The Significance of African Lions for the Financial Viability of Trophy Hunting and the Maintenance of Wild Land

Recent studies indicate that trophy hunting is impacting negatively on some lion populations, notably in Tanzania. In 2004 there was a proposal to list lions on CITES Appendix I and in 2011 animal-welfare groups petitioned the United States government to list lions as endangered under their Endangered Species Act. Such listings would likely curtail the trophy hunting of lions by limiting the import of lion trophies. Concurrent efforts are underway to encourage the European Union to ban lion trophy imports. We assessed the significance of lions to the financial viability of trophy hunting across five countries to help determine the financial impact and advisability of the proposed trade restrictions. Lion hunts attract the highest mean prices (US$24,000–US$71,000) of all trophy species. Lions generate 5–17% of gross trophy hunting income on national levels, the proportional significance highest in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia. If lion hunting was effectively precluded, trophy hunting could potentially become financially unviable across at least 59,538 km2 that could result in a concomitant loss of habitat. However, the loss of lion hunting could have other potentially broader negative impacts including reduction of competitiveness of wildlife-based land uses relative to ecologically unfavourable alternatives. Restrictions on lion hunting may also reduce tolerance for the species among communities where local people benefit from trophy hunting, and may reduce funds available for anti-poaching. If lion off-takes were reduced to recommended maximums (0.5/1000 km2), the loss of viability and reduction in profitability would be much lower than if lion hunting was stopped altogether (7,005 km2). We recommend that interventions focus on reducing off-takes to sustainable levels, implementing age-based regulations and improving governance of trophy hunting. Such measures could ensure sustainability, while retaining incentives for the conservation of lions and their habitat from hunting

A study on Lichtenstein's hartebeest, Alcelaphus lichtensteini (Peters 1849), and its habitat in south-eastern Rhodesia

Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 1980.Zoology and EntomologyMSc (Zoology)Unrestricte

Mean price for the cheapest trophy hunting packages (daily rates and trophy fees) for each of four key species.

<p>Mean price for the cheapest trophy hunting packages (daily rates and trophy fees) for each of four key species.</p

Mean predicted returns on investment from trophy hunting under three lion hunting scenarios, percentages of hunting blocks in which trophy hunting operations are predicted to be financially viable, and the minimum area in which trophy hunting is predicted to be viable (excluding some areas in each country that were excluded from the analyses).

a<p>Most of the remainder of Namibia's hunting areas are privately owned and do not support lion populations.</p>b<p>Including all game management areas (some of which may not actually support hunting in practise), excluding the unknown (but relatively small) area of game ranches in which hunting is practised.</p>c<p>The remainder of Zimbabwe's hunting areas comprise CAMPFIRE areas (of which lions are hunted in approximately 6,800 km²), and private ranches (most of which do not support lions, except for conservancies, which are included in the above-analysis).</p

Percentage of Income from trophy hunting that is derived from each of a number of key species in several countries.

a<p>The rank importance of each species to the earnings from trophy hunting (according to the data from hunting blocks analysed) (including species other than the key species included in the table).</p>b<p>Data on elephant quotas were unavailable in Tanzania: industry experts advised that approximately 60 elephants are hunted per year and off-takes were assumed to be distributed evenly across blocks excluding those close to the Kenya border where elephants are not hunted.</p

Costs data used to estimate potential earnings from trophy hunting.

a<p>In most countries, lease length is largely consistent among blocks, but in Mozambique, due to high variability in this measure, mean lease length ± SE reported by operators was used.</p>b<p>We assumed (using data from the surveys) that 61±19.1% (mean ± SD) of running costs were fixed, and the remainder were variable.</p>c<p>Due to a small sample size, we used the Tanzanian mean value for start up and operating costs in Zambia, but used the minimum and maximum values from Zambia.</p

Mean annual changes in the price of hunts of key hunting trophies (including trophy fees, and daily rates) during 2005–2011, adjusted for inflation (see footnote).

<p>We used the compound US inflation rate to convert 2011 hunt prices into 2005 US dollars, and compared these prices with actual 2005 hunt prices to determine the real increase or decrease in hunt prices in the period from 2005 to 2011.</p

Gross and net earnings (US$/km²) from trophy hunting with and without lions on quota (± S.E., the ‘with’ scenario includes areas which do not normally have lions on quota – and for those areas, calculations were made without lions on quota for both scenarios).

<p>Gross and net earnings (US$/km²) from trophy hunting with and without lions on quota (± S.E., the ‘with’ scenario includes areas which do not normally have lions on quota – and for those areas, calculations were made without lions on quota for both scenarios).</p