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Madeline Johnston

Ms. Bermudez

English 10B

19 January 2017

Hunting

Trophy hunting can cost over $20,000 and about a million of people go hunting a year.

Hunting’s been around forever, either looking for food to eat or clothes to wear; it’s a part of

human history. Today, hunting is the practice of pursuing and killing live animals, and trophy

hunting is hunting for thousands of dollars with a permit and getting to keep the animal as a

prize. Trophy hunting is a topic that some people see as a problem and some see it as a solution

to a problem. One problem with trophy hunting is that killing wild animals can cause serious

harm to a population, and one solution is to use the money from trophy hunting to help

endangered animals, the wilderness, etc. While proponents of animal rights argue that trophy

hunting serves no purpose and is aiding to the eradication of some species, the supporters of

trophy hunting state that it can contribute to the conservation of certain species and help many

issues money-wise.

Hunters claim that hunting isn’t bad for an animal’s population like the public makes it

out to be. People that go trophy hunting try to explain how they can help an animal’s population

or do no harm, or both. It is shown that “[h]unters of every kind can come home empty handed”

(Helliker) without hurting a thing. Hunters don’t always kill animals. After being in the

wilderness for a few days to hunt “...they say, ‘I want to go home. I've had enough of being
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miserable’” (Helliker). Some people who go hunting return without a trophy, which

demonstrates how hunters don’t kill something every time they go out for a hunt; hunting is hard.

If every time a hunter went out they killed an animal, there would be far fewer animals; humans

make mistakes. Also, hunters help the animals with the money it costs to go trophy hunting.

Animals in the US that have been hunted for “...have experienced dramatic growth in recent

decades thanks to government management efforts that are funded by donations from and taxes

imposed on hunters” (Helliker). When people go trophy hunting, they are taxed and their money

goes to helping animal population. Some hunters also donate to help animals. The animals

hunters kill then experience a growth in their population because of donations from the hunters

themselves and the taxes on their pay. Hunters aren’t heartless, they donate to help animals and

they’re sometimes in the mood to go hunting; sometimes hunters turn around and go back home.

Although hunters assume that their tax money helps, some people are skeptical. They

claim that hunting helps the conservation of animals and small countries, while animal rights

activists claim that they are lying about the money and should not be trusted. The small country

Namibia in Southern Africa is a place “...where money from trophy hunting funds

community-based conservancies that otherwise lack tourism potential” (Dymoke). Money from

trophy hunting helps communities that need it. Trophy hunting helps the community gain tourists

which then lets them gain money on their own. Therefore, trophy hunting helps small

communities get on their feet and then they can support themselves after that. However, for the

people claiming that trophy hunting helps, the Democratic staff of the House Natural Resources

Committee has a report that finds “...little evidence that money is being used to help threatened

species, mostly because of rampant corruption in some countries and poorly managed wildlife
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programs” (Smith). People that lie about this do not seem very trustworthy. The money might

not be going anywhere thanks to “...poorly managed wildlife programs” (Smith). If the money is

not helping wildlife, then where does it go? It’s up to people themselves to decide what side they

believe, the side where the money from trophy hunting helps or the side where the money from

trophy hunting is poorly managed and does not help.

Trophy hunting has faced many problems because of the media and news. After a dentist

named Walter Palmer goes trophy hunting and illegally kills a lion named Cecil, the media is

covered with stories about this lion and dentist, who has his legal permit but lured the lion out of

a protected space which is illegal. Trophy hunting “...took a hit from changes in public mood, as

well as considerable media attention. There has been a dramatic decline in recreational hunting”

(Gaughen 113) most likely because of Cecil and Walter. Why should trophy hunting stay if no

one is willing to go? If the money from trophy hunting does help animals, then they won’t be

able to help much if no one pays to hunt. Would it be best to ban trophy hunting? However,

some people call hunters the protectors of the woods. Animal rights activists might be against

hunters, but they have “...found supporters in the environmental movement. Hunters, say

environmentalists, are wanderers of the wilderness and have become its strongest protector as

well as stewards of wildlife” (Gaughen 113). Hunters may have a bad reputation from the media,

but they have support from environmentalists. Environmentalists need to have a reason to

support them; they must see how hunters help the wilderness. Hunters must help the land their

animal trophies have thrived on.

Even if hunters help habitats, there are still sides of trophy hunting that can go wrong.

