Policies & Politics

[peter]

IMPORTING A BLACK RHINO SHOT BY TEXAS HUNTER OK, SAYS FISH AND WILDLIFE

This is a report in a Dutch newspaper. It says a well-known Texas hunter paid $ 350,000 for a black rhino about a year ago. The rhino, to be sure, wasn't in Texas. It depended on the decison of Fish and Wildlife. It seems they agreed. The rhino, therefore, will be shipped to the USA. This means a major US organisation allowed for poaching an endangered species. Fish and Wildlife said the revenue would go to protection. The rhino in Africa, they added, would benefit. At the cost of a few adult males shot every now and then, of course. Use the translation machine:    

http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/5948/Dierenwel...eren.dhtml


WOLVES

I remember two other reports. One was about lifting the ban on shooting wolves in the north-west (USA) and the other was about abandoning a conservation project on red wolves in the east (also USA). Immediately after the ban was lifted, photographs of wild wolves recently shot appeared in magazins. The abandoning of the red wolves project, however, could prove to be more costly.


CONCLUSIONS

The decisions mentioned above got a lot of attention, both in the USA and abroad. My guess is cattle rangers and hunters had an effect on the decisions taken, but maybe it was a bit more complicated than that. Anyone able, motivationwise, to retrieve a bit more is invited to post it here. 

I recently read a report about a wolf in California. The first in many years, it said. My guess is he was from the north-west. Wolves are great walkers.

If we compare the USA in this respect to India and Russia, I get to 0-2 at halftime in both matches. India recently closed the door for both tourists and researchers in some Indian reserves in order to prevent more intrusion and Russia left no doubt as to its decision to protect Amur tigers. Remarkable, as conservation usually is a costly affair and both countries were hit hard by the international economic crisis. Reply