Way back in those tall trees I saw giraffes
My goal is one shot and have the animal not take a step
I’m trying to make a humane kill, as quick as possible
Dan has travelled to Namibia…
…with a single mission…
…to track and kill an African animal
The realities of hunting is you kill something
That’s true
But personally I would much rather live free out here…
…in the Kalahari and then die by a single gunshot wound
He’s trophy hunting
We’ll get close to the animal
I know we’re close when Johnny tells me, load up
It’s one of the most emotive and controversial sports in the world
I have maybe five seconds to make the shot
Sometimes I’m not quick enough
Sometimes I am
It may sound perverse…
…but people like Dan are actually helping…
…to conserve some of Africa’s most iconic and endangered wildlife
Here’s why
Images like these create intense debate…
…around trophy hunting online
Worldwide outrage tonight, over the death of “Cecil the lion”
Why are you shooting a lion in the first place?
Shoot him
Shoot him right between the ears
Yet campaigns and outrage on social media…
…often only tell part of the story
At the moment it’s very one-sided
It’s very emotional
It’s also driven by people that have more resources than us
They have their Hollywood stars…
…that have never travelled and came…
…and sit underneath a tree with these communities…
…and understand where they are coming from
I can’t understand what would motivate someone…
…to go and want to kill a lion for fun or any other animal for fun
There is a narrative that says these animals are threatened…
…and rich Americans generally are going out to shoot them
Of course that sounds very compelling
But the realities are much more complicated than that
Much media attention focuses on trophy hunting in Africa…
…but it actually takes place in countries all over the world
And in many as part of a diverse wildlife-conservation strategy
Americans do import the most mammal trophies…
…over 30,000 in 2017 alone
But trophy hunting is not driving any species to extinction
Conservation in general is very underfunded in Africa…
…when it comes to environment and conservation issues…
…they are normally at the bottom…
…of each of the African countries’ agendas
And hunters can bring in valuable revenue…
…to fund conservation…
…and protect against threats such as poaching
Trophy fees can average $600 for an impala…
…over $10,000 for a lion…
…and even more for an elephant…
…with the hunts themselves often costing more
Dan has paid to hunt and kill an oryx
The whole hunting experience is very challenging…
…and I like that, I live for challenges
The challenge of trying to find the animal…
…the challenge of getting close enough to make an ethical shot…
…and then the final thing is when you pull the trigger…
…getting the bullet placement correct…
…so you make a clean, ethical kill
Growing up in Texas I’ve always hunted…
…but I’ve never hunted trophies until I came to Namibia
Namibia, where trophy hunting has been legal since the 1960s…
…has more wildlife today…
…than at any point in at least the past 100 years
Yet the picture across Africa is bleak
Although exact numbers are subject to debate…
In just over a century, elephant numbers have plummeted
Over 90% of black rhinos were lost between 1970-94…
…although numbers have rebounded
And it’s estimated that lions, which are notoriously hard to count…
…have been reduced by over 30% in just over a decade
But trophy hunting is not the major threat…
…facing any of these species in Africa today
The biggest threat to survival of wildlife in Africa…
…is the loss of habitat as human populations grow
Farming and urban development have taken up large swathes…
…of land previously occupied by wildlife
Take lions
Only 8% of their historical range remains
And they have reportedly vanished from 15 African countries
And this is where trophy hunting can actually help
Trophy hunting enables governments and other landowners…
…to maintain land under a wildlife-based use…
…and therefore reduces those threats of human encroachment…
…poaching and other very significant threats
When Marina Lamprecht bought this plot of land in Namibia…
…where Dan is hunting, it was a cattle ranch
In an area like this which was previously a cattle farm…
…wildlife had very little value above that of its meat
We now have a very large piece of dedicated wildlife area…
…and we fund it through very selective…
…very sustainable trophy hunting
I’ll be back
Money from foreign hunters, like Dan…
…enables Marina to keep this land for wildlife
It’s a very nice, quiet morning. Little bit of wind
I think it’s a nice morning for hunting
Most people assume that trophy hunting is about killing…
…but that’s not the part that I’m looking forward to
I enjoy the stalk, I enjoy the challenge of it
And yes you have to take the animal…
…but that’s what funds this operation
And the local community, where Marina lives, benefits too
I have a deal with the local village elders…
…that I will feed the 260-plus children in the school…
…with meat from the hunt…
…but in exchange we have no poaching…
…or interference of any kind
And it’s a system that works
It’s all about involving local rural communities…
…in benefiting from the wildlife
If communities don’t benefit from the wildlife…
…there’s little incentive to look after it
Living on this landscape is hard
There’s not much choices
And this wildlife is wild
People romanticise that these animals are beautiful
They are beautiful animals, but they are also very dangerous
And they can kill people or they can make our kids not go to school
If wildlife becomes an economic asset…
…people will want to protect it, rather than poach or kill it
Critics of trophy hunting say…
…that it only benefits the privileged in a country…
…like Marina, who operates a private farm
But in Namibia, and other countries, this is not always the case
Nearly 20% of its land is run by local communities
They choose how they want to use it
The communities use the land…
…as farmers, or they can be livestock owners
They can be crop-growers
The conservancies choose to have trophy hunting…
…it’s also benefiting them financially
And that is the only way that we can motivate these communities…
…to be able to look after the lands for conservation values…
…at the moment
If trophy hunting is implemented well…
…and critically with the buy-in of local and national…
…communities and governments…
…you really can see an increase in the wildlife populations
According to international data…
…the only African countries with increasing populations…
…of wild lions…
…use trophy hunting…
…including of lions…
…as part of their wildlife management
And back in Namibia...
