German Trophy Hobby Hunters Kill Endangered Species
Trophy hunters typically target the strongest animals, which are particularly important for the survival of already threatened populations. Hunting associations even maintain record lists and award medals for the largest tusks, horns, and skulls. This unnatural, human-made selection weakens and alters the age and sex composition, reduces reproduction rates, and undermines the genetic health of hunted populations.
German big-game hobby hunters shoot polar bears, lions, and giraffes, bringing the hides, teeth, and other parts home as trophies.
543 hunting trophies in 2020
From Africa, Canada, Argentina, and other countries, they imported 543 hunting trophies, as revealed by a response from the Federal Environment Ministry.
«It is completely absurd — while more and more animal species face extinction, parts of protected animals continue to be brought into Germany as hunting trophies — entirely legally», said Steffi Lemke, the Green Party’s spokesperson on nature conservation policy.
Among the trophies: 164 zebras, 109 baboons, eight elephants, 14 lions, three white rhinos, one polar bear, and 40 giraffes.
Largest big-game hobby hunting community after the USA
«Germans are the largest big-game hobby hunters after Americans and Spaniards», said Daniela Freyer of Pro Wildlife.
According to the species conservation organisation Pro Wildlife, giraffe populations alone shrank by 36 to 40 percent between 1985 and 2015. Estimates suggested fewer than 100,000 giraffes across all of Africa.
«Local people go to prison for years if they are caught with an elephant tusk — and then a wealthy trophy hobby hunter from Germany comes along and can simply take his elephant trophy home. That is not the right message», said Daniela Freyer of Pro Wildlife.
