Tourism and Travel Commons^™

The Elephant (Head) In The Room: A Critical Look At Trophy Hunting, Chelsea Batavia, Michael Paul Nelson, Chris T. Darimont, Paul C. Paquet, William J. Ripple, Arian D. Wallach

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Trophy hunting has occupied a prominent position in recent scholarly literature and popular media. In the scientific conservation literature, researchers are generally supportive of or sympathetic to its usage as a source of monetary support for conservation. Although authors at times acknowledge that trophy hunting faces strong opposition from many members of the public, often for unspecified reasons associated with ethics, neither the nature nor the implications of these ethical concerns have been substantively addressed. We identify the central act of wildlife “trophy” taking as a potential source of ethical discomfort and public opposition. We highlight that trophy hunting entails …

Online Hunting Forums Identify Achievement As Prominent Among Multiple Satisfactions, Alena M. Ebeling-Schuld, Chris T. Darimont

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Understanding hunter satisfactions can lead to improved wildlife management policy and practice. Whereas previous work has suggested that hunters often seek multiple satisfactions (achievement, affiliation, appreciation), little is known about how satisfactions might vary with target species. Additionally, past research has mostly gathered data using interviews and surveys, which might limit scope as well as introduce strategic bias for potentially provocative subjects such as hunting. To address these gaps, we analyzed data from online hunting forums, which provide an open-access source of peer-to-peer discussion that is geographically and taxonomically broad. We used directed qualitative content analysis to analyze hunting narratives …

Why Men Trophy Hunt, Chris T. Darimont, Brian F. Codding, Kristen Hawkes

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

The killing of Cecil the lion (Panthera leo) ignited enduring and increasingly global discussion about trophy hunting. Yet, policy debate about its benefits and costs focuses only on the hunted species and biodiversity, not the unique behaviour of hunters. Some contemporary recreational hunters from the developed world behave curiously, commonly targeting ‘trophies’: individuals within populations with large body or ornament size, as well as rare and/or inedible species, like carnivores. Although contemporary hunters have been classified according to implied motivation (i.e. for meat, recreation, trophy or population control, as well the ‘multiple satisfactions’ they seek while hunting (affiliation, …

Hunting As A Management Tool? Cougar-Human Conflict Is Positively Related To Trophy Hunting, Kristine J. Teichman, Bogdan Cristescu, Chris T. Darimont

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Background: Overexploitation and persecution of large carnivores resulting from conflict with humans comprise major causes of declines worldwide. Although little is known about the interplay between these mortality types, hunting of predators remains a common management strategy aimed at reducing predator-human conflict. Emerging theory and data, however, caution that such policy can alter the age structure of populations, triggering increased conflict in which conflict-prone juveniles are involved.

Results: Using a 30-year dataset on human-caused cougar (Puma concolor) kills in British Columbia (BC), Canada, we examined relationships between hunter-caused and conflict-associated mortality. Individuals that were killed via conflict with humans were …

What Enables Size-Selective Trophy Hunting Of Wildlife?, Chris T. Darimont, K. Rosie Child

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

Although rarely considered predators, wildlife hunters can function as important ecological and evolutionary agents. In part, their influence relates to targeting of large reproductive adults within prey populations. Despite known impacts of sizeselective harvests, however, we know little about what enables hunters to kill these older, rarer, and presumably more wary individuals. In other mammalian predators, predatory performance varies with knowledge and physical condition, which accumulates and declines, respectively, with age. Moreover, some species evolved camouflage as a physical trait to aid in predatory performance. In this work, we tested whether knowledge-based faculty (use of a hunting guide with accumulated …

Big Game, Big Bucks: The Alarming Growth Of The American Trophy Hunting Industry, Teresa Telecky, Doris Lin

Big-Game and Trophy Hunting Collection

The trophy hunting of exotic animals by American big game hunters is increasing at an alarming rate. Over 45,000 foreign animals were killed and imported to the U.S. by American trophy hunters in 1993, a 71% increase in only a four-year period. Among the imported trophies are thousands of threatened and endangered species, as well as species listed under CITES. The number of endangered and threatened species killed and imported by American trophy hunters increased by 83% in the same period. Three factors have contributed to the rising numbers of animals killed and imported by American trophy hunters: 1) The …

Providing Humane Stewardship For Wildlife: The Case Against Sport Hunting, John W. Grandy

Hunting Collection

Sport hunting has no place on the National Wildlife Refuges of this nation. To even consider it is an affront to the concept of a Refuge, the right of wild animals to safe haven, and the wishes of society The question of sport hunting in society at large is slightly more complex because society, its thoughts and values, are evolving. Thankfully, we are moving more and more to a view that wildlife should be treated with the same dignity, respect, and freedom from avoidable cruelty that we would ask for ourselves. That process can be moved miles ahead if we …

The Leopard In Africa: Biological And Cultural Realities, Norman Myers

Conservation Collection

The leopard in Africa may once again come under pressure from the U.S. Fish an~ Wildlife Service, which is considering the prospect of changing the leop~rd s legal status from endangered to threatened, thus opening it up to sport huntmg. The motivation is to enable American hunters to bring leopard skin trophies back to the United States.