rjthehunter
Well-known member
I can understand that. Money talks, always has, always will.Not really. The trouble is, there are American hunters, and plenty of them, that are more than willing to exploit wildlife resources of other countries.
The money, ego, lists, etc. will drive some to kill the last one of about anything to cross something off a list or make some money.
Combine that with some countries just not having the resources, knowledge, data, or will to manage a resource correctly...the last stop-gap is our government taking action.
I get it, many times hunting can actually help in conservation efforts for some species. Where practical and when supported correctly, great, good, fantastic. That's just not reality everywhere, far from it.
The trick and tough part is finding the balance, and right people/governments to cooperate enough to find consensus that works. Hunt to support conservation without over doing it. Exploitation is very easy to accommodate...wasn't all that long ago, in our own past in the U.S. that we hunted stuff down to about nothing. Maybe we did learn from our own exploitation of wildlife and are positioned to limit it elsewhere.
It's not as simple as "gubmint over reach".
I think of a recent walrus hunt I was told about. I was told there are more than enough walrus to support more than 1000's being taken every year. But you cannot take any piece of it back to the US with you, because the US deemed them endangered.
To put a halt to importing lions to the US that were legally hunted is interesting. It would be like NZ saying hey sorry residents, you're not allowed to bring any elk back that you shoot in WY because I don't think there's enough... Is the US monitoring wildlife populations in Africa?