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One more older article from The Hunting Report:

DATELINE: BOTSWANA
News Analysis
The Darker Implications
Of Closing Lion Hunting
Lion hunting in Botswana is not to be reopened. Ian Khama has made it known that he disfavors lion hunting by tourist safari hunters and will not let it be reopened. He is the Vice President of Botswana, the son of Botswana’s first President at the close of the colonial period, and he is expected to become President at the next election. He is a close friend and reportedly a business partner of Derek Joubert, an anti-hunting videographer who has been calling for the closure of all hunting in Botswana for many years, particularly lion hunting. Vice President Khama and Joubert operate a photographic safari lodge together.

The Vice President’s decision to close lion hunting was obviously a personal decision, rather than one based on good socio-eco-biology. A recent lion workshop demonstrated that past lion hunting has been of no significant biological impact, but has been beneficial to lion management and survival. We expect the closure to have a dramatic impact on the long-term survivability of lions in Botswana, as the safari industry has been the principal source of direct and indirect revenue for lion conservation in that country. The hunting has also been the incentive for much of the lion conservation measures.

In addition to lion-hunting license fees that will totally cease to exist, the solvency of the whole safari hunting industry will be weakened. Another of the big-ticket “Big Five” can’t be taken. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in lion conservation funding that has come from safari hunters, their conservation organizations and hunting operators will dry up in due course. We know of well over one hundred thousand dollars in lion research revenue from Dallas Safari Club, Conservation Force, Safari Club International, Rann Safaris and private individuals such as Steve Chancellor in the past few years that are not likely to be duplicated. Millions of dollars have been put into communal-based natural resource development partly dependent upon revenue from lion hunting. It is one more nail in the coffin of those programs now and in the future.

A striking example of the measure of the loss is the rejection of a $2.5 million dollar proposal for additional conservation and management revenue for Botswana’s lions. Conservation Force created a special lion conservation fund called “Lions Forever Fund.” That fund, which paid for the recent lion workshop in Botswana, was conceived by conservationist Steve Chancellor, who was to be the single most important contributor. The fund was designed to provide more than $500,000 a year for a minimum of five years exclusively for lion conservation in Botswana. The Botswana Ministry actually requested and received money from the fund for its recent lion workshop. The more than $40,000 that was spent came from Steve Chancellor, Houston Safari Club, Conservation Force and, separately, from the Botswana Wildlife Management Association (that country’s PH Association). The fund was to be administered without charge and in partnership with the most prominent local Botswana NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). All of this and more has now been whisked away by Ian Khama at a whim. Botswana lion hunting is to remain closed.

This has been coming for some time. The tourist lion-hunting quota has been ridiculously low for nearly a decade. It was only recently increased to 30 per annum before being suddenly closed a year ago. It has been a bizarre situation from the inception. The number of lions killed for problem animal control has been as much as ten times greater than the safari-hunting take. Now, more local people will perceive lions to be a threat, nuisance and incompatible liability. Far fewer will perceive them as revenue-generating assets to be sustainably used.

For nearly a decade, the hunting community has been chasing false issues in Botswana to keep lion hunting open. Now, all excuses have run out. The Lions Forever Fund by itself would have provided $16,666.66 per annum per lion harvested through safari hunting. (30 lions = $500,000). That would have been in addition to the license fees and all related incentives. Leopard, one of the most abundant cats in the world, is expected to follow and its quota is being cut. Even community development and self-determination are not sacred.

The loss of lion hunting in Botswana is not a great loss to the hunting community in an absolute sense, for there was only a quota of 30 lions when it was closed a year ago. However, it is the loss of an experience unmatchable in quality. It is a loss to those of us who have come to love Botswana, its people and its wildlife. It is a loss to Botswana and to the lions themselves. No one gives lions in the wild a higher value than those tourist hunters who hunt them today.

It looks like this may be one business in which they are both involved or associated:

http://www.selindareserve.com/

Derek Joubert has made many of the National Geographic documentaries that I have enjoyed, and I do not fault both Ian Khama, who reportedly did a great deal to halt poaching, or Joubert, for their views on conservation. However, I hate to see Botswana closed as Kenya was. Maybe there is enough other wealth in Botswana to keep the wildlife populations healthy without the dollars from hunters, at least while Khama is in charge, but who knows? And what will happen if elephant populations are not managed?

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Some pictures from Namibia

Some pictures from Zimbabwe

An Elephant Story

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