The quota size allocated for sable for the period 2004–2008 were lower than those for the 2009–2015 period (t(70) = -4.77, p < 0.000). For the period 2004–2015, only greater kudu mean age at harvest and trophy size did not vary with the hunting Unit, i.e., age at harvest (F(5, 560) = 1.35, p = 0.385) and trophy size (F(5, 560) = 0.24, p = 0.859) (Table 4). The review of the evidence presented in this essay suggests that under a utilitarian framework, it is doubtful whether the benefits of trophy hunting significantly outweigh the costs to the animals, biodiversity, ecosystems and concerned people. They rest on the utilitarian rationale of providing benefits for animal (and human) populations by sacrificing some individual animals’ lives (e.g. Despite these observations, there are few studies reporting on the decline of trophy size in hunting destinations in southern Africa, e.g., Zambia [54], northwest Zimbabwe [55], and South Africa [56, 57]. Insert: Location of study area (solid rectangle) in Zimbabwe in relation to other protected areas Source: Muposhi, Gandiwa [70]. The associated data on age at harvest for the four wild herbivores was estimated by parks rangers using dentition and jaws [72–74] as part of their monitoring routine at Matetsi Safari Area. Trophies imported to the U.S. from 2005 through 2014 . Indeed, the recent decline in the number of hunters and hunting activities in North America (e.g. From this viewpoint, trophy hunting undoubtedly causes harm. and you may need to create a new Wiley Online Library account. We acknowledge the comments from reviewers that improved the earlier versions of this paper particularly Staurt Primm and the Academic Editor, Suzannah Rutherford. Yes In contrast, studies done on the motivations and intentions of trophy hunters suggest that some vices are involved in it. Trophy hunting has been at the centre of controversies in conservation for at least two decades (Leader‐Williams et al., 2001; McComb et al., 2001). While consensus implies a full agreement between the levels of moral principle and policy, convergence denotes agreement at the level of policy (i.e. In any case, the burden of proof is on trophy hunting advocates to show that these rules are followed to assure maximizing utility to all affected. Thus, the review of ethical concerns provided in this essay suggests that, when a sufficiently broad range of ethical concerns is considered, the practice of trophy hunting looks to be ethically problematic from all the three ethical frameworks. It is not unreasonable to speculate that increasing social pressure and shifts in public attitudes will result in condemnation and restriction of trophy hunting activities in the foreseeable future. cougars and wolves in the US). Accordingly, trophy hunting may not necessarily lead to irreversible trophy size over time but requires systematic monitoring and sound management interventions for sustainability [101]. A series of published debates among conservation scholars followed the public outrage arguing both in favour and against trophy hunting (Di Minin et al., 2016; Macdonald, Johnson, et al., 2016; Nelson et al., 2016; Ripple et al., 2016). Rural development and the role of game farming in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, Increasing game prices may alter farmers’ behaviours towards leopards (, Humans and animals: A geography of coexistence, Managing the vanishing North American hunter: A novel framework to address declines in hunters and hunter‐generated conservation funds, Issues and opportunities associated with trophy hunting and tourism in Khunjerab National Park, Northern Pakistan, Does trophy hunting support biodiversity? As a conservation tool, trophy hunting has been debated by both the public and experts. Trophy hunting is hunting of wild animals for their trophies, with the trophy being the animal or part of the animal kept and usually displayed, to represent the success of the hunt. We collected long-term data for the six hunting units (i.e. Interests, animal rights, and environmental ethics, Environmental ethics, hunting, and the place of animals, Oxford handbooks. However, no significant changes were recorded in the allocated African elephant quota (-0.07 ± 0.05, t = -1.51, p = 0.137) whilst the offtake levels declined (-0.18 ± 0.08, t = -2.37, p = 0.021) for the period 2004–2015 (Fig 5B). Taking an approach analogous to Norton's convergence hypothesis (1991), utilitarian, deontological and virtue ethic principles all converge at the level of policy; hence, the opponents have ethical reasons to oppose trophy hunting. The current trophy hunting practice has not only violated these rules in many cases, but it has resulted in practices such as canned hunting and wildlife farming, which are ethically problematic. However, some of the following results from the literature question whether current trophy hunting practice avoids biological costs. