Recreational hunting essay PDF

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Can recreational hunting be justified on conservation grounds? Hunting often has many negative connotations, and there is also confusion between recreational hunting and poaching. It can appear that recreational hunting and poaching are very similar things, but poaching is illegal and rarely has any benefits whereas hunting can be valuable. The Oxford Dictionary (1884) definition of hunt is, “Pursue and kill (a wild animal) for sport or food” whereas the definition of poaching is, “Illegally hunt or catch (game or fish) on land that is not one’s own or is contravention of official protection.” Recreational hunting is not purely the hunt itself; it includes the preparation and aftermath of the game. It is the culture and context of the hunt. This includes the lead up to the hunt, the way you dress, the precautions a person may take, any actions associated with the hunt, etc. There are certain things a person must also think about before a hunt, such as gaining the permission or even travelling to the area, looking for quarry to kill legally and then the actual butchering and eating of said animal(s). Recreational hunting is also important to many cultures, and has cultural and spiritual importance for certain groups. Certain peoples, such as the Inuit, no longer need to hunt to survive but the act of hunting is linked to their heritage, cultural identity and history and therefore during certain times of the year hunting is allowed although still monitored (Canadian Arctic Profiles (2004) cited in Loveridge, Reynolds & Miller-Guilland (2007)). Hunting in general is extremely controversial, raising issues in animal welfare and environmental ethics, many people believe that it is unneeded and morally unacceptable. However, the pro-hunting group claim that it is justifiable as the animals which are going to be hunted are usually identified beforehand, the sex and age is established and the size of the population is also noted. There are two scientific approaches to recreational hunting, one being the ‘precautionary principle’. The precautionary principle states that ‘when faced with scientific uncertainty, the wildlife administrators should act in anticipation of harm to ensure that harm does not happen. (Hall, 2012)’ But how can we ever measure and test if hunting is dangerous if it never happens? Therefore it is not logical to apply this principle to recreational hunting, we need the data first. The second approach is called ‘adaptive management’ where decisions about hunting are based on reviewing the data from previous hunts and adjusting future management based on that data. Also, how can we confirm that the decline in any animal population is purely related to recreational hunting? For example, there has been much debate concerning the impact of hunting related to turtle doves in the UK however after this was studied and observed by Browne & Aebischer (2004) (as cited in Loveridge, Reynolds & Miller-Guilland, 2007) they found that the decline could actually be associated with the change in farming practices in the UK. There was no actual evidence that hunting was damaging to these birds. But can recreational hunting be justified on a conservational ground? Some say yes, for example, the eastern grey kangaroo used to be hunted for meat and was eaten regularly throughout the local populations, when Vegetarians International got involved and fought to prevent this, the kangaroos over-populated and this lead to the devastation of local agriculture and over-grazing thus resulting in

habitats being damaged. From a conservationists view, the monitored, recreational hunting of the kangaroo was a positive thing as it helped maintain habitats. However, in Elephant Hunting and Conservation (Leader-Williams, 2001) it shows how even removing one elephant from a group can be harmful. The study shows how the oldest female in the group influences the social knowledge of the rest of the group – male or female. It discusses how this can mean there may be serious consequences if there’s ‘a removal of matriarchs from elephant family units’. It shows that an older elephant’s biggest threat is illegal hunters and the conservation of these elephants is difficult while they’re being hunted. However, even though this isn’t recreational hunting and therefore not exactly relevant to the question at hand, it further goes on to explain how legal hunting of male elephants is also detrimental as losing older males from the groups can cause problems with breeding. Another example of where recreational hunting has been harmful is in Do Bears Know they are Being Hunted? (Ordiz et al., 2012), as this shows and studies the behaviour of bears and how hunting has effected them. This article highlights how the hunting season is changing the behavioural patterns of the bears and how they aren’t coming out in the day and increased movement during the night. Bears have also changed their sleeping movements during ‘hyperphagia’ which is the most important time of the year for them, it is when they must store fat for hibernation and this is crucial to reproduction. If reproduction is affected then this becomes a conservation issue as it may reduce the bear population or harm it. Furthermore in the journal Intensive hunting of large flying foxes Pteropus vampyrus natunae in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo (Struebig et al., 2007) shows the relation of the large flying fox and how it is being hunted at a fast rate, the study estimates that in 2003 around 4,500 foxes were removed from a single location within only 30 days. These foxes have important roles in pollination and the hunting is unsustainable meaning that the hunting there is too intensive for the role that the foxes have. Perhaps human intervention is needed to prevent this or stricter laws regarding hunting. To contrast, it is argued that recreational hunting in Africa and like-places can actually benefit the economy and aid the development of local communities. Sport hunting can lead to tourism and a great amount of money being put into the communities, for poorer countries this is vital as it can aid them greatly and enable vast improvements to their environment. Recreational hunting in developing countries relies on international tourism and even though it attracts a small amount of tourists it also produces a high amount of earnings. Is sport hunting a breakthrough wildlife conservation strategy for Africa? (Yasuda, 2008) uses a case study from northern Cameroon which uses two years of fieldwork, consisting of mainly interviews and observations in two villages, to discuss this point further. It was found that in only one season, sport hunting generated around US$1.2 million in tax revenues, not only this but it provided many employment opportunities for the local communities. Yasunda’s journal touches upon The Community Conservation Model as presented by Adams and Hulme, 2001. This is a programme put in place which helps involve the local people as much as possible by sharing revenues and employment opportunities which are a by-product of the increased tourism due to hunting.

