In 2014, professional hunter Corey Knowlton, placed a bid of $350,000 for the chance to go on a hunting trip in Namibia. On this trip Knowlton had the chance to hunt and kill the black rhino, an extremely endangered species. This hunt and the ideas that have been used to justify it have started a heated debate on the subject. Animal conservationists, who support the ethical side of the argument, don’t understand the desire to kill a magnificent animal for sport. They believe that to sell the rights to the unnatural slaughter of an innocent animal for a trophy sends the wrong message. It seems contradictory and unethical especially in the name of conservation. Conservation by definition is the act of preserving, guarding and protecting something. So this poses a question, how can killing an animal, specifically an endangered species, really be an act of conservation? Well, some hunters would argue that this type of conservation hunting is actually a crucial player in securing the survival of these endangered species for a number of reasons. These hunters stress the economic side of this debate. They emphasize the amount of money this type of hunting and auctioning brings in to local economies and to government conservation funding in general. Also, they present hard evidence to support their argument: research has actually shown that conservation hunting can help to increase the number of specific endangered species. Though entirely different, both the ethical and economic approaches to conservation work in harmony. Activists and classic conservationists who are enraged by the act of conservation hunting bring about huge amounts of media coverage to a handful of stories that help to educate people and bring attention to the larger issue being the endangered species. Meanwhile, the actual act of conservation hunting works with nature to remove animals that are no longer contributing to the progression of the species.
The world’s animal population has been cut in half in the past 40 years as a result of human activity (Lavandera, 2015). Hunting and poaching is mainly responsible for the initial decrease in the population of black rhinos specifically. Currently, there are approximately 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild today, and 2,000 of them live in Namibia (Lavandera, 2015). With such a small population size black rhinos and rhinos in general are on the brink of extinction. Aldo Leopold’s land ethic theory simply pushes the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land (Leopold, 1948). He believes in giving animals value as that is the only way people can be ethical towards it (Leopold, 1948). Conservationists use this theory to support their argument that it is unethical to bring about death and suffering to an animal for the good of the species in the long run. Richard Leaky, head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, states that conservation hunting sends a negative message that it’s okay to hunt these animals and kill endangered species and decreases their value (Melvin, 2015). However, they’re there are so many other ways we can increase conservation efforts, the best way being, exposure to the wonders of wildlife and nature starting at a young age (Melvin, 2015). This would increase the animals value and make more people understand and practice the ideas behind the land ethic theory. Not to mention classic conservationists question the contradictory notion that killing an animal this way is an effort to save the animal from extinction and conserve its species. Due to all this rage, confusion, and questioning stories like Corey Knowlton’s rhino hunt and others like it have gone viral. There is now a sudden surge in public discussion and debate on this topic (Maki, 2015). These debates however, help to raise awareness about the condition of these endangered species. The discussions also inspire some to help in the conservation efforts as best they can. For example, Richard Leakey, caught the eye of the public when he burned 105 tons of Ivory that had been confiscated from illegal poachers (Nuwer, 2016). This blaze brought about lots of media attention and thus allowed for him to help raise awareness to the delicate state of the elephants being poached and their impending extinction if nothing was to be done soon (Maki, 2015). “The summit and the burn are about awareness raising and demand reduction, which are critically important, but the other part is simply action,” said Robert Godec, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya (Nuwer, 2016). In addition to raising awareness, the burn decreased the demand for ivory thus lowering its price and the incentive to buy it and thus poach for it in the first place. Media attention like this encourages and pushes people into taking action and helping conservation efforts. An article published in the University of Washington magazine quotes a 2005 paper from the Journal of International Wildlife that reported that the legalizing of hunting white rhinos in South Africa had actually motivated private landowners to open up their lands to the animals giving them sanctuary from dangers (Melvin, 2015). The article says, “As a result, the country saw an increase in white rhinos from fewer than 100 individuals to more than 11,000, even while a limited number were killed as trophies,” (Melvin, 2015) If it weren’t for the attention brought about by the media to the hunting of these endangered animals then humans would have no incentive to try and save them.
Conservation hunters argue that hunting and trophy hunting is a vital component of in the effort to save endangered animals from extinction. They see from the economical side of conservation rather than the ethical side. These millionaire hunters bid thousands of dollars on auctions for a very limited number of legal hunting permits (Maki, 2015). These permits are called “conservation tags” and raise millions of dollars that are then donated back to various conservation agencies (Maki, 2015). According to CNN, the funds raised during auctions for the conservation tags have funded many successful breeding programs, anti-poaching campaigns, and enforcement. Another justification of conservation hunting is culling the herd. Culling herds, removing animals from a population in ways including hunting, has long been an accepted conservation practice. For example: deer hunting in North America (Melvin, 2015). Rhinos are extremely territorial animals who will often fight and kill each other over territory and the breeding rights that come along with it (Adler, 2015). The rhinos chosen to be removed from the population must be older, no longer reproducing, and considered a threat to younger, healthier rhinos (Lavandera, 2015). The reduction in the population of these aggressive older rhinos as a result of conservation hunting has significantly helped to improve the growth of the species (Maki, 2015). The number of black rhinos alone have increased by an estimated 51 percent, according to a report from CNN. This research and other arguments show that this type of conservation model is actually working for the time being despite its contradictory roots.
Though the hard evidence from scientific research is hard to argue against classic conservationists among many others struggle seeing the benefits in this conservation approach. These two approaches actually work harmoniously together. One can see that the attention and awareness that resulted from these auctioned hunts have sparked additional varying acts of conservation by people worldwide. This aids to the benefits that conservation hunting already brings to the table such as, removing animals that are a threat to the population and the repurposing of the funds raised by the hunts back into conservation efforts. Thus the two methods of conservation though radically different secretly work together harmoniously to ensure the future survival of these endangered animals. .