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The Harmony Between Hunting And Conservation

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The Harmony Between Hunting and Conservation In 2014, professional hunter Corey Knowlton, placed a bid of $350,000 for the chance to go on a hunting trip in Namibia. On this trip Knowlton had the chance to hunt and kill the black rhino, an extremely endangered species. This hunt and the ideas that have been used to justify it have started a heated debate on the subject. Animal conservationists, who support the ethical side of the argument, don’t understand the desire to kill a beautiful animal for sport. They believe that to sell the rights to the unnatural slaughter of an innocent animal for a trophy sends the wrong message. It seems contradictory and unethical especially in the name of conservation. Conservation by definition is the act …show more content…

Hunting and poaching is mainly responsible for the initial decrease in the population of black rhinos specifically. Currently, there are approximately 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild today, and 2,000 of them live in Namibia (Lavandera, 2015). With such a small population size black rhinos and rhinos in general are on the brink of extinction. Aldo Leopold’s land ethic theory simply pushes the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land (Leopold, 1948). He believes in giving animals value as that is the only way people can be ethical towards it (Leopold, 1948). Conservationists use this theory to support their argument that it is unethical to bring about death and suffering to an animal for the good of the species in the long run. Richard Leaky, head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, states that conservation hunting sends a negative message that it’s okay to hunt these animals and kill endangered species and decreases their value (Melvin, 2015). However, they’re there are so many other ways we can increase conservation efforts, the best way being, exposure to the wonders of wildlife and nature starting at a young age (Melvin, 2015). This would increase the animals value and make more people understand and practice the ideas behind the land ethic theory. Not to mention classic conservationists question the contradictory notion that killing an animal this way is an effort to save the animal from

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