Extinction via Hunting
Bobcats being killed in Texas
Please send a copy of your newsletter, "Save the Cats," to me.
I am a reporter and am trying to stop the totally unreglated hunting of bobcats
in Texas, not to mention other animals in North Texas.
An organization called "Varmit Hunters" hunts in this area and kills
literally a mountain of "varmints," which includes non-varmints like
bobcats, coyotes and whatever else they can. The barbarian who shoots the
most wins $10,000.
People around here are defensive about their right to hunt, but I hope to
show how unregulated hunting of animals like bobcats departs from the way
Texas Parks and Wildlife used to protect animals. I am just starting to
research the change in their policy, but it appears, they have given up
doing their duty. One game warden quoted in our paper talked about
unregulated hunting or harvesting as the new way to control
"varmints."
Varmints? I think not.
As you probably know, there is no control whatsoever on how many bobcats
the hunters can shoot in Texas. I know how rarely bobcats are sighted, but
varmint hunters use "callers." A bobcat is an animal that is too shy
to
bother lifestock and so what if they get a few chickens?
Even though coyotes do kill newborn calves and carry off a lot of cats and
dogs, they do not warrant being slaughtered wholesale either.
Ironically, one of the peskiest animals around here besides feral hogs
in terms of damage to land, spread of disease and auto wrecks is the white
tail deer. But they are very well protected. Something fishy is going on.
Thanks for sending the newsletter.
Gay Storms
stormy@digitalpassage.com
Why is the extinction rate so high?
| Habitat destruction by man is the leading reason. |
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Lions face new threat: They're rich, Americans and they've got
guns
Schwarzkopf and George Bush Senior mobilize opposition as Botswana moves to save
its big cats
Special report: George Bush's America
Source:
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,479311,00.html
Chris McGreal in Johannesburg
Friday April 27, 2001
The Guardian
You might call the lions of southern Africa potential Bush meat. The former
American president, George Bush senior, and his old Gulf War ally, General
"Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf, are pleading with the government of
Botswana to be allowed to revive their old alliance, this time in pursuit of
Africa's endangered big cats.
Mr. Bush is among prominent members of Safari Club International (SCI) who have
written to the Botswanan authorities asking them to lift a ban slapped on trophy
hunting of lions in February.
Arizona-based SCI describes itself as the largest hunting organization in the
world and people who do not like what it does as "animal protection
extremists".
Mr. Bush's former vice-president, Dan Quayle, is also among the signatories
along with Gen Schwarzkopf. Both men went hunting in Botswana last year,
although it is not known if they bagged lions on that occasion.
Rich Americans, Europeans and Japanese pay about £20,000 a time to kill a lion
in Botswana. The government usually permits the shooting of about 50 lions a
year by trophy hunters but decided to impose the ban in part because American
shooters favour lions with thick manes for their walls, leading to a
disproportionate killing of mature males.
The shortage of such beasts is now so great that hunters have been making use of
a mane-extension service back in the US where fake hair is weaved in to give
their trophies an extra flourish before they hang the heads.
Among those who campaigned for a ban on lion hunting in Botswana is Derek
Joubert, the country's leading chronicler of big cats.
"I've been studying lions in northern Botswana for 20 years and watching
them systematically decline in population size and health primarily, perhaps
even solely, as the result of hunting," he said.
"We've also seen some bizarre situations arising. Hunters target the
primary males. When they disappear the male cubs don't leave the pride, they're
not chased out. So we've seen these young males breeding with their sisters and
their mothers because the trophy males have been killed."
Mr. Joubert estimates that the number of lions in Botswana has declined by about
two-thirds in 10 years. That is average for the continent.
Exact numbers of lions are notoriously difficult to measure but there is broad
consensus among conservationists and governments that the population in Africa
has fallen from about 50,000 to less than 15,000 over the past decade. The
surviving lions are largely confined to four viable populations in southern and
east Africa.
Peasant farmers also had a hand in the Botswana ban. The government had already
forbidden them to shoot lions that attack cattle. The farmers said it was unfair
to permit rich hunters to go on killing lions for sport when peasants were
prevented from protecting their precious livestock.
"There's no other reason to shoot a lion other than ego. As a hunter you
want to feel great so you can hang it on the wall and your mates say: 'Wow, what
a man'," Mr. Joubert said. "I'm not particularly anti-hunting. I can't
personally see the point in going out and shooting a lion. But I do have a
problem with the ethics of it and the sustainability of it."
The nature of lion hunting has changed from colonial days. Faster vehicles and
high powered rifles have further reduced the already bad odds against the
animals. On top of that, the idea of three week hunts deep into the bush in the
hope, but not necessarily the expectation, of bagging something big have given
way to the concept of a sure kill.
