Crafting of Hunting Trophies Bill by UK, US based on emotions, not science

The United Kingdom is in the process of crafting a Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, which is designed to prohibit the importation of wild animals into the country. The United States is considering similar legislation. Zimbabwe is not supportive of these proposed bills on the prohibition on importation and possession of wild animals into the two countries.

For those in areas of Zimbabwe such as Mbire and Hwange, many struggle in poor living conditions, while sharing borders with animals which for years have been creating value through hunting. At least 68 lives were lost to wildlife in 2022, with dozens more injured, thousands of hectares of crops destroyed, and livestock killed.

It is important to note that these proposed Bills are unlikely to solve any of the challenges they seek to address, instead increasing hostilities between vulnerable rural communities and the animals.

Legal trade in wildlife species is not a major issue in comparison to factors such as climate change and habitat losses, which threaten the survival of animals and people alike. In 2019, nearly 200 elephants and dozens of other wildlife species succumbed to drought and loss of habitat-induced starvation. The rhino horn trade, meanwhile, has been banned for more than 40 years, yet the illegal trade is on the rise.

There is evidence that wild animals in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa in general are in good hands, judging by rising populations of many animals. Elephants and other key species are endangered in other parts of Africa, but that is not the case in Zimbabwe or in Southern Africa. Instead of encouraging the good conservation work that is done by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, some have been criticising the sterling job the authority has been doing despite having limited resources.

Suggesting that legal hunting is contributing to a significant decline in wildlife is a claim with no supporting evidence; in fact, hunting has resulted in stronger protection of wildlife in the country and in the region. It has also benefited rural communities who share borders with animals, through CAMPFIRE programmes directly benefitting close to 1 million households. Legal hunting has supported wildlife conservation through revenue generated within protected areas, while helping to secure habitat reaching beyond protected areas. Most wildlife conservation initiatives and community programmes outside the Parks and Wildlife Estate in Zimbabwe are anchored by hunting.

Over the years, the country’s wildlife management authority carried out a number of activities whose benefits were recognised by the United States. “Zimbabwe has carried out a number of actions at national level and in collaboration with regional and local communities and interested partners on the ground that together demonstrate a clear interest in and concrete efforts toward establishing a better management regime and providing greater support for conservation efforts to enable elephant sport hunting that provides a clear benefit to the survival of African elephants in Zimbabwe,” reads part of the United States Fisheries’ statement.

Over the years, various IUCN Species Specialist Groups have recognised and utilised safari hunting as a primary conservation tool which is beneficial not only to the animals but also to the communities who bear the brunt of sharing borders with wild animals. No huntable species mentioned in the bill with populations in Southern Africa and Tanzania are assessed as endangered or critically endangered by IUCN. More importantly, by management design, safari hunting secures the most viable populations of the iconic species in the Bill. The Range states in part of Eastern and in Southern Africa have robust management systems in which safari hunting is an essential component. Zimbabwe is a typical example, with robust, science-led management systems proving effective, according to animal populations.

Evidence suggests that the spike in Kenya’s wildlife losses, estimated to be as high as 70 percent, began when safari hunting was suspended. According to wildlife experts, Kenya’s policy is a failure, with its 1977 hunting suspension contributing to a catastrophic decline in wildlife. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, has a growing elephant population of over 100,000, the second-largest in the world. There is overwhelming evidence that the country’s wildlife populations of giraffe, zebra, large carnivores (including lion, leopard, hyena) are also very healthy and are on the increase.

Wildlife trade, and especially hunting, is carefully regulated in Zimbabwe under national law, which coordinates and harmonises conservation measures established by diverse regional initiatives, including the Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) as described by the SADC. The country has a robust regulatory framework for management of wildlife, and hunting quotas are established using scientific evidence. Zimbabwe has a strict CITES-approved permit system, a strong network of law enforcement, and trade regulations managed by, on a national level, the authorities, CITES internationally, and by importing countries including the USA.

If approved, the bill would negatively impact CAMPFIRE, Zimbabwe’s signature community-based conservation program that supports close to 1 million households. CAMPFIRE incentivises the setting aside of communal land as wildlife habitat, and the management of such lan benefits locals and wildlife. Hunting is the primary source of revenue for the most successful CAMPFIRE initiatives, providing over $2 million annually in the 2011-16 period and creating thousands of jobs.

If the benefits of regulated hunting and legal wildlife are adversely affected by an import ban in the US and UK, the incentives for, and tolerance of, local communities to remain key players in the conservation system will be reduced, which will in turn cause habitat loss and population declines for key species.