WASHINGTON, U.S.A. - A Texas hunting club on Saturday auctioned off a permit to kill
a black rhinoceros in Namibia, raising $350,000 towards
conservation efforts for the animal, but not without controversy.
The Dallas Safari Club, which said all money would be given to Namibia for
“anti-poaching patrols, habitat protection, research and other measures crucial
for protecting populations of endangered black rhinos,” has nonetheless sparked
the ire of some wildlife groups.
A government-approved annual quota, in place in Namibia since 2012, gives permission
for the killing of five black rhinos per year.
“Science shows that selective hunting helps rhino populations grow,” the
club said in a statement released after the US auction.
“Removing old, post-breeding bulls — which are territorial, aggressive and
often kill younger, breeding bulls, cows and even calves — increases survival
and productivity in a herd.”
Namibia wildlife authorities on Friday defended the auctioning of permits,
saying the kill was aimed at conserving the endangered species. But Dallas
Safari Club director Ben Carter(photo) said he has received more than a dozen emailed
death threats against his family and members of his staff.
“A number of emails said, ‘For every rhino you kill, we will kill a member
of the club.’”
The Texas-based group sought help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
which said it is taking the threats “seriously.”
According to the club, Namibian wildlife officials will accompany the
auction winner through Mangetti National Park where the hunt will occur, “to
ensure the correct type of animal is taken.”
The Dallas Safari Club also stated that meat from the rhino will feed “a
nearby community,” if the hunt is successful.
Carter defended the hunt in a recent press release in which he insisted that
the auction will help increase the size of the herd by removing an old
“post-breeding” male.
Several months ago, the Humane Society of the United States described the
news of the auction as “disturbing” and vowed to campaign against the issuance
of a US permit to return the trophy.
“The world is seeing a concerted effort to preserve the very few black
rhinos and other rhinos who are dodging poachers’ bullets and habitat
destruction,” Wayne Pacelle, president of the HSUS, said.
Black rhinoceroses are internationally considered an endangered species and
the World Wildlife Fund says there are less than 5,000 remaining in Africa.
Namibia, a semi-desert southern African country, has a black rhino
population of nearly 1,800.
Namibia is less affected by rhino poaching compared with its neighbour,
South Africa, with only 10 killed since 2006, according to the international
wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic.
Rhino poaching has reached crisis levels in South Africa, with nearly a thousand
killed in 2012.
Source: Agencies
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