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Another one bites the dust
Hard on the heels of Walter Palmer killing a magnificent lion in Zimbabwe, we now hear that an (as yet) unidentified German hunter shot a magnificent elephant there. The elephant was supposedly 60 years old and carried the biggest “trophy” tusks seen in the last 30 years.
Both Cecil and the elephant were supposedly shot on “legal” hunts. Morals and ethics do not seem to matter much to those pulling the trigger. The world community is rumbling about these killings in the jungle.
Such trophy hunts are allowed as they are supposed to be part of a “sustainable” utilization concept that convinces CITES, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the EU Scientific Review Group of the EU Wildlife Trade Regulation – and of course the African range states.
The German hunter will most likely be able to import his trophy tusks. He will dine out on his “achievement” for years perhaps?
The EU regulations only require that trophy hunting is “sustainable”.
But in the case of this magnificent 60-year old elephant, I would like to ask a very simple question.
How sustainable is killing the last remaining “big tuskers” in Africa? How many of these huge elephants are left after the huge poaching spree that kills an elephant every 15 minutes?
Should there be any additional mortality to the biggest land animal in the world from trophy hunting?
Trophy hunting of lions and elephants cannot any longer be considered “sustainable”. That is a nonsense proposition supported by WWF and the IUCN and has no scientific basis. No money flows from trophy hunting fees to either local communities or to wildlife conservation programmes.
LionAid is very appreciative of the media attention that exposes the nonsense that has been going on for decades under the guise of conservation. It is not possible to conserve animals by killing them to benefit corrupt hunting operators and government officials.
The entire concept of “sustainable utilization” needs to be thrown out. It has not worked and will not work under the massive corruption umbrella that covers exploitation of wildlife in African lion and elephant range states.
We would challenge the EU to ban the further imports of any elephant and lion trophy from any African country. We can no longer accept the sacrifice of the best and most amazing lions and elephants at the altar of false gods promoted by the high priests of sustainable utilization.
Historical note: the byline “rumble in the jungle” pertained to a heavyweight boxing championship bout between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman in a country then called Zaire. Ali won.
Picture credit: we will not deign to credit anyone who took this picture.
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