Africa is a place where many people go hunting, however, it is known for being poorly managed
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in the areas of conservation. There can be problems in the community, there can be problems

with the revenues, or there can be “...corruption and ecological problems such as setting quotas

in the absence of adequate population data and overshooting of quotas” (Lindsey et al. 284). So,

trophy hunting in Africa, a popular place to hunt, doesn’t help with conservation. There are too

many problems getting in the way of letting the hunters money help out with conservation.

Workers for trophy hunting have to follow data of animal populations so they know what

animals have a high population that should be assigned to the hunters. Some trophy hunting

areas, such as Africa, do not look at the data and give hunters whatever animal they want, which

can lead to endangerment or extinction of animals. Hunters can also overshoot their quota.

Hunters can kill more animals than they paid for. That defeats the whole purpose of managing

trophy hunts.

Speaking of Africa, hunting for african lions is a big deal in the trophy hunting

community. Hunters want them as a trophy, and animal rights activists want them to be alive.

People are worried that lions are endangered because of poachers and other reason, yet hunters

still want to hunt for them. Activists claim that killing a few lions can make them extremely

endangered. Nevertheless hunters are willing to pay thousands of dollars to have one in their

house; they don’t see the harm if they kill one lion. Some people might be complaining, but an

article by Karyl Whitman from the College of Biological Sciences states, “In most species, sport

hunting of male trophy animals can only reduce overall population size when the rate of removal

of males is so high that females can no longer be impregnated” (1). There’s no need to worry

about the population as long as the animals, in this case lions, are able to reproduce offspring.

Trophy hunting will most likely not kill a species; it would be very hard to kill every male or
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female in a species. However, the problem with lions is the pride, a group of lions. In the same

article by Whitman, it explains how “[t]rophy hunting is expected to increase the rate of male

takeovers, as larger coalitions dominate smaller ones and the loss of even one male from a

resident coalition renders it more vulnerable to being ousted” (1). When a hunter kills the males

in a pride, they will get replaced, which wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the lionesses, females, in

the pride didn’t have any cubs. When a male joins the pride, they want the cubs to be their own,

they don’t want cubs that aren’t related to them and they don’t want to wait to have offspring, so

“...incoming males typically kill all cubs ≤9 months of age and evict older subadults when they

rst take over a pride” (Whitman 2). When a hunter kills one male lion, they might be killing

some cubs, but will that dent the species population? Trophy hunting might be hurting the

population of lions, or it might not be.

Animal rights activists see trophy hunting as a way to end an animal species and hunters

see it as a way to conserve an animal species. The question is: Is trophy hunting helping? There

are a few thing that it can help with if it is managed properly. Some examples are towns and

countries that need support, endangered animals that can use the money to help keep them safe

away, or help the environment by watching out for it, but if the money for trophy hunting doesn’t

go anywhere, then trophy hunting is doing more harm than good. Trophy hunting can, and might,

do good in the future if people use the money for good. No one should be greedy.
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Works Cited

Dymoke, Alex. “Can the Trophy Hunting of Wildlife Ever be Justified?” ​The Independent,​ 19

Mar 2016, pp. 10. ​SIRS Issues Reseaarcher,​ ​http://sks.sirs.com

*Emslie, Richard, and Michael Knight. "Hunting is Crucial to Conservation." The Independent,

19 Mar, 2016, pp. 10, SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.*

Gaughen, Shasta. ​Animal Rights​. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Print.

Helliker, Kevin. “An Unlikely Boom in Trophy Hunting.” ​Wall Street Journal​, 21 Dec 2015, pp.

A. 6. ​SIRS Issues Reseaarcher​, ​http://sks.sirs.com

Lindsey, P. A. et al. “Potential of Trophy Hunting to Create Incentives for Wildlife Conservation

in Africa Where Alternative Wildlife-Based Land Uses may not be Viable.” ​Animal

Conservation,​ vol. 9, no. 3, 2006. 283-291

Smith, Jada F “Report Finds Hunting Fees do Not Help Conservation.” ​New York Times,​ 14 Jun

2016, pp. A. 10. ​SIRS Issues Reseaarcher​, ​http://sks.sirs.com

Whitman, Karyl et al. “Sustainable Trophy Hunting of African Lions.” ​College of Biological

Sciences​, 2004.