IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Myers, N. | |
| Editorial: The leopard in Africa: biological and cultural realities | |
| 1981 International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems (2): 5-6 | |
The leopard in Africa may once again come under pressure from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is considering the prospect of changing the leopard's legal status from endangered to threatened, thus opening it up to sport hunting. The motivation is to enable American hunters to bring leopard skin trophies back to the United States. However, the leopard's populations are not "large" in the majority of countries. Furthermore, the leopard's numbers are fast dwindling. The main problem, however, with U.S. Fish and Wildlife's proposal is not really the species' biological status, but of institutional, socio-cultural and economic nature. Wildlife agencies in emergent Africa are not yet capable to regulate wildlife resources in a sufficiently effective manner. Corruption is rife in many if not most countries in question. If the door to exploitation is opened an inch, e.g. for sports hunters, a flood gate may burst open, admitting all manner of illicit activites. Conservation of all wildlife throughout Africa faces enough problems without the further complication that would undoubtedly arise from sport hunting of the leopard within the foreseeable future. |
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