"It's very difficult for a professional hunter to turn around to some guy
who's paid $30,000 to kill a lion and say: 'Don't shoot that one he's too young,
he's not ready'. The guy's going to say, I came here to kill a lion and that's
what I'm going to do," said Mr. Joubert.
At least there is still something of the hunt left in Botswana. South Africa
offers the notorious "canned lion" service in which a trapped animal
is virtually delivered to the barrel of a gun.
Many of the lions are bred in captivity solely as bait for hunters and then
hardly pursued at all. They are released into what are no more than fields
surrounded by fences and "hunted". They have no chance of escape.
On one occasion captured on video a lioness was separated from her cubs and shot
just yards away. Last year a pride of problem lions - they had been eating
livestock - in the state-owned Kruger National Park was sold to a hunting tour
operator for delivery to his clients.
Tales of horrendous suffering by the animals abound. Some supposed hunters are
so inexpert with guns that they take a dozen shots to kill a lion.
Sometimes the killing takes place on the same game farms that foreign tourists
believe to be conservation centers. While the parks emphasize the breeding of
lions to the visitors waving cameras, over the hill the hunters are shooting
them with guns. The state-run South African tourist board even advertised
"canned lion" hunts.
"Go for the ultimate trophy and score in South Africa," said one
advert. "It is always in season in South Africa, where the world's finest
hunting is in the bag."
Opponents of the ban in Botswana say it will have a big effect on the local
economy. Lion hunting is estimated to be worth about £3m a year but most of the
profits go to hunting operators.
The government earns just £1,500 for each lion bagged, a fraction of what the
hunter pays, even though all hunting takes place on state-owned reserves and the
animals are the property of the government.
Safari Club International, which calls itself a "charitable organization of
hunter conservationists" with 33,000 members across the globe, is unlikely
to get its way. The tide appears to have swung against lion hunting in Botswana
and conservationists are confident that when the ban comes up for review in a
year it will be reimposed.
While SCI mobilizes politicians, other prominent voices have spoken up in favour
of the ban on lion hunting. Among those who have written to Botswana's wildlife
department in support is the actor Kevin Costner, star of Dances with Wolves,
about the devastating impact of hunting on America's bison population.
SCI referred questions about lions in Botswana and the prominent support for a
lifting of the hunting ban to its chief executive, Rudy Rosen, who was not
available.
But Gen Schwarzkopf is clearly a valued member. The organization recently
donated $10,000 in the general's name to a Grizzly bear information project.
Under threat from the gun
Rhinos
There were once hundreds of species but only five exist today and four of them
are endangered. During the 1970s as many as half the world's remaining rhinos
disappeared. Now fewer than 12,000 survive in Asia and Africa. The northern
white rhino is reduced to only 30 individuals in the wild. In Africa poaching
has been so ruthless that black rhino numbers have fallen from 60,000 to 2,500
in 22 years. Horn from African rhinos is worth£1,300 to £3,300 per kg, and
horn from Asian rhinos up to £32,000 per kg.
Elephants
The demand for ivory was behind the decline of the African elephant, which fell
from 2m animals in 1970 to between 286,000 and 543,000 today.
The number of Asian elephants have been reduced to between 34,000 and 51,000
animals in the wild. Hunting for meat, hides and bones has affected both breeds.
Orangutans
Fewer than 30,000 exist in the world today, a 30% to 50% decline which has
occurred in the past decade. The vast majority can be found in Borneo, where
they are protected. Hunting for food and body parts has taken its toll and the
trade in body parts, particularly skulls, continues despite the efforts of the
authorities to eradicate it.
Tigers
A population estimate in 1996 was between 4,600 and 7,200 in the wild, and there
are now no more than 4,500 Indian tigers. The Siberian tiger is the world's
largest cat but only 200 remain, mostly in Russia. The demand for tiger products
has increased with the bones and other body parts being used for traditional
Chinese medicines and as tonics or cures for ailments.
What can you do about the lions being hunted to extinction? Immediately, and politely, write to the following officials: The Honorable Minister Tebelelo Seretse, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Private Bag 004, Gabarone, Botswana, Telex 2674 Trade BD; fax 011 267 372 539 and Vice President, Seretse Ian Khama, Bag 001, Gabarone, Botswana; fax 011 267 350 888 (Sorry no e mails). Postage from the US to Botswana is only .80 cents. Tell them the Lions are a national treasure and should not be sold out to hunters. Take a minute and a dollar and speak out for the lions. If you don't, who will?