Trophy hunting is the selective hunting of wild game animals. Although parts of the slain animal may be kept as a hunting trophy or memorial (usually the skin, antlers and/or head), the carcass itself is sometimes used as food.
Trophy hunting has firm supporters and opponents. Public debate about trophy hunting often centres on the question of the morality of sport hunting and the question of the extent to which the money paid by trophy hunters benefits the population of game animals and the local economy.
Trophy hunting should not be confused with poaching, the practice of taking game illegally.
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A hunting trophy is an item prepared from the body of a game animal killed by a hunter and kept as a souvenir of the successful hunting or fishing expedition.
Often, the heads or entire bodies are processed by a taxidermist, although sometimes other body parts such as teeth, tusks or horns are used as the trophies.
Such trophies are often displayed in the hunter's home or office, and often in specially designed "trophy rooms," sometimes called "game rooms" or "gun rooms," in which the hunter's weaponry is displayed as well.[1]
A big-game hunter is a person engaged in the sport of trophy hunting for large animals or game. The pursuit of the major objective might place the hunter at risk of personal harm. Potential big game sought include, but are not limited to: bears, big cats, hippos, elephants, rhinos, buffalos, moose and so forth.
Along with Indian blackbuck, nilgai, axis deer and many other exotic deer and antelope -- many from Africa -- there are also barasingha now found living in the wild in Texas, U.S. on lands managed as hunting ranches. Barasingha were brought to the U.S. approximately 100 years ago to be introduced onto land that is managed for sport hunting. Hunters pay as much as $4,000 as trophy fees for hunting a Barasingha.
In the 1970s and 1980s, people in many Western countries assumed a pejorative association regarding hunting for trophy.
Many of the 189 countries signatory to the 1992 Rio Accord have developed biodiversity action plans that discourage the hunting of protected species.[2]
The League Against Cruel Sports has produced a report alleging trophy hunting does not have a positive effect on conservation. They suggest ecotourism can earn local communities as much as 15 times the amount of money earned by livestock, game-rearing or overseas hunting. Ecotourism increases the number of jobs and lengthens the time wildlife exists as an economic resource. [3]
Trophy hunting opponents also cite the genetic health of species because hunters often try to kill large, healthy individuals instead of smaller, unhealthy and/or unattractive individuals. This indicates the animals that would pass on evolutionary-beneficial genes to their offspring are, in fact, the ones that become less likely to reproduce. Proponents of trophy hunting claim many hunting fees go toward conservation, such as portions of hunting license fees, hunting tags and ammunition taxes. In addition, private groups, such as the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which contributed more than $400,000 in 2005,[4] and smaller private groups also contribute significant funds; for example, the Grand Slam Club Ovis has raised more than $2.8 million to date for the conservation of sheep.[5]
Torghar in Qila Saifullah is well known for trophy hunting of Sulaiman markhore and Afghan urial. Beside this, two new areas adopting conservation of species through trophy hunting are Surghar and Shinghar in District Musakhel Balochistan.
The District Musakhel contains the last remnant population of internationally threatened straight-horned markhor (Capra falconeri megaceros) and Afghan urial (Ovis orientalis cycloceros). This area is also not legally covered by any category of protected area system. The straight-horned markhor is an endangered species and is listed in Appendix I of CITES. The Afghan urial is on Appendix II of CITES. The mainstay of the local economy is limited agriculture and livestock rearing. In 2005, the local people of Surghar and Shinghar mountains started a modest conservation program with the help of a local nongovernmental organization, MJKJ Foundation. According to WWF-Pakistan surveys, quite a good population of Sulaiman markhore and urial are present in the area. The community was planning to start trophy hunting in November 2010.
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