End of the sports hunter

We do not have a situation where a weak population lives near a reserve that would benefit from the hunter. Therefore, there is a need to manage the wild animal population and one of the forms of management is controlling the population size through hunting

The Minister of Environmental Protection today signed a temporary order that prohibits the hunting of the common tor and the migratory quail. In the announcement published by the ministry, she is quoted: "I am proud to sign today the temporary order that will lead to the rescue of two species of wild animals, which unfortunately are at risk as a result of hunting in Israel. I will continue to work for the protection of wildlife and in accordance with the international treaties to which Israel is a signatory on this important environmental issue. Towards the new year, it is appropriate that we adopt such measures and do our utmost to protect the wild animals and the environment."

While we are fighting to end the "hunting sport", there are countries where hunting is an important source of income. "Trophy hunting" (trophy hunting), mainly in African countries, is a hunter with a license purchased for a large sum of money when the buyer pays for each animal he wants to hunt. The buyer is limited by the size, age and gender of the animal. The "hunter" is obliged to use an expert to mark the hunted individual for him and to be accompanied by a team of native skinners and taxidermists. The meat is distributed to the locals.

Nevertheless, and since, according to the interested parties, the large sums paid by the "hunters" are used to preserve nature and improve the living conditions of the local population, for some time there has been a debate about the efficiency and contribution to nature preservation of "bounty hunters" in many countries in Africa where there are large animals that are in the vicinity of weak and poor populations who should receive part of the license fee. Mainly large animals whose killing gives "satisfaction to the hunter".

This is the case in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Namibia, Zambia and BotswanaTourism is now an important economic factor that accounts for about 80% of the country's income.

 When most tourists come to visit the wonderful nature reserves the country is blessed with, to see and photograph wild animals. At the same time, there is "tourism" that brings in considerable sums to the country and is what is defined as a "bounty hunter". In Botswana, about a thousand people were employed around that industry, when every year hundreds of hunting licenses were sold in the amount of about 20 million dollars to about 350 hunters who hunted about 2500 animals.

The justification for the "bounty hunter" was that the large amount of money is intended to support nature conservation and the local population, but recently there have been an increase in complaints from tourists who come to see the animals in the reserves and cannot find them. At the same time, the results of a survey are published that showed damage to the population of hunted species .

Following the complaints and the survey, the authorities stopped issuing the licenses. Since according to the survey "the populations of the hunted species are being harmed" the question arises what will happen to the residents of the areas for whom the "bounty hunter" was a source of income, when he is stopped. For this purpose, another survey was conducted in areas in Botswana where "bounty hunting" was common. Questions were asked such as: How did the hunter contribute to the human population? What are the challenges now that hunting is prohibited? Is there a change in the attitude towards wild animals?
Most of the respondents answered that they lost income and at the same time there is more damage from wild animals and more violent encounters with them. The main sources of livelihood in the examined areas eHerds of sheep and cattle and local agriculture.  

Since wild animals harm both industries, it is clear that when the income from hunting disappears, the chances are high that the locals will not support (to put it mildly) the preservation of nature. That is, following the hunting ban, the animals' chances of continuing to survive in the tested areas decrease.

Since the main pests of agriculture are elephants (Botswana has the largest population of elephants in Africa and the damages to farmers accordingly), it was decided that despite stopping the granting of licenses to "bounty hunters", out of an understanding of the situation, the ban on elephant hunting was lifted and this year (2020) licenses were sold to almost anyone who wanted them.

Following the answers of the residents and the rest of the findings of the survey on the impact of the hunting ban, its editors recommend allowing the "sport hunting" of more animals to combine economic support for the populations and strengthening their positive approach to nature conservation.

I needed the example of Botswana to emphasize the difference between "bounty hunter" and "sport hunter" because we do not have a situation where a weak population near a reserve would benefit from the hunter. There are no hunters who will pay huge sums to hunt a wild animal. There are damages to agriculture from wild animals as well as invasive and invasive species.

Therefore, there is a need to manage the wild animal population and one of the forms of management is controlling the population size. There are cases where this can be done by a controlled hunter who will be done by experts who will receive a dedicated license, not a hunter for the sake of "sport" but a dedicated professional hunter for the proper management of a certain population and the preservation of nature.

Despite the PM, research shows that there are cases in which the hunter causes the hunted animals to stimulate the culture and thus the only benefit is in the momentary feeling of revenge of the farmer who hears gunshots in the field and feels that someone has come to his aid. This was the case when I shot tristramias in the vineyard of Ein-Gadi, or when I shot rabbits and porcupines in the agricultural fields of Ein-Yahev, Hatzava and Paran. The farmers who heard the shots felt a momentary relief but the damage continued therefore both to prevent damage to agriculture and when trying to suppress invading or erupting species it is appropriate to do so with more sophisticated means than a hunter.

As in other subjects, so also in hunting, technological progress precedes the adaptation of human instincts by more than 50 thousand years. Therefore, as in other issues, so also in hunting there is a need for laws and regulations that match the "desire to hunt" (perhaps "the instinct to hunt") and proper management of the natural environment. It is possible to exploit the aggressive tendencies of individuals and after training and training to direct them for the purpose of controlling the populations of invasive or erupting species, but to call it a "sport hunter" is a bad joke.

Those who want to practice "sportsmanship", go out into the field equipped with their hands and teeth and engage in the "hunting sport" to bring food to their family and leave the management of nature conservation to the experts.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• Bounty hunting does not help prevent the extinction of lions
• White Hunter, Black Silver
• super hunters