AHIMSA ALERT ! STOP PLANNED 'TROPHY' HUNTING OF ENDANGERED SPECIES !

[Guest guest]

AHIMSA ALERT ! ECOLOGISTS ACTIVATE TO STOP THIS IMPENDING DISASTER!

 

Vaishnavas, Hindus and other concerned persons should protest to

President Bush about his planned 'trophy hunting' plunder of the rest

of the world's endangered species!

 

Article Published: Sunday, October 12, 2003

New plan: Kill endangered species to save them

 

By Shankar Vedantam

The Washington Post

 

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is proposing far-reaching

changes to conservation policies that would allow hunters, circuses

and the pet industry to kill, capture and import animals on the brink

of extinction in other countries.

Giving Americans access to endangered animals, officials said, would

both feed the gigantic U.S. demand for live animals, skins, parts and

trophies, and generate profits that would allow poor nations to pay

for conservation of the remaining animals and their habitats.

 

This and other proposals that pursue conservation through trade

would, for example, open the door for American trophy hunters to kill

the endangered straight- horned markhor in Pakistan; license the pet

industry to import the blue-fronted Amazon parrot from Argentina;

permit the capture of endangered Asian elephants for U.S. circuses

and zoos; and partially resume the international trade in African

ivory.

 

No U.S. endangered species would be affected.

 

Conservation groups counter that killing or capturing even a few

animals is hardly the best way to protect endangered species, and say

the policies cater to individuals and businesses that profit from

animal exploitation.

 

"It's a very dangerous precedent to decide that wildlife exploitation

is in the best interest of wildlife," said Adam Roberts, a senior

research associate at the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute, an

advocacy group for endangered species.

 

The latest proposal involves an interpretation of the Endangered

Species Act that deviates radically from the course followed by

Republican and Democratic administrations since President Nixon

signed the act in 1973.

 

The law established broad protection for endangered species, most of

which are not native to America, and effectively prohibited trade in

them.

 

Kenneth Stansell, assistant director for international affairs at the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said there has been a growing

realization that the Endangered Species Act provides poor countries

no incentive to protect dying species.

 

Allowing American hunters, circuses and the pet industry to pay

countries to take fixed numbers of animals from the wild would fund

conservation programs for remaining animals, he said.

 

U.S. officials note that such trade is already open to hunters, pet

importers and zoos in other Western nations. They say the idea is

supported by poor countries that are home to the endangered species

and would benefit from the revenue.

 

Officials at the Department of Interior and Fish and Wildlife, who

are promoting many of the new policies, said the proposals merely

implement rarely used provisions in the law.

 

"This is absolutely consistent with the Endangered Species Act, as

written," said David Smith, assistant deputy interior secretary for

fish, wildlife and parks.

 

"I think the nature of the beast is such that there are critics who

are going to claim some kind of ulterior motive."

 

Animal-welfare advocates question the logic of the new approach,

saying that foreign countries and groups that stand to profit will be

in charge of determining how many animals can be killed or captured.

 

Advocates also warn that opening the door to legal trade will allow

poaching to flourish.

 

"As soon as you place a financial price on the head of wild animals,

the incentive is to kill the animal or capture them," Roberts said.

 

"The minute people find out they can have an easier time killing,

shipping and profiting from wildlife, they will do so."

 

The proposals also trigger a visceral response: To many animal

lovers, these species have emotional and symbolic value, and should

never be captured or killed.

 

The Endangered Species Act prohibits removing domestic endangered

species from the wild.

 

Until now, that protection was extended to foreign species.

Explaining the change, Stansell said: "There is a recognition that

these sovereign nations have a different way of managing their

natural resources."

 

Indeed, many of the strongest advocates for "sustainable use"

programs - under which some animals are "harvested" to raise money to

save the rest - have been countries that are home to various

endangered species.

 

Foreign trade groups and governments have tried for years - mostly in

vain - to convince the United States that animals are no longer in

limited supply or that capturing or killing fixed numbers would not

drive a species to extinction.

 

That could change after Friday, the end of the public comment period

on one proposed change.

 

According to the proposal, "allowing a limited number of U.S. hunters

an opportunity to import trophies from this population could provide

a significant increase in funds available for conservation."

 

John Monson, a New Hampshire trophy hunter and former chairman of

that state's Fish and Game Commission, said the program would help

preserve rare animals. In 1999, Monson applied for a permit to shoot

and import a straight- horned markhor. He was turned down.

 

Monson said the money he has spent hunting trophies - including a

leopard from Namibia and a bontebok antelope from South Africa - has

funded conservation programs.

 

Monson is president-elect of Safari Club International, a national

hunting advocacy group.

 

He agreed to an interview only in his personal capacity.

 

Safari Club International gave $274,000 to candidates during the 2000

election, 86 percent of it to Republicans. It also spent $5,445

printing bumper stickers for the Bush presidential campaign.

 

Monson has made a variety of contributions himself, including $1,000

to the Bush for President campaign.