Ten years of coverage of trophy hunting in UK newspapers

Hunting is an increasingly contentious topic. Trophy hunting, whereby people hunt individual animals with desirable characteristics in order to keep body parts (e.g. horns, heads, hides, antlers) as mementos, is especially contested. Political pressure, often in the form of trophy import bans, is being applied in multiple nations, and campaigns to ban trophy hunting, or trophy imports, attract considerable media attention. However, trophy hunting often has conservation value, acting to protect habitat and provide income for local communities. Assuming that media coverage can influence public and political opinion, negative or simplistic media coverage of trophy hunting has the potential to cause adverse outcomes for conservation and local communities. Here, we analyse coverage of trophy hunting from July 2010 - June 2020 (five years before and five years after the death of Cecil the Lion) in the most popular UK media outlets (624 articles in total), assessing the overall sentiment of each article, and the species and countries covered. Ninety percent of all coverage occurred after the death of Cecil the lion, marking this event as a watershed moment in UK mainstream media depiction of trophy hunting. The overall sentiment of articles was largely against trophy hunting (63.1%), and this was more pronounced in tabloids (84.2%) than broadsheets (42.2%). Pro-trophy hunting articles were very uncommon overall (3.5%). Articles that described the complexity of trophy hunting decreased following Cecil and were most common in pre-Cecil broadsheets (35.7%, dropping to 30.6%) and rarest in post-Cecil tabloids (3.1%). Articles focussed mainly on charismatic but rarely hunted species including lion, elephant and rhino, with commonly hunted species (such as impala or Cape buffalo) only rarely being mentioned. When countries were mentioned, southern African nations predominated, with four nations (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) being named in 68% of qualifying articles. We conclude that simplistic media depiction of trophy hunting has the potential to cause negative outcomes for conservation through its impact on public perception and political opinion

Practical advice on variable selection and reporting using Akaike information criterion

The various debates around model selection paradigms are important, but in lieu of a consensus, there is a demonstrable need for a deeper appreciation of existing approaches, at least among the end-users of statistics and model selection tools. In the ecological literature, the Akaike information criterion (AIC) dominates model selection practices, and while it is a relatively straightforward concept, there exists what we perceive to be some common misunderstandings around its application. Two specific questions arise with surprising regularity among colleagues and students when interpreting and reporting AIC model tables. The first is related to the issue of ‘pretending’ variables, and specifically a muddled understanding of what this means. The second is related to p-values and what constitutes statistical support when using AIC. There exists a wealth of technical literature describing AIC and the relationship between p-values and AIC differences. Here, we complement this technical treatment and use simulation to develop some intuition around these important concepts. In doing so we aim to promote better statistical practices when it comes to using, interpreting and reporting models selected when using AIC.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Ten years of coverage of trophy hunting in UK newspapers

Hunting is an increasingly contentious topic. Trophy hunting, whereby people hunt individual animals with desirable characteristics in order to keep body parts (e.g. horns, heads, hides, antlers) as mementos, is especially contested. Political pressure, often in the form of trophy import bans, is being applied in multiple nations, and campaigns to ban trophy hunting, or trophy imports, attract considerable media attention. However, trophy hunting often has conservation value, acting to protect habitat and provide income for local communities. Assuming that media coverage can influence public and political opinion, negative or simplistic media coverage of trophy hunting has the potential to cause adverse outcomes for conservation and local communities. Here, we analyse coverage of trophy hunting from July 2010 - June 2020 (five years before and five years after the death of Cecil the Lion) in the most popular UK media outlets (624 articles in total), assessing the overall sentiment of each article, and the species and countries covered. Ninety percent of all coverage occurred after the death of Cecil the lion, marking this event as a watershed moment in UK mainstream media depiction of trophy hunting. The overall sentiment of articles was largely against trophy hunting (63.1%), and this was more pronounced in tabloids (84.2%) than broadsheets (42.2%). Pro-trophy hunting articles were very uncommon overall (3.5%). Articles that described the complexity of trophy hunting decreased following Cecil and were most common in pre-Cecil broadsheets (35.7%, dropping to 30.6%) and rarest in post-Cecil tabloids (3.1%). Articles focussed mainly on charismatic but rarely hunted species including lion, elephant and rhino, with commonly hunted species (such as impala or Cape buffalo) only rarely being mentioned. When countries were mentioned, southern African nations predominated, with four nations (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) being named in 68% of qualifying articles. We conclude that simplistic media depiction of trophy hunting has the potential to cause negative outcomes for conservation through its impact on public perception and political opinion

