Does hunting elephants help conserve the species?

[AfricaHunting.com]

See: http://abcnews.go.com/US/hunting-elephants-conserve-species/story?id=51194213

 

[Royal27]

That's pretty balanced, especially given that it is from ABC.

The below quote though, is a pet peeve of mine. The ban lift allowed American Hunters to resuming importing (as everyone here knows), hunting elephant was never illegal in Zimbabwe.

"This review established that both Zambia and Zimbabwe had met new standards, strict international conservation standards that allowed Americans to resume hunting in those countries," Sanders said.

And WOW, did anyone know that Zimbabwe makes $1.9 BILLION per year ($23k x 83k ele) on elephant eco tourism alone???? Me either.... But it must be true, as the animal conservations guys say so....

But conservation advocates say that elephants bring in much more revenue from tourists who want to see them alive. A report from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust estimates that an elephant brings in $23,000 a year, or $1.6 million over its lifetime.