![]() ![]() Some scientists have raised similar concerns, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Sustainable Use and the Livelihoods Specialist Group highlighting the benefits to conservation of well-managed hunting.Īmy Dickman, a conservation biologist at Oxford University’s department of zoology, has argued that habitat loss, poaching and conflict pose a far bigger danger to threatened species than hunting. It said that supporters of the Bill ‘do not live with difficult and dangerous megafauna’ and warned that such a ‘paternalistic, arrogant and misinformed’ approach risked driving African countries ‘to look eastwards’ for partnerships and markets with China and Russia. The Namibian Chamber of Environment, which represents 70 environmental groups, has also written to Mr Mitchell in favour of ethical trophy hunting. ![]() Signatories also argued it would increase poverty, drive an increase in illegal poaching because they wouldn’t be able to pay for patrols and encourage game lands to be sold for other activities that destroy habitats. With less culling, there would be an ‘unsustainable local increase’ in these animals that would ‘have a destructive impact on vegetation and habitats’ and endanger other species. They said farmers encouraged to keep dangerous animals on their land, such as elephants and hippos, would have less incentive to do so with decreased profits from trophy hunting. The conservationists listed a series of ‘ramifications’ from the proposed Bill. ‘Because of the policy incentives in our countries, more wildlife is living outside national parks than in them.’ They added: ‘It should be emphasised that these activities take place on communal farmland, where we are farming with livestock, crops as well as wildlife, not national parks. Pictured: File photo of three men during a trophy hunt in Africa It brings Britain into line with countries including the United States, Australia and France. The ultimate aim of the legislation is to stop UK nationals from killing endangered animals in the first place. The signatories insisted they used ‘monitoring systems’ to allocate sustainable quotas of animals ‘to be culled’ by trophy hunters. ‘To finance these operational costs, much of the income comes from trophy hunting, which is done ethically and is supported by scientific monitoring systems such as the Event Book system, fixed route patrols, and annual wetland and aerial game counts,’ they said. ![]() ![]() The conservationists argue that ethical trophy hunting is a key way to raise funds to protect wildlife. They wrote: ‘It involves heavy capital investments to cover the operational costs of our community-based organisations – such as training and employing conservancy personnel, educating our communities on the importance of conserving our wild animals, providing other benefits to communities living with wildlife, and monitoring and managing these CBOs.’ Signatories from the Kavango-Zambezi, which spans five international borders, said they had invested in conserving endangered wildlife on the land they inherited from their forefathers.īut pointing to the challenges on the ground, they highlighted how ‘conserving these natural resources is costly’. Despite the outcry, Mr Mitchell maintained his support for the Bill last night and said the import ban was ‘strong’ and ‘well thought out’. They urged ministers to visit Africa and consult with them ‘as opposed to listening to animal rights activists who have no knowledge and experience of living with wild animals’. In their letter to Mr Mitchell, they said the Bill felt like ‘another way of recolonising Africa’. They wrote: ‘This Bill has the likelihood of reversing and inhibiting long established and sustainable conservation efforts in many African nations.’Ī total of 109 representatives of organisations in the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area also slammed MPs for not consulting them. The countries’ high commissioners in London wrote to Andrew Mitchell, the minister for development and Africa, expressing their concerns in a letter seen by The Times. ![]()
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