecting rhinos...
THE LION’S SHARE? ON THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF TROPHY HUNTING
SUMMARY Pro-hunting group Safari Club International (SCI) recently published material entitled ‘The Conservation Equation’. The claimed ‘equation’ is a simple one – that trophy...
New report reveals big game hunting makes minimal contribution to African economies and jobs
Trophy hunters’ inflated claims debunked; trophy hunting ‘insignificant’ to economy WASHINGTON (1 February 2017)—An economic study released on the first day of Safari Club...
Killing of 280 South African animals to raise more than US$1 million for American hunting group’s anti-wildlife agenda
Killing of 280 South African animals to raise more than US$1 million for American hunting group’s anti-wildlife agenda Safari Club International convention in Las Vegas includes...
Trophy Hunting: unethical Namibian hunters to blame for poor image
Hunters who engage in unethical and illegal practices are largely to blame for the decline in the “overall acceptance” of trophy hunting by the general public and influential...
Problems with trophy hunting in Zimbabwe exposed
Trophy hunting in Zimbabwe’s Matetsi Safari Area is not sustainable at current levels as trophy sizes are declining, there is little scientific data supporting quota sizes and...
Trophy Hunting and Sustainability: Temporal Dynamics in Trophy Quality and Harvesting Patterns of Wild Herbivores in a Tropical Semi-Arid Savanna Ecosystem
Abstract The selective nature of trophy hunting may cause changes in desirable phenotypic traits in harvested species. A decline in trophy size of preferred species may reduce...
Elephants and local people both benefit from ecotourism
Credit: pexels.com New research shows that elephant numbers increase when more ecotourists visit the areas with elephant populations. This is in stark...
Assessing the sustainability of African lion trophy hunting, with recommendations for policy
Abstract While trophy hunting provides revenue for conservation, it must be carefully managed to avoid negative population impacts, particularly for long-lived species with low...
Killing for Trophies: An Analysis of Global Trophy Hunting Trade
The result of a comprehensive analysis of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Trade Database, Killing for Trophies...
Missing the Mark: African trophy hunting fails to show consistent conservation benefits
A report by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources NOTE: This report has not been officially adopted by the Committee on Natural Resources and may not...
Reserves say it’s fair game to cover costs
Trophy hunters legally shoot wild animals that move from Kruger on to some private reserves, but the Game Theft Act has muddied the waters. Who owns South Africa’s wild animals?...
What is the Real Reason Behind Bubye’s Proposed Lion Cull?
Recent reports say that one of Zimbabwe’s largest private wildlife areas, Bubye Valley Conservancy, is suffering from an overpopulation of lions. The conservancy has more than...
Life after Cecil: channelling global outrage into funding for conservation in Africa
Abstract Trophy hunting is widely used in Africa to generate funding for wildlife areas. In 2015, a global media frenzy resulted from the illegal killing of a radio-collared...
Do the realities of wildlife farming in SA outweigh the good for conservation?
An 18-month national study on the wildlife ranching sector of South Africa by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), an NGO that protects southern Africa's threatened wildlife...
Ultimate Hunters Market: Will this giant hunting auction benefit African wildlife?
Does trophy hunting support wildlife conservation in Africa? The world’s most influential hunters’ association would like you to think so. The annual convention of the Safari...
Carnage! The Business of Killing Elephants
In a powerful and poignant edition of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel called Blood Ivory to be aired on Tuesday November 24th, has correspondent David Scott not only...
Trophy hunting stronghold on Africa’s wildlife seeping across to SA
The world's wealthiest hunting organization, Safari Club International (SCI) and professional hunting groups, met behind closed doors with the South African Department of...
DEA and US hunting bigwigs ‘plotting’ the future of SA’s wildlife
Cape Town - American hunters and SA’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) are meeting behind closed doors at a resort near Polokwane on Tuesday to plan the future use of...
Hunters: Killers or saviours?
The oft asked question is: are trophy hunters protectors of biodiversity or are they heartless killers of defenceless wild animals? To make any headway with this question, we...
Leopard hunting: Restricted but not banned
Leopards are in trouble. But how much is hard to tell. For hundreds of years they were classed as vermin. Today we don’t know how many have survived the guns – they’re elusive...
Proof Trophy Hunters Don’t Save A Single Animal
Are trophy hunters protectors of biodiversity, as hunting associations and some conservationists claim, providing funds and a reason to protect wild areas? Or are they heartless...
Big game hunting in West Africa, What is its contribution to conservation?
The report highlights that the economic results of big game hunting is low. Land used for hunting generates much smaller returns than that used for agriculture or...
Driven hunt organizer implicated in land deal irregularities
The playgrounds of trigger-happy trophy hunters are far removed from the fertile fruit farms of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. But a recent television expose of driven...
ZIMBABWE FAILS TO PUNISH CECIL’S KILLERS
Zimbabwe has all but let Cecil’s killers off the hook as Mugabe’s wife says hunter did nothing wrong. "I say the dentist who killed the lion must be left alone," said Mrs Mugabe,...
Hunters Bagged 10,000 Lions in Africa Since 2003, Trophy Data Show
Given that in Africa wild lions are in catastrophic decline–the latest International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) figures suggest that fewer than 20,000 remain–it...
Op-Ed: Is trophy hunting really sustainable?
Throughout history, human beings have killed wild animals to defend, avenge, profit or feed themselves. They still do. But there are a few who kill for another reason: pleasure....
Public outcry draws a bead on trophy hunting
The death of Cecil the Hwange lion and a new documentary film have catalyzed a worldwide rethink on trophy hunting. By Don Pinnock Deep in the ancient part of our brains is a...
Zimbabwe says Cecil the Lion hunt was definitely illegal
Parks Authority believes that the use of a bow and an arrow “was meant to conceal the illegal hunt by using a means that would not alert the rangers on patrol.” Bow and arrow...
Double controversy hits Southern Africa’s trophy hunting industry
In the past week Southern Africa’s lucrative trophy hunting industry received two devastating blows: the release of an explosive new documentary detailing the unsavoury practices...
SA doccie reveals the shocking truth behind lion breeding
Durban - Blood Lions, a new documentary film delivers a damning verdict on the rapidly growing South African industry that breeds, hunts and trades lions in captivity. Blood...
Unsavoury practices in canned hunting industry prompt government concern
Government appears intent on reforming and sanitising the business of breeding and hunting lions. Critics want to see it dismantled altogether Minister Edna Molewa has just met...
Controversy grows as first desert elephant shot
With the world still reeling from the tragic poaching death of Satao, the iconic Kenyan tusker, news that Namibia has just followed through on killing the first of the Namibian...