4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 October 2015
⏱️ 27 minutes
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In June 2015 the death of Cecil the lion was international news and a social media sensation. Yet trophy hunting of lions and other species is common in Africa. Foreigners pay big money to adorn their walls with heads and skins. Many find it abhorrent, angry that it exists at all. Hunters claim it is vital, providing money to fund conservation. With hunters claiming that a ban would be "catastrophic" for wildlife, what is the truth? Biologist professor Adam Hart explores this explosively controversial subject, talking to hunters, conservationists, lion experts and those opposed to hunting.
Trophy hunting does work in places where regular tourists are few and far between. It works too in South Africa. Private ownership and fencing, which protects wildlife from people and people from wildlife, mean that hunting and tourism generate the cash needed to maintain huge numbers of animals. Wildlife thrives because "it pays it stays".
But in Tanzania lion populations are rapidly declining. Craig Packer, a world expert on lions, says "it takes $2000 annually to maintain 1km2 of lion habitat; 300000km2 of hunting blocks need $600million. Trophy hunting pays $20million with 10-15% used for conservation". It's the only source of income but it is far too little, only slightly slowing the inevitable.
Hunting pitches emotion against evidence and sentimentality against practicality. Adam's travels reveal a complex and sometimes unpalatable tale of economics, ecology and conservation with implications that affect everyone that cares about African wildlife.
(Photo: A lion sitting on a rock)
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0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading from the BBC. |
0:03.0 | The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, |
0:07.0 | go to BBCworldservice.com slash podcasts. broadcasts. Cecil the lion is gazing out of many of our front pages this morning unfortunately |
0:30.4 | he's dead at the end of June 2015, a Zimbabwe lion was wounded by a crossbow bolt fired by American |
0:37.1 | dentist Walter Palmer. |
0:39.4 | Some time later that lion, Cecil, was shot and finally killed. |
0:44.2 | The media attention that followed Cecil's death made it very clear that many people are unaware |
0:49.5 | of the realities of modern day African hunting. While many find it abhorrent, hunters say that |
0:55.8 | their activities are vital for conservation. It's not just about one guy going |
1:01.3 | to shoot one animal and I's made international news. |
1:05.0 | Conservation and hunting work hand in hand and the value in hunting, |
1:09.0 | not only economically but for the whole conservation side of things. |
1:13.0 | If it pays the stays, if it's got to value people, |
1:15.0 | look after it and protect it. |
1:17.0 | I'm Adam Hart, a regular visitor to Africa and a huge fan of African wildlife. |
1:22.0 | It was 15 years ago that I first stayed on the game reserve in Zambia that absolutely relies on hunting for income. |
1:28.0 | And ever since then, I've been mulling over the counterintuitive relationship between hunting and conservation. |
1:35.2 | In this edition of Discovery from the BBC, I'm going to examine the issue of trophy lion hunting |
1:39.6 | in Africa and ask whether we really can kill to conserve. |
1:44.0 | Now, the reality is that if you have enough money, you can hunt lion, elephant, hippo, |
1:50.0 | in fact pretty much any African animal. |
1:52.0 | If you do it by the book, then it's quite legal. |
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