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Conservation is my life’s work – and I know trophy hunting helps PROTECT wildlife and isn't making species extinct...writes PROFESSOR AMY DICKMAN
By PROFESSOR AMY DICKMAN

PUBLISHED: 09:51 AEDT, 14 March 2023 | UPDATED: 12:20 AEDT, 14 March 2023

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The memory will stay with me for the rest of my life. Working as a conservation scientist in Africa, I came across the tragic corpse of a lioness, whose hind legs had been cut off and whose swollen teats suggested she had recently given birth.

For days afterwards I agonised about the fate of those newborns, which I knew would be starving to death in the bush.

Lion killings cause particular outrage among Britons, particularly after the notorious shooting of Cecil the lion by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe in 2015. Indeed, trophy hunters are widely seen in Western circles as the darkest villains in the story of man’s destructive relationship with nature.

So despised is trophy hunting that this week MPs are expected overwhelmingly to pass new legislation which will ban the import of trophies into the UK.

Lion killings cause particular outrage among Britons, writes Professor Amy Dickman. She claims trophy hunters are widely seen in Western circles as the darkest villains in the story of man’s destructive relationship with nature
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Lion killings cause particular outrage among Britons, writes Professor Amy Dickman. She claims trophy hunters are widely seen in Western circles as the darkest villains in the story of man’s destructive relationship with nature

The memory will stay with me for the rest of my life,' writes Dickman. 'Working as a conservation scientist in Africa, I came across the tragic corpse of a lioness, whose hind legs had been cut off and whose swollen teats suggested she had recently given birth. For days afterwards I agonised about the fate of those newborns, which I knew would be starving to death in the bush'

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In a recent Commons debate, one Conservative MP even put the activity on a par with paedophilia, while Eduardo Goncalves, founder of the Campaign To Ban Trophy Hunting, has written a book in which he ‘names and shames’ 100 British hunters, from London lawyers to Scottish farmers, some of whom were featured in the Mail last week.

Yet this focus on trophy hunting is unbalanced and potentially counterproductive. Driven by sentimentality, cheered on by celebrity campaigners such as Joanna Lumley and promoted by misinformation from lobby groups (who use these campaigns to raise money), the proposed ban could end up achieving the exact opposite of its supposed ‘conservation’ purpose.

Counterintuitive as it might seem, blanket trophy hunting bans (including import bans) are likely to undermine vital conservation work, including the protection of iconic species.

MPs who vote for the Bill this Friday will no doubt feel virtuous. But they will have failed to recognise that, carried out properly, wild trophy hunting can provide vital revenue for conserving biodiverse habitats and many thousands of species.

In most areas, there is no other viable wildlife-based revenue available, so banning hunting will hinder effective management. Worse, it will increase the likelihood of land being converted into uses such as agriculture and livestock-keeping, because the maintenance of natural habitats for wildlife imposes major costs on local people and provides no meaningful economic benefit.

It is in areas where land has been turned over to farming that we find the corpses like that of the savaged lioness I saw. She died not from a hunter’s bullet but from a poacher’s snare.

I have encountered the horrific aftermath of many other wildlife killings during my African fieldwork, including a group of beautiful tawny eagles lying poisoned on the ground, a decapitated hyena and a leopard with its right paw mangled in a trap.

These animals met their harrowing ends — far more painful than most trophy-hunting deaths — because their lives had no perceived value to local people or they were seen as a danger.

I do not write this as a hunting enthusiast. I am an animal-lover, a vegetarian. I have committed my career to reducing wildlife killings and I loathe the idea of animal parts being treated as sporting mementos or badges of wealth.

a ‘remarkable’ revival in the numbers of rhinos.

In 2011 I was researching in southern Tanzania and found that the level of lion killing was more than 50 times higher than in areas with licensed hunting. Similarly, Kenya — often portrayed as an African success story since it banned trophy hunting 34 years ago — has seen wildlife numbers decline by nearly 70 per cent since then, while livestock numbers have soared.

'The reasons are complex, but banning trophy hunting certainly does not guarantee conservation success,' she wrote. 'Anti-hunting campaigners in Britain love to claim that the vast majority of the public supports such a proposal — hardly a surprise, given the misleading propaganda and celebrity cheerleading.' Pictured: File photo of three men on a legal trophy hunt in Africa
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'The reasons are complex, but banning trophy hunting certainly does not guarantee conservation success,' she wrote. 'Anti-hunting campaigners in Britain love to claim that the vast majority of the public supports such a proposal — hardly a surprise, given the misleading propaganda and celebrity cheerleading.' Pictured: File photo of three men on a legal trophy hunt in Africa

The reasons are complex, but banning trophy hunting certainly does not guarantee conservation success.

Anti-hunting campaigners in Britain love to claim that the vast majority of the public supports such a proposal — hardly a surprise, given the misleading propaganda and celebrity cheerleading.

But more nuanced polling shows that only 40 per cent of Britons would support a ban if it harmed wildlife or local communities. That is exactly what will happen if this measure is imposed.

Instead of signalling their virtue, parliamentarians should put the real interests of animals, local people and the environment first.

Professor Amy Dickman is a conservation biologist and senior research fellow in Wild Cat Conservation at the University of Oxford.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
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