Mixed signals from hunting rare wildlife

Abstract

Public and practitioner opinions differ greatly as to when, where, how, and whether it may be economically, ecologically, and ethically appropriate to hunt rare and endangered wildlife for sport, particularly species subject to poaching (Treves 2009; Wielgus et al. 2013). Examples include rhinoceros (Figure 1; Prins and Okita‐Ouma 2013), elephant (Cressey 2013), bear (Swenson et al. 1997), and cougar (Cooley et al. 2009). Some species have been hunted to extinction, whereas others have been protected in hunting estates or by hunting leases. Certain landowners intentionally kill endangered predators to increase the abundance of non‐endangered target species (Thompson et al. 2009). Hunting can change population structure (Swenson et al. 1997; Milner et al. 2007; Packer et al. 2011), as well as species distribution (Davidson et al. 2011) and morphology (Jachmann et al. 1995). In areas where wildlife watching and game hunting tours operate adjacently or sequentially, habituation to the presence of humans benefits hunters at the expense of viewers.