Jane Goodall: Trophy Hunting Threatens Wildlife

The natural world is increasingly under threat as we move through the 21st century.

Yet some of the world’s most endangered wildlife continues to be relentlessly pursued by trophy hunters. How can anyone take pride in killing such magnificent creatures, asks leading primatologist Jane Goodall.

Scientific studies have demonstrated the link between trophy hunting and the decline of species populations. They also point to how wildlife populations have recovered when local moratoriums on trophy hunting have been introduced. However, exports of hunting trophies continue to increase, explains Jane Goodall.

Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, made international headlines in 2015 when he killed a lion named Cecil for sport. Unfortunately for Palmer, Cecil was part of a long-term study and fitted with a radio collar. Subsequent investigations revealed the terrible truth about Cecil’s death.

The Kill

Since the world learned how Walter Palmer perfidiously hunted down the famous lion Cecil in Zimbabwe, the disturbed mindset of trophy hunters has been laid bare. The dentist and his hunting guide had tied parts of a dead elephant to their jeep, luring Cecil out of Hwange National Park. Palmer then wounded the animal with a crossbow shot and finally killed it with a rifle after a 40-hour pursuit.

Every year, at least 600 trophy hunters kill lions. It is estimated that only around 3,500 adult male lions remain in the wild across Africa. Fewer than half live in protected areas. The annual lion hunting quota amounts to one third of the males available for hunting. It is believed that the loss of just 5 percent of healthy adult males would push the species beyond the point of no return.

Trophy hunters seek out the most impressive males — often the very individuals that would have been chosen by the pride's females. The trophy hunter's drive to bag a lion and pursue the most impressive animals has caused the species' gene pool to shrink by 15% within 100 years.

Tusks

Elephant populations are in an even worse state due to the value of their tusks. The great herds that once roamed Africa have largely disappeared. The number of elephants shot each year by trophy hunters and poachers now exceeds the number of calves being born.

Most heartbreaking of all is the systematic search for and killing of those with the largest tusks — the so-called «Big Tuskers» — whose ivory is so magnificent that it touches the ground.

Only 40 «Big Tuskers» remain. Yet there are trophy hunters who would pay enormous sums of money for the «privilege» of shooting one. And even where this is impossible, they still seek out and kill those with the largest tusks available.

More than 200 years of killing elephants with large tusks has left its mark — elephant tusks are getting smaller, and tuskless elephants are becoming more common. This makes them vulnerable: in a drought, shorter or absent tusks make it difficult or impossible to dig for water beneath dry riverbeds.

Rhinoceroses are among the most endangered large land mammals. Like elephants, they are cursed with a part of their anatomy that is highly coveted — their horns.

Despite their precarious status, there are those who desperately try to kill them, to add them to their macabre trophy collections and secure the admiration of their like-minded friends. Just recently, an American paid $350,000 to shoot a black rhinoceros in Namibia.   

Polar bears are even more endangered than white rhinos, yet the Canadian government still issues licenses for non-indigenous peoples to kill them. Considering that they are also threatened by climate change, which has led to the melting of sea ice, both the sale and the desire to purchase a permit seem equally shocking.

Baboons

During the years I spent studying chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, I also spent a great deal of time observing baboons. They are fascinating animals with a highly complex social structure and great individuality, says Jane Goodall.

Unfortunately, they have a bad reputation as crop raiders. While I can sympathize with an impoverished farmer who shoots some of the thieves that have devastated his precious maize harvest, I have nothing but contempt for a wealthy British trophy hunter who killed a male, a female, and a few youngsters and then posed – smiling proudly – beside their limp bodies.

There are ranches that breed baboons and monkeys to provide hunters with easy-to-obtain trophies for their collections.

CITES has issued import and export permits for 40 different primate species, our closest relatives, to enable individuals to kill them.

Jane Goodall on Emotions

The first animal I encountered up close in Africa was a giraffe, says Jane Goodall. Seeing a group against a red African sunset is one of the most beautiful sights. Giraffe populations are declining – and one reason for this is that trophy hunters want to shoot them for fun.

An American woman, Sabrina Corgatelli, boastfully posted pictures of herself grinning from ear to ear as she posed with the animals she had killed on her hunting safari. The photo that disturbed me most showed her rejoicing over the carcass of a large male giraffe. She writes: "What an amazing animal!! I couldn't be happier!! The emotion I felt after getting him was something I will never forget!!! “

I have tried to understand such an emotion, but I simply cannot put myself in the mind of a person who pays thousands of pounds to kill beautiful animals, just to boast of their skills as a hunter. 

In the early days of the "White Hunter" there was sometimes an element of danger. But today, where animals can be shot from a distance with a high-powered rifle, things are very different.

How can anyone be proud of killing these magnificent creatures? Magnificent in life, that is — in death they are merely the sad victims of a sadistic desire to earn the admiration of their friends. When the hunter is overwhelmed with joy after killing and shares that emotion on Facebook, this must surely be the joy of a sick mind, Jane Goodall concludes in «The Ecologist«.