Governance Principles for Wildlife Conservation in the 21st Century

Wildlife conservation is losing ground in the U.S. for many reasons. The net effect is declines in species and habitat. To address this trend, the wildlife conservation institution (i.e., all customs, practices, organizations and agencies, policies, and laws with respect to wildlife) must adapt to contemporary social– ecological conditions. Adaptation could be supported by clear guidelines re- flecting contemporary expectations for wildlife governance. We combine elements of public trust thinking and good governance to produce a broad set of wildlife governance principles. These principles represent guidance for ecologically and socially responsible wildlife conservation. They address persistent, systemic problems and, if adopted, will bring the institution into line with modern expectations for governance of public natural resources. Implementation will require changes in values, objectives, and processes of the wildlife conservation institution. These changes may be difficult, but promise improved wildlife conservation outcomes and increased support for conservation. We introduce challenges and opportunities associated with the principles, and encourage dialogue about them among scientists, practitioners, and other leaders in U.S. wildlife conservation. The principles alone will not change the course of conservation for the better, but may be necessary for such change to occur

Public perceptions of trophy hunting are pragmatic, not dogmatic

Funding: This work is an output from the Morally Contested Conservation research project, supported by Jamma International, WWF Deutschland, and the Luc Hoffmann Institute (now Unearthodox) to the University of Oxford [grant number ATR04380].Fierce international debates rage over whether trophy hunting is socially acceptable, especially when people from the Global North hunt well-known animals in sub-Saharan Africa. We used an online vignette experiment to investigate public perceptions of the acceptability of trophy hunting in sub-Saharan Africa among people who live in urban areas of the USA, UK and South Africa. Acceptability depended on specific attributes of different hunts as well as participants' characteristics. Zebra hunts were more acceptable than elephant hunts, hunts that would provide meat to local people were more acceptable than hunts in which meat would be left for wildlife, and hunts in which revenues would support wildlife conservation were more acceptable than hunts in which revenues would support either economic development or hunting enterprises. Acceptability was generally lower among participants from the UK and those who more strongly identified as an animal protectionist, but higher among participants with more formal education, who more strongly identified as a hunter, or who would more strongly prioritize people over wild animals. Overall, acceptability was higher when hunts would produce tangible benefits for local people, suggesting that members of three urban publics adopt more pragmatic positions than are typically evident in polarized international debates.Peer reviewe

Overcoming racism in the twin spheres of conservation science and practice.

It is time to acknowledge and overcome conservation's deep-seated systemic racism, which has historically marginalized Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) communities and continues to do so. We describe how the mutually reinforcing 'twin spheres' of conservation science and conservation practice perpetuate this systemic racism. We trace how institutional structures in conservation science (e.g. degree programmes, support and advancement opportunities, course syllabuses) can systematically produce conservation graduates with partial and problematic conceptions of conservation's history and contemporary purposes. Many of these graduates go on to work in conservation practice, reproducing conservation's colonial history by contributing to programmes based on outmoded conservation models that disproportionately harm rural BIPOC communities and further restrict access and inclusion for BIPOC conservationists. We provide practical, actionable proposals for breaking vicious cycles of racism in the system of conservation we have with virtuous cycles of inclusion, equality, equity and participation in the system of conservation we want

Threats posed to conservation by media misinformation

Media coverage of trophy hunting highlights the potential for misinformation to enter public and political debates on conservation issues. We argue that misinformation should be a major concern for all involved in conservation

