Outcry over black rhino trophy

The hunting of Namibia's black rhino is back in the international spotlight with calls from conservation and animal welfare groups to cancel the import of a black rhino trophy from Namibia into the US. The latest uproar from international conservation groups follows after the US Fish and Wildlife Service granted approval to a Texas billionaire to import the trophy of a black rhino he shot in Namibia last year. The organisation gave notice on 20 September of its intent to issue the permit within ten days. The Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society International, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Centre for Biological Diversity in a statement argued that such permits undermine conservation of Africa's endangered wildlife. “Killing a critically endangered rhino and importing the trophy does not benefit the species,” said the Humane Society International. It called on the agency to rescind its approval and deny any other trophy import permits to hunters.The approximately 27-year-old black rhino was shot last year by Texas hunter, Lacy Harber, who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars at a safari club auction for the permit to hunt the black rhino in Namibia. While Harber has his own museum of trophy kills, the permit application notes the intent to import a life-size mount of the rhino. Two trophy hunting organisations, the Dallas Safari Club Foundation and Conservation Force, auctioned off the killing of the rhino in December 2016 for US$275 000. The 81-year-old Harber reportedly killed the rhino on 27 February last year at the Veronica Game Lodge, operated by ARU Game Lodges in Namibia.Conservation Force filed the import permit application on behalf of the billionaire hunter on 12 April last year, and the agency opened a 30-day public comment period on 4 January this year. “The agency should not endorse the killing of a critically endangered species to cater to a wealthy few,” said Iris Ho, senior specialist for wildlife programmes and policy at Humane Society International. “The rise of rhino poaching in Namibia shatters the claim that trophy hunting benefits conservation. The United States shouldn't indulge such pay-to-slay schemes by trophy hunters in search of gruesome prizes to take home. We call on the Fish and Wildlife Service to rescind this permit.”“It's disgusting to see federal wildlife officials giving a Texas billionaire a pat on the back for blowing away this incredibly rare rhino,” said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director with the Centre for Biological Diversity. “We shouldn't be sanctioning the death of this majestic animal by allowing this trophy into the United States. The cruelty of trophy hunting simply doesn't comport with efforts to save Africa's imperilled wildlife.”Meanwhile, Harber earlier this year described himself as a national hero to Namibia for killing the rhino.“Now, in Namibia, I am a national hero,” Harber said. “The Namibian government gave me a medallion and they also gave me documents (saying) where I had contributed ... above and beyond what anybody else in the world had ever done to help save the black rhino,” he said. Namibia is allocated a quota by Cites to hunt five rhinos every year. Scientific means are used to identify an older rhino bull which is then declared as problematic animal. These animals reach post-reproductive age. The money paid for the hunt is paid into the Game Trust Fund and is used for conservation activities or efforts to combat poaching in Namibia.This year 29 rhinos have already been poached of which eight rhinos were white rhino. Of these six were privately owned and two white rhinos were poached in Etosha National Park. Of the 21 black rhinos poached, 13 rhinos were poached in Etosha and eight on custodian properties.Last year 35 rhinos were killed by poachers. In 2016 a total of 60 rhino were poached and 56 rhino in 2014.This is not the first time that a Namibian black rhino hunt auctioned to a Texas hunter was shrouded in controversy. Texas hunter Corey Knowlton in 2014 bought a black rhino hunt to Namibia for US$350 000 at the Dallas Safari Club sponsored auction, but faced a storm of fierce criticism from animal rights campaigners and wildlife groups.The US Fish and Wildlife Service later said the black rhino hunt was consistent with the conservation strategy of Namibia and will generated a huge amount of money for wildlife conservation, anti-poaching efforts and community development programmes in Namibia. ELLANIE SMIT

Outcry over black rhino trophy

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-30

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Outcry over black rhino trophy

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-30

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