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Old July 24, 2007, 07:04 PM   #27
taylorce1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 18, 2005
Location: On the Santa Fe Trail
Posts: 8,210
Playboypenguin, I’ll agree with you that having a UN ban on the trade of Ivory and having armed soldiers protecting the elephants did increase their numbers more than trophy hunting has. But I will still say that trophy hunting used properly as a conservation tool will increase the quality of game animals in a given region. Adult elephants have no natural predators other than man; I doubt any predator in Africa can bring down a full grown healthy elephant.

I did read where herd size is now becoming a problem in areas because the land can no longer support the herds. I’d rather see a trophy hunters pay there fees and hunt these animals than to see them die of starvation and disease. Disease will wipe out the elephants faster than man can in most cases.

I did the research that you asked and I can’t come up with any hard numbers that say hunting increases herd size. I couldn’t find any facts that said controlled trophy hunting of elephants was detrimental to herd size either. I feel strongly that if the money from the trophy fees is distributed properly to the people of the local villages then the elephant has more worth to the locals as a manageable resource rather than the illegal ivory trade. Like most governments around the world Africa has it share of corruption and I’ll not say all the money gets distributed equally in practice.

Farmers and Ranchers make common practice of culling herds of livestock to improve genetics, age, and fertility. This allows the animals that they produce to be of better quality than what they had before. As hunters why can’t we do the same if we practice good herd management on game animals?

I never said that a person had to like to hunt any of the animals that you mentioned. I just said as hunters we can’t disapprove of hunting these animals. Hunting is a privilege not a right that we have in our country. To say it is ok to stop all hunting of a certain species because you don’t approve of it, then you are opening the door to stop the ones you do approve of.

I don’t like hunting birds, but I wouldn’t go as far to say I don’t approve of it. I just choose to let the people who do enjoy bird hunting to have my share. I do predator hunt but mainly to protect my family’s livelihood, as they still own a working cattle ranch. Granted the impact on our cattle herd from predators is minimal, but I’m not going to let it become a major problem by not trying to control them.

FF as far as Apex Predators, well I feel that is man in any environment. Ever since man first started using tools we have figured out how to adapt to pretty much all environments. Since man figured out how to fashion a spear and knife we pretty much haven’t found anything we can’t kill, so I figure that puts us at the top of the food chain. The only difference between us and the predators that hunt is we rarely have to do it for the food. Sure I like to eat deer and elk as much as the next guy but I don’t need it for survival.
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