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. However, temporal declines in trophy size of wild herbivores over time have been reported in South Africa [56, 57] and Tanzania [44]. The analysis presented in this paper challenges the ethical justification of trophy hunting based on a utilitarian perspective, and it also suggests that trophy hunting is problematic from the perspectives of both deontology and virtue theory. All trophy size measurements for the four species were done by parks rangers following the Safari Club International (SCI) scoring system (http://www.scirecordbook.org/docs/methods). During the period 2004–2015, the observed mean Cape buffalo trophy size (95.39 ± 8.66 inches) were below 101 inches, the SCI minimum score (t(806) = -18.41, p < 0.001). The model parameters included the trophy size as the dependant variable whilst year and area were fixed variables and the age at harvest being the covariate. The size of a quota allocated for trophy hunting is mostly influenced by several factors such as the population size [39], trophy size, hunting success [44], age at harvest [45], habitat management and whether or not the populations are shared by two or more management regimes (e.g. Evidence also cautions about the possible detrimental effect of trophy hunting on endangered species populations through supply‐and‐demand mechanisms, rarity and increasing value for trophy species (Palazy et al., 2011, 2012). On the economic benefits of trophy hunting. First, I briefly outline the utilitarian arguments for trophy hunting. Instead, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority adapted by re-assigning Unit 2 and 4 to fall under its hunting concessions in 2013 and 2012 respectively as was the case with Unit 5. These fundamental changes have clear implications for conservation practices. Notes: solid line with solid circles show the quota size trend; dotted line with hollow circle show trend in offtake levels. Data on trophy size, age at harvest, quota size and offtake levels were tested for normality and equality of variance to using Shapiro Wilk test and Levene’s test respectively to ascertain if the normality assumptions were being satisfied. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164429, Editor: Suzannah Rutherford, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UNITED STATES, Received: March 31, 2016; Accepted: September 26, 2016; Published: October 13, 2016. Complementary benefits of tourism and hunting to communal conservancies in Namibia. Macdonald, Johnson, et al. Coincidentally, some commercial passenger and cargo airlines have also put in place an embargo on the transportation of trophies of legally and sustainably hunted species [9]. As Lovering (2006) replied to Jensen (2001), the moral standing of animals casts doubt on the morality of hunting them and all the virtues expressed thereby. In most species, sport hunting can only threaten the future of a population when loss of males is so high that females can no longer find mates. Also, critics of act utilitarianism claim that it can undermine trust among people. Is the Subject Area "Elephants" applicable to this article? Gunn, 2001; Macdonald, Johnson, et al., 2016). Authors approaching the subject of hunting, in general, from deontological perspectives have tended to denounce it, even when used for wildlife population control; thus, taking a deontological approach does not promise to support trophy hunting specifically. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click The annual quota allocated for Cape buffalo for the period 2004–2015 declined (β ± SE: -0.36 ± 0.14, t = -2.52, p = 0.014) which corresponded to a decline in the offtake levels (-0.55 ± 0.21, t –2.63, p < 0.000, Fig 5A) in Matetsi Safari Area. Accordingly, trophy hunting is meant to remove only a few individuals, mostly those that have passed their prime reproductive time and as such should not compromise viability of wildlife species [41–43]. These areas occur mainly surrounding National Parks and are managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems and as part of a buffer zone to cushion National Parks from human disturbances [4]. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, PO Box CY140, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe. Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. In this study, we explored the temporal dynamics in trophy quality and harvesting patterns of four selected wild herbivores, Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and mid-sized herbivores, greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) and sable (Hippotragus niger) in a semi arid tropical ecosystem, Matetsi Safari Area, a hunting complex within the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), northwest of Zimbabwe. Selective harvesting of large mammals: How often does it result in directional selection? Although several studies have been done on trophy hunting of lions and leopards (Panthera pandus) [46, 61–64], few studies have explored on trophy size related issues on large wild herbivores in southern Africa [44, 55–57]. School of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Private Bag 7724, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, Affiliation The IUCN guidelines (IUCN, 2012) require that trophy hunting should not contribute to long‐term population declines and not substantially alter natural selection and ecosystem functioning. adopt a radical consequentialist approach. The final section of this paper recommends some ways authorities and policymakers can address these ethical concerns and presents a view of the future. Analogously, this paper proposes that, regarding trophy hunting, the implications of three major traditional perspectives in ethics (i.e. Singer, 1975) have been at the forefront of advocating for the consideration of animals’ interests and welfare in our decisions. cape buffalo (R2 = 0.15, β(SE): 2.32(0.20), t = 11.71, p < 0.001, Fig 4A), African elephant (R2 = 0.80, β(SE): 2.45(0.08), t = 32.00, p < 