Why being hunted is good for Africa’s lions

Why being hunted is good for Africa’s lions
by Larry Rudolph President of Safari Club International & Joe Hosmer President of Safari Club International Foundation

This week, a coalition of animal rights activists filed a petition with the Department of Interior to list African lions as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act — their latest attempt to impose restrictions on hunters. As usual, the activists use sensationalized, emotional messaging that has nothing to do with the science of wildlife conservation.

Hunters and hunting actually benefit Africa’s lions — as well as its humans. Revenues from hunting generate $200 million annually in remote rural areas of Africa. This revenue gives wildlife value and humans protect the revenue by protecting the wildlife.

Placing African lions on the Endangered Species List will effectively end hunting of the animal. When the conservation and financial incentives that hunting provides are lost or mismanaged, the value local communities place on the sustainability of lion populations greatly diminishes. This leads to humans killing lions as a result of human-lion conflict.

For example, in lion range states where hunting has been banned, cattle herders are using snares and deadly pesticides to poison and kill lions in high numbers in the interest of protecting their own livelihoods. Other resident wildlife also falls to snares and poisons that target lions.

Human-wildlife conflict is a consistent threat across lion range, but people better tolerate coexisting with lions when lions have an economic value. Ending hunting in countries that currently allow it could spell the end of responsible management of lion populations.

Through adaptive management, governments set hunting regulations that are non-detrimental to the health and survival of the game species populations, specifically for lions, as this species generates huge economic revenues for rural communities. Hunting is the most successful tool for maintaining incentives to conserve lions.

We are proud to say that Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) is a true leader in the conservation movement. From the restoration of America’s forests and wildlife at the beginning of the 20th century to the many conservation success stories in Africa today, it has been hunters who have provided the resources to make these successes possible.

SCIF is committed to science-based African lion conservation. We assist lion range states in completing national lion management plans, which allow governments to manage populations in a safe, sustainable manner. Management plans target the immediate threats to lions and provide conservation strategies aimed at addressing these threats. To date, we have assisted Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in developing their national plans, and have funded the publication of Namibia’s and Zambia’s national lion management plan. SCIF also assisted the regional conservation strategies coauthored by IUCN, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the African Lion Working Group, among other partners.

SCIF also hosts the African Wildlife Consultative Forum, where Southern African nations come together annually to discuss wildlife management issues of mutual concern. African Lion issues have been a feature for several meetings, especially approaches to lion management and human-lion conflict resolution.

As hunters, we stand together to help conserve wildlife and protect our hunting heritage. The persistent misinformation campaigns of extremist animal rights groups like the Humane Society of the United States and the International Fund for Animal Welfare portray hunters as the enemy, when hunters are truly the greatest stewards of our wildlife.


Source: Safari Club International (SCI) & Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF)

What The Guardian Newspaper Doesn’t Want You to Read

Last week the British newspaper the Guardian published an article (www.Guardian.com) parroting the claims of anti-hunting groups that were made in a petition to the White House. The petition calls for listing the lion as an endangered species under the ESA, and cites hunting as a primary reason for the lion’s decline in population. SCI immediately submitted a letter refuting these claims – but the Guardian doesn’t want you to read it, as they have ignored our submission. So as an informational service, we are distributing the letter to SCI members, as well as a separate Op-Ed on the issue that did run on the news website The Daily Caller (www.dailycaller.com). Rest assured we are aggressively countering the claims put forth in the petition, and will have much more to report on the critical issue of lion conservation as this attack on hunting plays out.


Letter to the Editor of The Guardian:
The March 1st article, "African lions under threat from a growing predator: the American hunter" does not paint a clear picture of the benefits that hunting and hunters bring to the conservation of lion populations, nor the sustainable economic benefits hunting develops in many rural communities of African countries. Those benefits, in turn, bring value to lion populations and inhibit unchecked lion mortality.

Safari Club International Foundation is committed to science-based African lion conservation by assisting lion range states in completing national lion management plans. To date, we have assisted Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in developing their plans, and have funded the publication of Namibia's and Zambia's national lion management plan.

Through adaptive management, governments set hunting regulations that are non-detrimental to the health and survival of the game species populations, specifically for lions, as this species generates huge economic revenues for rural communities. In fact, revenues from hunting generate $200 million annually in remote rural areas of Africa.

When this financial incentive is lost or mismanaged, the value local communities place on the sustainability of lion populations greatly diminishes. This leads to direct mortality of lions by humans as a result of human-lion conflict. For example, in Kenya where lion hunting has been banned, cattle herders are using deadly pesticides to poison and kill lions in the interest of protecting their livestock thereby dramatically reducing lion populations.

The coalition of extremist organizations that filed a petition with the Department of Interior to list African lions as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act is again attempting to prey on an uniformed public to impose restrictions on hunters using sensationalized, emotional messaging that has nothing to do with the science of wildlife conservation. Their persistent misinformation campaigns portray hunters as the enemy, when hunters are truly the greatest stewards of our wildlife.

Larry Rudolph, President, Safari Club International


Source: Safari Club International (SCI)