IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Benyr, G.; Littlewood, A.; Czirak, Z. | |
| Sustainability of Lion Trophy Hunting in Tanzania | |
| 2016 Full Book | |
Even if considering only lion trophy hunting, it is a considerable challenge to provide a consistent picture of the conservation status and management quality for a large and diverse country, such as Tanzania. Taking all the possibly detrimental factors into account (Kideghesho et al. 2013), it seems likely that the lion population of Tanzania will continue to decline outside of protected areas (Riggio et al. 2013). However, under the current circumstances controlled trophy hunting helps to mitigate the losses. In addition, incentives to dedicate additional areas to the conservation of wildlife depend to a large extend on the revenues from trophy hunting and these again are strongly correlated with the availability of iconic species, such as lions. Tanzania has several large protected lion populations with a relatively stable population trend, the current management practice should be sufficient to prevent hunting from being detrimental and able to conserve the long-term survival of the national lion population. During the last years, Tanzania has increased its awareness for the need to survey and manage the national lion population and reached a conservation level which is in accordance with CoP17 Res. 17.9 and the self-imposed requirements of the European Union for allowing the import of hunting trophies. Based on the findings of the field mission and the available literature we are confident, that it is possible to recommend a positive SRG opinion for the import of lion trophies from Tanzania. Nevertheless, it has to be acknowledged that the conservation of lions will provide a continuing or even increasing challenge for Tanzania. The current management practice and the dedication and enthusiasm of those who are in charge are promising. However, rapid reactions to rumors about a local crises and continued research are indispensable and without continuing efforts, questions about the sustainability of trophy hunting on this species will raise again. |
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