Trophy hunting is not one big thing

Few topics in wildlife conservation are as controversial, emotive, or command as much public and political attention, as trophy hunting. International discourses regarding trophy hunting are characterised by radically contradictory assertions, ranging from claims that trophy hunting is a humane and socially acceptable wildlife management tool which benefits more animals than it kills, to claims that it is cruel, socially unacceptable, and drives species to extinction. So, which is it? We argue that using a single, blanket term “trophy hunting” obscures substantial and important variation in how and why people pay to hunt and keep trophies. Consequently, polarised disagreements over whether “trophy hunting” is good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, beneficial or harmful, conflate arguments about fundamentally different activities. We urge conservation scientists and practitioners, politicians, journalists, and advocates on all sides to communicate more clearly and carefully about which specific hunting activities they believe are right or wrong, beneficial, or harmful, acceptable or unacceptable, to whom, and for what reasons

Ownership, morality, and wildlife conservation

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary investigation of three morally contested dimensions of wildlife conservation: Who, if anyone, should own wildlife? What moral obligations, if any, do people have to conserve other species? What types of governance reform could help address contemporary conservation challenges? In Chapter 1 I describe the context for this dissertation. Wildlife conservation and governance must change to meet ecological challenges and social expectations, but the scope and direction of change required are contested. Much of the discourse on the future of wildlife conservation in the United States (U.S.) revolves around the concept of wildlife as a public trust. Nevertheless, disagreement over what it means for wildlife to be a public trust and competing interpretations of the concept’s implications can exacerbate rather than ameliorate conflict over the future of wildlife conservation. Chapters 2 and 3 offer practically orientated guidance to scholars and wildlife professionals interested in the potential of public trust thinking (PTT) to inspire socially and ecologically responsible wildlife governance reform. Chapter 2 outlines PTT’s foundation principles, and chapter 3 describes challenges and opportunities in applying PTT to wildlife governance in the U.S. Chapter 4 presents results of an empirical study of moral attitudes about wildlife ownership among people living in the U.S. Variation in moral attitudes can help explain why some wildlife conservation activities are more morally acceptable than others. Chapter 5 shows that ownership (defined as respect for possession) is a powerful but overlooked cooperative solution to resource conflict throughout the biological world. It consists of a literature review of ownership across disciplines and a new evolutionary game-theoretic model of how ownership arrangements can emerge and remain stable. Chapter 6 investigates whether the theory of evolution by natural selection can explain why conservation ethics (moral beliefs, intuitions, attitudes, and norms regarding other species) exist and why they vary. It consists of eco-evolutionary models of adaptive conservation behavior, and proposes that an evolutionary perspective might help resolve persistent moral debates over the value of other species. To better understand and address contemporary conservation challenges, we need to better understand morality. And to better understand morality, we need to incorporate evolution. Wildlife conservation approaches that go with the grain of evolved dispositions and harness our capacities for sustainable behavior are less likely to be morally contested, so are especially likely to succeed

Ethical issues in international research and multicentre studies

Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-30T11:49:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) 3.pdf: 218706 bytes, checksum: eb33f6577d3966b331e80a2d7474a600 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008Universidade de Queen. Kingston, Ontário, Canadá.Universidade de Caledônia. Glasgow, Reino Unido.Este artigo apresenta um panorama das questões-chave relativas à pesquisa internacional e aos estudos multicêntricos, com especial ênfase na pesquisa biomédica internacional realizada nos países em desenvolvimento. Faz uma breve explicação das normas que regem a pesquisa biomédica internacional e uma exposição do debate sobre os padrões de cuidado a serem oferecidos pela pesquisa nos países em desenvolvimento e desenvolvidos. Descreve as questões ligadas à participação de grupos vulneráveis em pesquisas, com referência específica aos países em desenvolvimento. Por fim, o artigo discute temas relativos a cuidados de emergência e pós-ensaio, exploração, recompensa e indução indevida, voluntariedade e benefícios para as comunidades locais.This article provides an overview of the key issues pertaining to international research and multicentre studies, with particular emphasis to international biomedical research in the developing world. The article begins with a brief explanation of the regulations governing international biomedical research and an exposition of the debate surrounding the standards of care that should be provided by research conducted in the developing and developed countries. The article describes the issues involved in the participation of vulnerable groups in research, with specific reference to developing countries. Eventually, the article considers matters related to emergency and post-trial care, exploitation, reward and undue inducement, voluntariness and benefits to local communities