0.001, Fig 4B), greater kudu (R2 = 0.33, β(SE): 2.15(0.13), t = 16.80, p < 0.001, Fig 4C) and sable (R2 = 0.28, β(SE): 1.41(0.12), t = 11.87, p < 0.001, Fig 4D). At the level of moral values and principles, the main agenda is why an action is right or wrong, while at the level of policy, the question is what ought to be done. As reviewed here, through a virtue ethics framework, there seems not to be an association between trophy hunting and trophy hunters' virtues and human flourishing. Adverse consequences of trophy hunting on endangered species populations are among issues that have been addressed in the literature. Although holism and anthropocentrism in environmental ethics are usually presented as fundamentally opposed views, Norton argued that their conclusions for policy converge, at least when a sufficiently broad and long‐range view of human interests are considered. Ahmad's perspective on trophy hunting mirrors what the premier animal rights philosopher, Tom Regan (2004), says about utilitarian justifications for hunting to control wildlife populations. Most of the documented studies done on African elephant relates to illegal hunting effects on the tusk size instead of trophy hunting related issues and as such there were no comparative studies[81]. The sustainability of trophy hunting in Category VI protected areas in most southern African countries is increasingly subjected to scrutiny both from an ecological and ethical perspective [52]. As moral agents, it is upon us to take a side on the trophy hunting debate now that will be considered ethical and humane in the future as history will judge. We conducted all statistical analyses in IBM SPSS 20 software package (IMB, New York, USA) at 5% level of significance. The frequency at which these factors are monitored and analysed to inform the quota setting process as part of the adaptive management process is often low and not consistent [41, 46]. CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe, see Dube, 2019; or communal conservancies in Namibia, see Hannis, 2016; Koot, 2019). This is opposed to wildlife preservation approaches which promote restraint in the harvest and consumption of wildlife species and their products [3]. We concluded that: (1) the effect of trophy hunting on size of horn or tusk size and age at harvest is species specific as it does not necessarily affect trophy size and the age at harvest of harvested herbivores, (2) quota size allocation may not reflect the trophy size and offtake levels over the time, and (3) political and economic performance may not necessarily affect the harvesting regime patterns though external influences though moratoriums may possibly reduce the offtake levels over time. CNN’s TROPHY HUNTING ARTICLE. Macdonald, Jacobsen, et al., 2016; Nelson et al., 2016) merits consideration as a negative outcome in an utilitarian analysis of trophy hunting. Thus, this section on utilitarianism will be longer than the sections on deontology and virtue theory. golden gnus; Snijders, 2018). The period 2004–2015 was characterized by significant changes in the offtake growth rate for Cape buffalo (F(11, 60) = 2.01, p = 0.043). However, in addition to the few studies mentioned above, there are cases such as Cecil the lion (Howard, 2015), or canned hunting (i.e. Trophy hunting denotes a type of selective recreational hunting of nonhuman animals (hereafter, animals) done to obtain their body parts as a representation of success or memorial (Pospisil, 2017). Trophy hunting refers to the hunting of game for pleasure. Thus, conservation practitioners must contemplate ethical concerns regarding both humans and animals in conservation policy (Vucetich et al., 2018; Vucetich & Nelson, 2013). While scrutinizing individual trophy hunting cases is beyond the scope of this essay, based on this evidence, I contend that a more thorough inclusion of trophy hunting's consequences in utilitarian evaluations is required. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. School of Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Private Bag 7724, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, Affiliation There was a positive relationship between the age at harvest and the trophy size for all the harvested herbivore species for the period 2004–2015, i.e. However, he clearly excludes trophy hunting from his defense of hunting (Jensen, 2001). Sandler (2017) enumerates maleficence towards nonhuman living things, cruelty towards animals and lack of compassion for them among the environmental vices. communal conservancies in Namibia or private wildlife lands in Zimbabwe; see IUCN, 2016). Although Zimbabwe had an economic crisis, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority did not substantially increase the trophy quota size to increase revenue for the Parks and Wildlife Estate to cushion itself from the bad economy. Moreover, trophy hunting activities should not modify ecosystems in a way that diminishes native biodiversity. in the context of KAZA TFCA). Professional hunters usually lure these wild animals with bait and then collect their trophies (the animal’s body parts) after shooting the animal. Affiliation Ethical issues are complicated, and there is no easy, straightforward answer for morally contentious topics. We argue that viability of trophy hunting in this area over time may be compromised unless solemn trophy hunting policy changes are adopted and implemented. 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