However, even though these figures seem to be incredibly positive, and the Community Conservation Model appears to be very reassuring, through interviews with the local communities it was found that many people had to migrate during the hunting season or found that their rights to the natural resources were restricted. Another example of where recreational hunting benefitted the local communities was in the project CAMPFIRE (Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources) in Zimbabwe between 1989 and 2001. The project had 5 main activities to provide extra income for the local communities; firstly, 90% of CAMPFIRE’s revenue came from trophy hunting and the selling of hunting concessions, for example, hunters may pay a great fee to shoot an elephant and then buy its tusk. CAMPFIRE also sold live animals to parks and reserves, national parks also aid the conservation of specific animals. They also dealt with tourism and employed local people to work in safaris, etc. and CAMPFIRE aided the selling of wildlife meat to generate further income (Campfirezimbabwe.org, 2009). And CAMPFIRE’s final activity was to target ‘problem animals.’ These are animals which are an issue in the wild and therefore can, usually, be legally killed. For example, elephants have been known to raid crops and lions often kill domestic live-stock. Jones (1999) and Duffy (2000) (cited in Loveridge, Reynolds & Miller-Guilland, 2007) suggested that these types of animals could be sold to sport hunters to therefore help solve this problem however Taylor (1994) explained how this doesn’t always work. Elephants in Zimbabwe primarily cause damage in the wet season (November to April) however the prime hunting time is usually in the dry season (May to October). So, by allowing the recreational killing of Elephants to deal with crop raiding will probably not work and will not help solve anything. CAMPFIRE deals with these problem animals and usually harvests their natural resources – such as ivory, skins and crocodile eggs. So can recreational hunting be justified on conservation grounds? There are clearly strong arguments for and against, but it appears that the only way it can be justified is if it benefits the local community as a whole. Recreational hunting should only be acceptable in heavily monitored circumstances and perhaps at only certain times of the year. If the hunter has clear knowledge of the animal they are hunting, such as sex, age, position in their social group, etc., then perhaps the benefits outweigh the moral issues.

References Campfirezimbabwe.org, (2009). Campfire Association Zimbabwe. [online] Available at: http://www.campfirezimbabwe.org/ [Accessed 20 Mar. 2015]. Ciuti, S., Northrup, J., Muhly, T., Simi, S., Musiani, M., Pitt, J. and Boyce, M. (2012). Effects of Humans on Behaviour of Wildlife Exceed Those of Natural Predators in a Landscape of Fear. PLoS ONE, 7(11), p.e50611. Dickson, B., Hutton, J. and Adams, W. (2009). Recreational hunting, conservation, and rural livelihoods. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, pp.60-63.

Fernandes-Ferreira, H., Mendonça, S., Albano, C., Ferreira, F. and Alves, R. (2011). Hunting, use and conservation of birds in Northeast Brazil. Biodivers Conserv, 21(1), pp.221-244. Hall, G. (2012). Does recreational hunting have a role in conservation?. [online] Available at: http://www.ssaa.org.au/hunting/educational-resources/2012-02-10_does-recreationalhunting-have-a-role-in-conservation.pdf [Accessed 15 Mar. 2015]. Kaiser, J. (2003). CONSERVATION BIOLOGY: Ebola, Hunting Push Ape Populations to the Brink. Science, 300(5617), pp.232a-232. Leader-Williams, N. (2001). Elephant Hunting and Conservation. Science, 293(5538), pp.2203b-2204. LINDSEY, P., FRANK, L., ALEXANDER, R., MATHIESON, A. and ROMAÑACH, S. (2007). Trophy Hunting and Conservation in Africa: Problems and One Potential Solution. Conservation Biology, 21(3), pp.880-883. Loveridge, A., Reynolds, J. and Milner-Gulland, E. (2007). Key topics in conservation biology - Does sport hunting benefit conservation?. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., pp.224-240. Ordiz, A., Støen, O., Sæbø, S., Kindberg, J., Delibes, M. and Swenson, J. (2012). Do bears know they are being hunted?. Biological Conservation, 152, pp.21-28. Struebig, M., Harrison, M., Cheyne, S. and Limin, S. (2007). Intensive hunting of large flying foxes Pteropus vampyrus natunae in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Oryx, 41(03). Taylor, R. (1994). Elephant management in Nyaminyami District, Zimbabwe. Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe: WWF Multispecies Project, pp.19-23. Yasuda, A. (2008). Is sport hunting a breakthrough wildlife conservation strategy for Africa?. Africakenkyu, 2008(73), pp.1-15....