Hunters defend their turf at CITES meeting

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http://espn.go.com/outdoors/conservation/news/2004/1006/1896542.html

Hunters defend their turf at CITES meet

 

By Ed Stoddard

Reuters — Oct. 6, 2004

 

BANGKOK — The fur can really fly at big conservation meetings where hunters

rub shoulders with animal welfare activists who dismiss blood sports as

cruel.

 

But hunters are defending their turf at a meeting in Thailand on the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), arguing

that much of the cash spent by their fraternity goes to conservation.

 

" In the United States, licencing fees and special excise tax on hunting

equipment provides 70 to 80 percent of the conservation revenue for state

agencies, " said John Jackson, the chairman of Conservation Force, a

coalition of hunting groups.

 

" Hunting licence fees in the U.S. alone amount to $2.4 billion a year, " he

said on the sidelines of the two-week meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday.

 

CITES regulates the global trade in wild animals and plants. Some of the

animals in question, such as leopards and black rhinos, will meet their end

from a hunter's bullet.

 

Big-game hunters with deep pockets are celebrating a CITES decision on

Monday to lift a ban on hunting the rare black rhino in Namibia and South

Africa — a move some say is too early as the lumbering beast's numbers are

still recovering.

 

Both countries say funds raised will be used for conservation projects.

 

Many conservationists are opposed to hunting on grounds of cruelty and say

that wildlife watching and other forms of eco-tourism can generate more

revenue.

 

Japanese efforts to lift a moratorium on whaling and to ease controls on

trade in the animal's products are often countered by assertions from the

green lobby that whale watching generates up to $1 billion annually.

 

Hunters insist they also use natural resources " sustainably " — a buzzword at

such meetings — and that without them many species would be in graver

danger.

 

" In reality, if you don't use it, you lose it, " said Jackson. " We give

wildlife a value, " he said, referring to the monetary incentive to conserve

rare species.

 

Others at the conference agreed there were benefits from the legal hunting

industry — as opposed to the illegal one, which seen is as a major threat to

many endangered species, including tigers and monkeys.

 

" Hunting is an important source of conservation revenue both from licence

fees and associated economic benefits for rural communities, " said David

Brackett, the head of Canada's delegation to the meeting.

 

" We see economic benefits in many rural communities, " he said.