![]() ![]() They also take issue with the fact that Bubye is enclosed by almost 300 miles of electrified fencing. You can’t just let the elephant population just grow and grow and grow and grow.”īut non-hunting and anti-hunting groups argue that wildlife does not need to be lethally managed. An area can only maintain X amount of elephant, like all of our animals. ![]() “Just to use one example, an elephant, for example. It’s about everything,” Pete Fick, one of the veteran hunting guides at Bubye, said. Not just about the elephant, the rhino, the lion, giraffe, whatever it might be. “We try to manage this entire area for all of our species. Quotas are set by governments in countries where trophy hunting occurs, and typically around 3 percent of species’ population can be hunted. Latham told CBS that there are over 40 000 animals on the reserve, and 31 species that are on the so-called huntable quota. There are only around 5,000 black rhino remaining in the world, and Zimbabwe has the fourth highest population. A former high-ranking officer in the British army, Gurney said that as poaching syndicates are growing stronger, his unit needs more money to keep up its protection of the rhino. “We currently need more hunting,” Bryan Gurney, the head of the Bubye anti-poaching task force, said. Not all animals at Bubye can be hunted, and the black rhino is off limits. The task force, which was established to protect the reserve’s population of the critically endangered black rhino, costs over $750,000 to run each year. Animals here include the so-called Big Five of African game: lion, elephants, cape buffalo, leopard, and rhino.Īccording to Bubye manager Blondie Latham, 80 percent of the reserve’s operational costs are covered by trophy hunting, including their in-house anti-poaching task force. The wildlife species brought in have since multiplied under the management of Bubye staff, and now the reserve boasts robust populations of all kinds of wildlife, even vulnerable species. Until the 1990s Bubye was a cattle ranch. One of Zimbabwe’s largest privately-run reserves, Bubye Valley Conservancy, says its wildlife is thriving thanks to the “if it pays, it stays” model. Over one-third of them are on the African continent, where places like Zimbabwe have long been popular destinations for American hunters. Trophy hunts occur in at least 63 countries. If they can be reduced to a chair, to a knife handle - that’s no trade-off.” “It’s important to have wild animals thrive, but why is the price of that this needless slaughter of these animals for their parts?” Kitty Block, CEO of the Humane Society, said. Trophy hunting advocates say that contrary to what you might think, their activities actually help ensure the long-term survival of species. experts warn one million species face risk of extinction, and threats such as human encroachment, poaching, and climate change are mounting, the global conservation community is grappling with the role of trophy hunting in wildlife management. Social media has brought fresh scrutiny to the centuries-old practice of trophy hunting. I know where you are, and I’m coming for you.” One read: “Watch your back, the hunt is on. That morning in Texas, a year and a half after her viral photo with the giraffe, several new death threats arrived on her social media message feeds. I have encountered cameras at my work, I’ve received mail at my home, text messages,” Talley said. Celebrities went after her and public outrage has plagued her since. In 2017 Talley hunted a giraffe in South Africa as part of a trophy hunting safari trip, and the picture she subsequently posted on Facebook went viral. Not long ago, a photo like this one made Talley infamous, and turned her life upside down. “They don’t go down easy all the time,” Talley said as she approached the animal and began to pose him for the so-called trophy photo. They high-fived as the animal went down with what they referred to as a “clean” shot - a bullet to the shoulder. “It’s that big black spot right over there - see him?” Howell said to Talley, and helped her set up her shot. They had been tracking the exotic animal for a couple of hours at 5 Star Outfitters, the 35,000 acre hunting ranch Howell runs and lives adjacent to. One windy morning in late January, Kobe Howell pointed out the wildebeest in the distance to his trophy hunting client, Tess Talley. ![]()
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