International Hunting Convention Gathers this Week in Face of Majority Opposition by US Voters
International Hunting Convention Gathers this Week in Face of Majority
Opposition by US Voters
Mathew Davis, One Green Planet
January 23, 2022
See link
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/international-hunting-convention-gathers-this-week-in-face-of-majority-opposition-by-us-voters/
for photo.
According to a recent poll, a majority of American voters, on both sides of
the aisle, oppose trophy hunting. Yet despite this, the Safari Club
International is hosting their convention this week in Las Vegas, where
vendors will auction off hunting trips and “trophies.”
The event will also include seminars, entertainment, and exhibits.
Kitty Block, CEO of Humane Society International, issued a statement in
response to the contentious gathering.
“Despite new evidence of public opposition to trophy hunting, a stubborn
minority is meeting at the Safari Club International convention in Las
Vegas this week to congratulate and brag to each other about their kills,
and to shop and bid for their next pay-to-slay adventure—a shameless
betrayal of threatened and endangered species, especially in light of the
global biodiversity crisis. We must expose and eliminate this industry
forever.”
The polling shows that 76% of U.S. voters oppose trophy hunting and
auctioning off hunting trips, bodies, and body parts. A whopping 82% of
voters disagree with hunting and importing lions and elephants, both of
whom are “threatened with extinction” according to the endangered species
act.
Yet from 2014-2018, the U.S. imported 75% of these global trophies, over
8,000 of which are threatened or endangered. American black bears are by
far the top import, with Chacma baboons, Zebras, Grey wolfs and African
Lions rounding out the top five.
Besides the obvious ethical problem of killing sentient beings for sport,
trophy hunting can cause many other issues, including, “social disruption,
behavioral changes” and “loss of genetic diversity.” Professor Josef
Settele, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem services 2019 global assessment, paints a dire
picture.
“Ecosystems, species, wild populations, local varieties and breeds of
domesticated plants and animals are shrinking, deteriorating or vanishing.
The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and
increasingly frayed. This loss is a direct result of human activity and
constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the
world.”
In other words, the system we currently have is failing and is not
sustainable. Luckily, however, most people already oppose it. The goal now
is to make ourselves heard.