If you're trying to preserve a severely endangered animal, it's obviously not the best idea to hunt it for sport. But in a bizarre twist of logic, the Dallas Safari Club has decided to auction off the chance to kill an imperiled black rhino in Namibia. The money raised will supposedly go towards preserving the remaining population of rhinos – but if the Dallas Safari Club really wanted to save rhinos, why not stop hunting them in the first place?Read moreallas Safari Club to Auction a Chance to Kill an Endangered Black Rhino for the Sake of Conservation | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building )http://inhabitat.com/safari-club-auctions-permit-to-kill-endangered-black-rhino-for-sake-of-conservation/ Safari Club Auctions Permit to Kill Endangered Black Rhino - for Sake of Conservation!?
I honestly don't think that it is that bad of an idea. Sure, sounds like an oxymoron type situation, but there are people out there who'd pay big bucks for the actual thrill/sport rather than slaughtering it for it's pieces. But at the same time, it's not like this will stop poaching.. It takes money to save a species though and it doesn't seem like an unfair compromise to me, as long as the money goes back into protecting them as they claim.
Any publicity is good publicity. Or... alternatively, I'd love to see an actual conservation fund buy out potential poachers and then destroy the permit. One of the aspects I find very interesting is the obvious power dynamics between the Namibian government (which remains very much neo-colonial), local indigenous populations, conservation narratives, and the thinly veiled American neo-imperial mentality. Even if you assume the conservation agency is appropriately managed, there remain serious issues in terms of indigenious rights. Namibia has a terrible track record of disenfranchising and marginalizing the small-scale subsistence groups in the region. The conservancy agencies often antagonize tranditional subsistence stratagies and criminalize some of the oldest established cultural practices in the world. Even if the benefits outweight the costs - you have to be sure careful to investigate just how deep they go! Whose interests are being proctected at whose expense?
Killing an extinct animal for money seems unethical. I'm sure these guys can raise 250,000 and keep it alive. Like: come shoot organic paint balls it or ring toss around its horn