Writing in today's New York Times, Alexander N. Songorwa Director of Wildlife for the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, spoke directly to the people of America and said,
"As Tanzania’s highest-ranking wildlife official, I ask on behalf of my country and all of our wildlife: do not list the African lion as endangered."
How can an official charged with protecting the worlds largest lion population call for not listing to protect a species? It sounds counterintuitive.
Listing as endangered would end trophy hunting which currently offers the best protection against poaching and loss of habitat. Simply put, hunting is conservation. Sixty percent of the trophy hunters that go to Tanzania are American, listing would make it illegal for them to bring their trophies back to the US. Read Mr. Songorwa's Op-Ed, he speaks much more eloquently about the subject than I could ever hope to.
Not mentioned in the article is who is petitioning for listing and who isn't, which I believe tells another part of the story.
Five parties are asking for listing, Defenders (of certain kinds) of Wildlife, HSUS and their parent org Humane Society International, two orgs with "Born Free" in their names, great movie by the way, and some International org for animal welfare.
As telling is who isn't petitioning, mainly any of the very large and famous international orgs concerned with wildlife conservation. Panthera, WWF, etc.
Will a handful of very radical animal rights group be successful when the very country most affected asks not to list and virtually every respected international wildlife org is seemingly silent? Maybe. Defenders and HSUS have a lot of money, well staffed offices in Washington DC, and they can cost the scientists at our US Fish and Wildlife Service lots of lost hours preparing testimony for court proceedings potentially costing us the loss of other species in the form of diverted resources.
What you ask, how could I support such an onerous undertaking as sport hunting large cats? I don't. Or should I say I do support them for conservation reasons though I myself will probably never go on such a hunt. I also don't catch and release fish, or many other types of hunting or fishing, but I understand how they all contribute to conservation.
http://www.gpo.gov/...