…there were only 12 white rhinos in 1968…
…since trophy hunting of them began in 1982…
…their numbers have rebounded
And valuable revenue has been raised for their conservation
In order for countries to see these results…
…trophy hunting has to be well-implemented
As it is in Namibia
They are downwind from us
By law…
…Dan has to be accompanied…
…by a registered Namibian professional hunter
His guide today is Johnny
These are giraffe footprints
You can see it’s very fresh
It’s early from this morning
Only a maximum of 2% of certain species…
…can be killed in trophy hunting…
…and in many cases even less are taken
And there are strict government quotas…
…on which species of animal can be hunted…
…and for some species, which sex
For trophy hunting we don’t shoot young animals…
…because we use these younger males for breeding…
…and big bulls they are not breeding big bulls
They don’t breed anymore, they just eat and sleep
They’ve been searching for an old oryx bull for hours
I think we can get close to this oryx…
…because we have zebra here on the right
The zebra saw us
Namibia is a peaceful and reasonably well-governed country…
Rifle
Load up
…which is why trophy hunting can be well-managed here
But in other countries, it’s not so simple
Trophy hunting is by no means a panacea
Done badly, it can negatively affect animal populations
For instance, around Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe
They had far too high quotas for male lions there
It just was completely unsustainable
Corruption can also be rife in some countries
Some estimate that across just seven African countries…
…trophy hunting brings in more than $200m a year
But it’s often unclear…
…how much reaches local stakeholders
Yet in places where revenues do reach local people…
…trophy-hunting money is a financial life-line
For example, in Namibia…
…the annual revenue from hunting is $28.5m
And in Zimbabwe 770,000 households benefit in some way from it
In many cases, revenue from trophy hunting…
…can’t be replaced by other incomes
There’s a real misconception that photo-tourism…
…could easily be substituted for trophy hunting…
…in most places and that’s just not the case
For tourism you need stability…
…you need low disease risk…
…you need infrastructure…
…you need scenic areas with lots of wildlife
In many, many hunting areas that’s not the case
In Namibia frequent droughts make it difficult…
…for large tourist operations
But it’s ideal terrain for hunters
And Johnny has spotted some prey
Hunting involves killing
It’s just a necessary part of it
Is that what I’m here for?
Absolutely not
Is it necessary? Absolutely so
It’s a big old bull
Get ready with the rifle
Safety off, safety off
You see it between the trees?
Yes
Just aim dead on his chest
Congratulations
He’s down
I didn’t see it until the last moment…
…because it was behind a tree, but Johnny knew it was there
It’s a heart-lung shot
He went right down with one shot
I’ve seen trophy photos…
…which are disrespectful of the animal and I don’t approve
But that’s not the way we do it
We respect the animal, we honour it…
…we use every bit of it…
…so I think you can do it tastefully…
…and that’s what we strive for
Calls for trophy-hunting bans are intensifying
Britain appears to be pushing ahead with a ban…
…on the import of trophies
And some American states have also pushed for import bans
But blanket bans and restrictions are not the answer
There is no conservation model in the world that is perfect
And I will also not claim that ours is perfect
Over the years we have managed to bring wildlife…
…back in areas in countries where it was nearly decimated
I fail to understand why would you like to close down…
…a really good model that work for southern Africa?
With no immediate alternative to trophy hunting…
…vast areas of African habitat…
…more than that covered by national parks, would be put at risk
When people look for a ban on trophy hunting…
…because they find it morally unacceptable
What is the alternative that’s going to be put in their place…
…and how is that viewed at country level?
In 2020, more than 50 African community leaders…
…signed an open letter criticising online influencers…
…who call for bans on trophy hunting
It’s these local communities…
…that have to foot the bill for conservation
At the moment, all the costs are borne locally…
…and all the benefits generally go internationally
I think we do need a new model of conservation…
…and one where the international community…
…plays a far more active role in funding the costs of conservation
We cannot expect the poorest people in the world…
…to maintain something that largely is valued…
…by the richest people in the world
It is not a sustainable model
And crucially, local communities and conservationists…
…have to be listened to…
…rather than ignored or vilified
Africans were born with wildlife, they understand wildlife
It is important that we listen…
…to those silent community conservation voices
The people that are impacted by wildlife
Developing new solutions for conservation…
…could take years—and 1m or more species…
…are facing extinction now
While trophy hunting is no silver bullet…
…taking this conservation tool off the table…
…with no viable alternative…
…will place millions of acres of habitat…
…and the species that rely on it, at risk
Hi, my name is Katie Bailes…
…I’m a producer here at The Economist
If you’d like to learn more about the threats to African wildlife…
…please click the link opposite
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