Debate!

Should nations allow hunting in order to pay for wildlife

conservation?
OCTOBER 26, 2015
By Brenda Iasevoli

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Sport hunting has long been accepted in Mozambique and other poor African
countries as one way to pay for wildlife conservation. Now the practice has the
support of the World Bank, one of the biggest financial backers of conservation
projects in developing countries.
The World Bank recently approved a $40 million grant to Mozambique to fund
conservation efforts. Of that money, $700,000 will be set aside to boost sport
hunting of lions and elephants in the southern African country.
The aim is to collect money from hunting permits and increase the money
generated from tourism. Income from tourism tripled in 2013 from the previous
year, yet the World Bank says thats not enough to support conservation in the
countrys sizable protected areas, including seven national parks and 10 national
reserves.
Under the World Banks plan, 80 hunting permits a year at $11,000 each will be
sold for elephants and about 60 for lions at $4,000 each. The government will
collect most of the profits, but 20 percent will be provided to communities in

conservation areas.
Critics fear Mozambiques fragile elephant population may disappear under the
added pressures of legalized hunting. Poachers, or illegal hunters, have already
wiped out nearly half of the countrys elephant population. Mozambiques
elephants have dwindled from about 20,000 to just 10,300, according to the
Wildlife Conservation Society.
Concerned governments around the globe have banned trophy imports of
critically-endangered species. Australia recently put an end to imports of trophyhunted lions. The United States has stopped trophy imports of elephants from
Zimbabwe.
These governments seem to be catching on to what the rest of the world already
knowsthat killing animals to save them is not conservation, it is just wrong,
writes Jeffrey Flocken of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a group
dedicated to protecting wildlife.
Still, supporters argue that when hunting is properly managed, it can be a
sustainable tool for protecting wildlife.
Legal, well-regulated sport hunting, as part of a sound management program,
can benefit the conservation of listed species by providing incentives to local
communities to conserve the species and by putting much-needed revenue back
into conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement.
What do you think? Should nations allow hunting in order to pay for wildlife
conservation? Is this the best way to save animals from extinction? Write a 200word response. Send it to tfkasks4you@timeforkids.com. Your response may be
published in a future issue of TIME For Kids. Please include your grade and
contact information for your parent or teacher if you want your response to be
published. The deadline for responding is November 30.
Then, be sure to vote for your opinion!