Trophy Hunting: Confronting the Elephant (Head) in the Room

According to the researchers, trophy hunting — hunting that involves the collection of animal body parts, or trophies — is morally wrong.

MARC BEKOFF: ‘In a most important essay called “The Elephant (Head) In the Room: A Critical Look at Trophy Hunting” published in Conservation Letters and available online, an international team of conservation scientists from Oregon State University, University of Victoria and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and The Centre for Compassionate Conservation at University of Technology, Sydney challenges conservationists to fully consider the ethics of trophy hunting and to think critically about endorsing the practice as a key funding mechanism for wildlife protection…

According to the researchers, “trophy hunting — hunting that involves the collection of animal body parts, or ‘trophies’—is morally wrong, as an expression of Western chauvinist, colonialist, and anthropocentric norms.” They argue that alternative strategies for conservation and community development need to be fully explored before the conservation community embraces trophy hunting as business as usual’. SOURCE…

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