England: WWF ends support for trophy hunting
The conservation charity WWF in England is ending its support for trophy hunting of wildlife after members and supporters applied pressure, according to a report in The Times. Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the driving force behind the movement of outraged donors in England who are demanding their money back after it emerged that Environment Secretary Michael Gove had been told by the WWF
The conservation charity WWF in England is ending its support for trophy hunting of wildlife after members and supporters applied pressure, according to a report in The Times.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes is the driving force behind the movement of outraged donors in England who are demanding their money back after it emerged that Environment Secretary Michael Gove had been told by the WWF that a ban on the import of big game trophies could harm species such as polar bears.
The attack on the WWF is also being led by one of Britain’s leading animal rights activists: Eduardo Gonçalves, founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, former chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, and former campaign manager at the WWF.
The change of heart also follows a new edition of Killing Game: The Extinction Industry, a book by Eduardo Gonçalves, in which he claims that the WWF charity has provided practical and lobbying support to the trophy hunting industry.
On July 6th, The Times reported on his disclosures, and Sir Ranulph Fiennes then wrote on Facebook: “I am shocked to discover that the once well-respected wildlife charity WWF supports something as morbid and cruel as trophy hunting. The WWF asks us to donate money to save endangered animals, yet in the very next breath they fund the destruction and extinction of those same creatures. This is both hypocritical and deeply disappointing. At the most basic level, it is a complete betrayal of public trust! Perhaps donors have the right to demand their money back?”
Many people responded and communicated that they had cancelled their direct debits and donations in response to the scandal.
Peter Egan, the actor, wrote on Facebook that he was “completely baffled by the true extent of the WWF's shocking double standards regarding trophy hunting. I genuinely believe we can no longer stand by and allow the WWF to support disgusting hobbies like trophy hunting. It is barbaric, inhumane, and entirely devoid of kindness or compassion. Do we want charities that take our donation money to support psychopaths?”
The WWF's branch in England is now understood, according to information from The Times, to have made a U-turn in order to take a harder stance against trophy hunting, in line with the British government, which made a fundamental commitment to ban trophy hunting and the importation of trophies.
In a statement to the Times, a WWF-UK spokesperson said:
Our position has in fact been clear from the start — WWF-UK's longstanding position is that we do not support, fund or encourage the killing of animals for trophies, and we have never opposed the government's proposals to ban importing hunting trophies into the UK.
The government must ensure that any ban takes account of the potential impact on the livelihood and rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to ensure there are not unintended consequences for local communities or wildlife.
Nature is in crisis and it is not only species hunted for trophies that are threatened, with wildlife under much greater threat from their habitats being destroyed through deforestation for agriculture, mining and other purposes.
The government needs to do more than stopping the import of hunting trophies, and must make it illegal to import any products that are killing these animals by driving deforestation.
Trophy hunting is not species conservation
Driven by greed for a special hunting trophy, trophy hunters reduce animal populations to a considerable extent.
A scientific study on recreational lion hunting in Tanzania, for example, shows that legal trophy hunting — and not poaching or habitat loss — is the main factor behind the significant decline in wildlife.
The enormous sums that hobby hunters spend on a hunting trip do not go to the poor local population or to a national park authority, but almost exclusively into the pockets of travel operators and hunting farm owners. An economic analysis of trophy hunting in Africa reveals that a mere 3 percent of trophy hunting revenues reach the local population. From an economic perspective, hunting tourism plays only a negligible role in most countries. In Namibia, for example, trophy hunting contributes just 0.27 percent to GDP, while nature tourism contributes 4.2 percent.
The vast majority of tourists, including those from England, want to see intact wildlife — and the local population also benefits from this in the long term.
The WWF bears some responsibility for the fact that, for example, the slaughter of elephants has not yet been brought to an end.
The panda organisation explicitly rejected the proposal put forward by 29 African states at the 2016 CITES species conservation conference to grant all African elephants the highest protection status — thereby influencing numerous decision-makers (including the EU, whose voting behaviour ultimately tipped the balance toward rejection).
The fact that the elephants of Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa continue to be listed under CITES Appendix II (rather than Appendix I, which would afford the highest level of protection) means, among other things, that trade in elephant skin, hair and carvings is permitted, and that baby elephants in Zimbabwe may continue to be captured from the wild for commercial purposes and sold, for example, to China. This not only decimates the population, but subjects these highly intelligent and social animals to the utmost cruelty. More on this topic Animal Welfare Issue: Hobby Hunting and Hunting Myths on wildbeimwild.com.
Independent experts broadly agree that an absolute and permanent ban on trade in all ivory is necessary to curb poaching and prevent elephants from becoming extinct. This strategy has already proven successful in the past: an international trade ban imposed in 1989 caused markets to collapse and prices to plummet, bringing illegal trade and poaching to an almost complete standstill.
Yet with the approval of the WWF, ivory sales to China and Japan were permitted again in 2008 — with devastating consequences for elephants.
The WWF supports exploitative projects involving hobby hunting and is involved in their implementation — instead of championing ethical concepts of nature and wildlife management.
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