Trophy Hunting: Survey of Politicians

Ahead of the municipal elections in September, 13 nature and animal protection organisations are urgently appealing to the SPD and CDU in Dortmund to ban offerings of trophy hunting trips at the hunting trade fair «Jagd & Schund» at the Dortmund Westfalenhallen.

In a survey of mayoral candidates and municipal parties, the candidates from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, DIE LINKE and FDP spoke out clearly against the offering of trophy hunting trips in the city-owned exhibition hall. The CDU, however, sees no reason to restrict the fair, while the SPD wishes to leave the decision on a ban to an ethics commission yet to be established.

City of Dortmund bears co-responsibility for the hunting of endangered species

At Europe’s largest hunting trade fair «Jagd & Schund», more than 150 exhibitors offer trophy hunting trips abroad every year. Hunting of endangered and protected species such as polar bears, rhinoceroses, elephants and lions is advertised at the exhibition stands through price lists, special offers, hunting videos and photographs of killed animals. “As a major hub for hunting trips, the Dortmund trade fair bears co-responsibility for the sell-off of endangered wildlife. This ‘business of killing for pleasure’ is ethically and from a species conservation perspective absolutely unacceptable. It is high time to ban such offerings”, states Daniela Freyer of Pro Wildlife. As the sole shareholder of the Westfalenhallen Unternehmensgruppe Dortmund GmbH, the city council would have the authority to implement this demand.
 
Some of the offerings found at the trade fair would violate applicable laws in Germany.

"Trophy hunting is a despicable pastime of wealthy, jaded people who have more money than morals. In Germany, the killing of animals for the purpose of acquiring trophies is prohibited, as there is neither a reasonable justification within the meaning of the Animal Welfare Act nor compliance with the principles of fair chase."

Nadja Michler, Wildlife Policy Advisor at PETA

Trophy hunting: Candidates from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, FDP and LINKE support ban demands

Following an open letter to Dortmund's Lord Mayor Ullrich Sierau, the 13 organizations have now called upon the mayoral candidates and municipal parties to state their position on the marketing of trophy hunting trips in Dortmund.

• Thomas Westphal, SPD mayoral candidate: „I believe that excluding the promotion of hunts targeting endangered species (...) should be reconsidered. (...) On the one hand, we have the clear interests of Dortmund's residents in a stable trade fair business, in jobs in a city that needs every job it can get, and on the other hand, the interests of animal welfare for endangered species. (...) My proposal (...) will be to establish a new ethics commission at the beginning of the new council term to transparently advise politics and administration on such matters.“
• Christiane Krause, Deputy CDU Parliamentary Group Chair: „We trust that the relevant legal regulations are being complied with. No grounds are seen for restricting the trade fair as a commercial enterprise in its activities."
• Peter Köhler, District Manager BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN: „We support the concerns of animal welfare organizations to no longer allow trophy hunting providers at the Jagd & Hund trade fair or other trade fair programs at the Westfalenhallen in the future.“
• Utz Kowalewski, DIE LINKE mayoral candidate: „Die Linke in Dortmund categorically rejects trophy hunting. This also includes its marketing within the framework of the Jagd & Hund trade fair at the Dortmund Westfalenhallen. We have therefore submitted a motion to the council to refrain from offering such services at the municipal trade fair center in the future. Unfortunately, there was no majority for this — when money is involved, the morality of the council majority evidently comes to an end.“
• Michael Kauch, FDP mayoral candidate: „Trophy hunting of protected species, which takes place in part on the African continent, would not be permissible under animal welfare and hunting law in Germany. (…) We will therefore advocate in the new electoral period of the council that the Westfalenhallen, as a municipal enterprise, no longer provide space for the marketing of trophy hunting trips to Africa.“

When asked by an editorial team from the hobby hunter milieu how this view reconciles, for example, with the IUCN assessment “that an ‘end to hunting – in the absence of viable, alternative sources of income – would exacerbate far greater threats rather than improving the conservation status of huntable species,’” Kauch replied: "Trophy hunting of protected species, unlike their use by indigenous peoples or the population regulation of local overpopulations by the states themselves, does not in my view represent an ethically responsible and sustainable use of resources.Funds for nature conservation and the local population can very well be generated through sustainable wildlife tourism. The IUCN statement explicitly provides for the latter alternative.“

“Excluding trophy hunting travel providers from Europe’s largest hunting fair would also send a clear signal to the federal government to finally put an end to forms of hunting that are contrary to animal and species protection.”

Undine Kurth, Vice President of the German Nature Conservation Ring

BackgroundTrophy Hunting:

• In Africa alone, more than 18,000 foreigners go big-game hunting every year, killing more than 100,000 wild animals, including endangered and protected species such as elephants, cheetahs, leopards and rhinoceroses. While trade in products derived from these animals is prohibited, hunting trophies can be legally imported into Germany with official import permits despite their strict protected status – for private pleasure. This is because special exemptions apply to hunting trophies.
• Germany is the world’s third-largest importer of hunting trophies of internationally protected species; in 2019 alone, trophies from 750 animals were imported, including body parts of elephants, lions, rhinoceroses, polar bears and primates.
• Because trophy hunting cannot be justified under animal welfare and species protection law, several countries have already enacted import bans: France became the first EU country to halt the import of lion trophies in 2015; in 2016, the Netherlands introduced an import ban on trophies of all protected animal species. The UK government is currently developing an import ban, and in Belgium two parties submitted a corresponding motion in July 2020.
• Trophy hunting is neither “species conservation with a shotgun” nor does it contribute to “maintaining a healthy animal population,” as hunting organizations like to claim. Trophy hunters compete with one another for particularly outstanding trophies — often from endangered species. As a rule, they target the strongest, most experienced individuals that are most important for species preservation. Various studies confirm that this unnatural selection has fatal consequences for hunted populations.
• Big-game hunters claim that hunting helps combat poverty. In reality, it is above all a lucrative business for foreign safari hunting operators. According to a study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), local communities receive on average only 0.3 US dollars per person per year from hunting tourism — far too little to improve people’s economic situation or contribute to the protection of habitats.