USA: Bison hunting in Grand Canyon National Park
The animals have multiplied significantly in the national park. However, volunteers need more than just good marksmanship.
Grand Canyon National Park is offering experienced recreational hunters the chance to shoot a bison.
Lottery decides on culling
Recreational hunting is prohibited in national parks. However, the agency has the authority to cull animals that damage resources using park staff or volunteers. The volunteers are meant to help bring the number of bison in the northern part of the US state of Arizona under control.
««It's a unique experience and you can walk a long way before you spot one», explains Dave Arnold from Sun City, who has previously shot a bison.
Bison are permitted to be hunted in an adjacent forest area, which has driven the animals into the Grand Canyon.
Around 300 animals are to be shot
According to reports, between 300 and 500 bison live on the North Rim of the park. Park management wants to reduce their number to 200.
Environmental organizations have criticized the plan. The gunshots would frighten wildlife that is not even the target of the operation. ««In our view, this is not the appropriate way to deal with the problem», says Alicyn Gitlin of the Sierra Club organization.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier The Role and Criticism of Recreational Hunters we shed light on the training, power and self-image of recreational hunters. What the research says about this is shown by Hunting fact-checked: the state of research.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
