A new book, entitled Trophy Leaks: Top Hunters and Industry Secrets, has revealed that over the past decade, trophy hunters have killed 1.7 million animals, leading to a large decrease in the numbers of many species.
The book, written by Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting (CBTH) founder Eduardo Gonçalves, reveals a huge profitable industry built upon the killing of wild and exotic animals, often carried out by foreigners who travel huge distances to Africa and Asia to go on organised hunts. Among the animals killed in large numbers are lions, elephants, rhinos and exotic birds.
Gonçalves reveals that the amount of money generated by the industry is as much as $400 million per year and that as many as 100 endangered animals are killed each and every day. Much of Gonçalves' research is based upon primary findings by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which indicates that every 3 minutes, an endangered animal is killed in the wild by a trophy hunter.
The killings have continued despite many countries bringing in strict laws and small armies of animal protection officials to try and stamp out this type of hunting. Unfortunately, many of these countries are poorer and lack the funds and resources to truly protect all the animals in their natural habitats.
Many hunters desire to kill one animal of the 'Big 5', which includes at least one buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and black or white rhino, which they regard as the highest achievement in hunting.
Gonçalves even claims that he has evidence that pro-hunting groups have set up social-media accounts backed with a large amount of advertising cash in order to undermine governments' actions against trophy hunting. Such hunting advocates also donated $2 million to the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Trump's two sons have been photographed in the past posing with dead wild-cats which they had shot.
Gonçalves told the UK newspaper the Daily Mail:
"Future generations will look back aghast at how we allowed the world's most endangered species to be gunned down in their droves by adrenaline junkies in pursuit of grinning selfies and gruesome souvenirs. Trophy-hunting isn't about a handful of sick individuals – it is about a huge global industry which wields extraordinary power and manipulates governments."
In 2018, it was revealed via research carried out by the World Wildlife Fund that 60% of the species on the planet had been wiped out since 1970. This fall in numbers is largely due to habitat erosion, an increasing amount of human habitations, forest clearing and of course hunting.
Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF, said of the findings:
"We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff. If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done. This is far more than just being about losing the wonders of nature, desperately sad though that is. This is actually now jeopardising the future of people. Nature is not a 'nice to have' – it is our life-support system."
COMMENTS