Wildlife Management in Africa
In the past three decades, many of Africa's wild animals have suffered a massive decline in population due to poaching. Africa is the world's second largest continent and home to thousands of species of animals. Unlike in North America, most of these animals roam completely free in an almost totally undeveloped environment. In attempt to save these animals from possible extinction, anti-poaching laws have been enacted by governments throughout Africa, as well as an international ban on ivory trade. Anti-poaching regulations have in turn stemmed the formation of programs and policies for the management of Africa's wildlife.
Poaching: Background
Poaching, the illegal killing of protected animals, occurs in Africa for a variety of reasons. The most profitable reason is the ivory trade. Hundreds of elephants and Rhinos are slaughtered every year for their ivory tusks, which claim a sizeable profit on the black market. Many hunters also poach for the sport of it, the thrill of the hunt. Many of the country's native peoples, however, poach animals as a means to stay alive. Because the wildlife of Africa roams so free, many people and crops are damaged and destroyed every year and natives poach the animals for self-defense. Financial concerns also drive many natives to poaching, seeing as most of Africa is still considered to be third world and an elephant tusk can mean the difference between starving to death and a prosperous year (Messer, 50). Poaching also has negative effects on the environment, and on the economy. Governments in Africa and around the world have tried to enforce strict anti-poaching laws, and also regulate the ivory trade, until recently however, both efforts have been in...
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Killing animals to collect their horns, tusks and teeth is a common activity. Hunters firstly kill the animals with shotguns or snipers, and then they cut the animals into pieces to take the parts that they want to keep as souvenirs. Africa is usually the chosen “playground” because it has a wide range of animal species and lots of endemic animals. For some people, trophy hunting is a sport, and for others, it’s a job to make a living. However, trophy hunting jeopardizes animals and puts the endangered animals in a risk of extinction, and therefore it shouldn’t be allowed.
Anti-hunters are opposed to the explicit acts of hunters in Africa because of the environmental degradation it can lead to. What I want to be of focus, though, is that controversy over the act of hunting is not solely in line with hunting endangered African mammals. The results of all kinds of hunts and the drives hunters have to pursue these hunts differ because of the uniqueness of the goods the hunters seek in their adventures. What non-hunters and anti-hunters easily overlook is the anthropocentric values that the hunter seeks to fulfill and achieve, and how it expresses an interaction with nature.
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First, poaching is a huge game being played. It hurts the animals or species that are being targeted, which causes them to increase their chances of extinction. Orietta C. Estrada, an animal and environmental writer, explains that poaching "is a crime fueled by a lucrative black market trade of animal parts"(onegreenplanet). To these people, it is all about the money. They do not bother to think about how much pain this creature may feel. The only thing they desire to obtain is the big dollars. The animals that are affected by this monstrous act are elephants, tigers, rhinoceros, Tibetan antelopes, gorillas, and great apes(animalpoachers.weebly). The most they have done with dealing with the poachers is give them a cruel punishment for being caught. It does not work because it still happens today and the animals are still dying and becoming
Poaching threatens the dying out of endangered species. Lions have virtually disappeared in Africa causing animal activists to protest for stricter rules on hunting big game. Damian Aspinall, director of the Aspinall Foundation, said,
Poaching and wildlife crimes are some of the reasons many species join the endangered list every year, but this doesn’t mean that you don’t have the power to stop these horrible crimes.
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A safari in southern Botswana is home to a warm sun. It radiates onto broad elephants that soak their hides in the Khwai River. These same elephants compete with the large, speckled giraffes for high-hanging leaves while chacma baboons lumber through the native trees. Lions’ canter, lope and shake their manes as another day passes in the African safari. These animals know no fence. They are unfamiliar with the morning routine of being fed through a wire cage or giving birth while surrounded by cameras and people prodding at them. So these exotic animals, why are they being bred into wanna-be domestic creatures? The fact of the matter is that they shouldn’t be. Exotic animals, such as chimpanzees and tigers, should not be kept as pets. In order to combat the patchwork laws currently in place, we must uncover the truth behind the ownership of wild animals, the dangers of owning said animals, and why we must take a stand.
Elephants are an endangered species and they should not be killed for their ivory or they will become extinct. In the article The Poaching Problem the author writes” elephant populations have declined to dangerously low levels.” At the rate that poachers are killing these innocent animal the entire species of elephants will be extinct in the year 2030! That is only twenty five years, I know that does not seem like a long time but it is going to go by fast and every one will regret killing all those poor innocent gentle creatures. In case study 483 they author writes “ During the 1970s and 1980s elephant poaching had included about 1.3 million elephants killed for their tusks.” It is hard to distinguish between legal and illegal ivory so it is sold easily.
Conservation efforts by trophy hunters have been proven to be positive. The lion harvest in Tanzania decreased by 50% between 1996 and 2008, and the areas with the biggest trophy hunting industry produced the biggest declines. In 1977, hunting was banned in Kenya. Rather than increase the endangered herds as originally hoped, wildlife populations outside of parks have nose-dived, declining by at least 60% (“Potential”). Thus, the lack of hunting has actually negatively affected wildlife populations, proving that trophy hunting is essential to conserving endangered big-game (Packer et
Among the greatest contributors to social destabilization and environmental damage to various Central African nations is the proliferation of poaching and the black market industry that stems from it. Every year, poachers kill thousands of exotic animals such as elephants and rhinos to satisfy international demand for animal products. Despite the current global ban on any commodities derived from poached animals, today’s illegal poaching market affects millions of human and animal lives. Through the use of stricter international legislation, greater outreach through educational services, and increasing the funding for African national park rangers, poaching in Central Africa may diminish to the benefit of both African society and the global ecosystem.
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The dynamic natural environment and abundant wildlife are the most prominent features of the African continent. Due to its wide variety of biomes ranging from tropical forests to arid deserts, Africa consists of bountiful wildlife diversity. However, because of environmentally harmful human interactions, the variety of biomes is shrinking to all-time lows, which causes wildlife to die out. These detrimental human interactions, particularly livestock overgrazing and desertification, occur partly because the native people who depend on the land for daily life do not realize the potential benefits of wildlife and the unsustainability of their current ways. Poaching for horns and other valuable animal parts has also contributed to the decreasing amount of species present in the wild. However, the methods for conserving the wildlife environment differ in how they address the issue of the dwindling wildlife populations. The conventional method of conservation created in the mold of the Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State (also known as the London Convention) involves the complete centralization of wildlife resources to the government. The newer, more effective method called the Sustainable Use Approach makes drastic changes to the London Convention principles by decentralizing ownership of wildlife and allowing small communities and villages to manage it themselves.
Across the earth millions of creatures like the African wild dog are going extinct and one day may become a unknown fable of the past. Ever since the 1900’s african wild dogs have been in danger of becoming extinct because of mass killings and habitat loss. Originally people did not care because they were considered vicious killers but now many wildlife organizations are working to protect the african wild dog. There are many reasons from the past and from today why african wild dogs are going extinct and it is having a large effect on humans and the natural ecosystem. This problem once in africa has become a global problem that the whole world is finding solutions for.
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