Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
it is little more than competing to bag the biggest or most complete set of animals. China
does not rank high on most trophy hunters' priority list. The total number of trophy hunts
and hunting areas in China is small, and, as I will show below, the killing of trophy ani-
mals in China has, at least thus far, had an insignificant effect on their populations. Why,
then, devote an entire chapter to such a seemingly minor topic?
Not, as one might guess, because the topic is controversial. Until quite recently, it was
rather uncontroversial within China. 1 Rather, it is because trophy hunting commandeers
a very large share of the available manpower, energy, and interest among those tasked
with conserving wildlife in China's west. Particularly in Xinjiang, Gansu, and Qinghai,
trophy hunting programs, despite hosting only a handful of foreigners yearly, are largely
what provincial wildlife offices do. Lest one immediately jump to the conclusion that
provincial officials deem killing animals more important than conserving them, let me
offer them a pithy defense: they are hardly unique among bureaucrats in prioritizing
the interests of their funding sources. Revenues from trophy hunting have become an
increasingly important source of sustenance for underfunded provincial wildlife offices.
In western China, the species attracting the largest number of hunters is the blue sheep,
which otherwise can be hunted only in Nepal. Smaller numbers of Tibetan gazelles, goi-
tered gazelles, white-lipped deer, and ibex are also shot by trophy hunters. But despite
there being less than about a dozen taken each year nationwide, it is the argali that attract
the most interest among hunters, among Chinese wildlife officials, and among critics of
the Chinese hunting program. 2 (They will thus be kept in the forefront here.)
For many nonhunters, killing animals simply for sport must seem a most unusual way
to conserve them. Even among people who hunt for recreation, spiritual satisfaction,
or to put wild meat on their family's table, hunting in which the sole material objective
is a set of horns for display or a skin for a rug is generally viewed with skepticism at
best. 3 Chinese generally do not share this attitude of disapproval toward such killing.
And although Chinese governments were later than other Asian countries in developing
trophy hunting, they have supported the practice with few reservations, and would like,
if possible, to expand it in the future. 4 Thus, before examining the Chinese trophy hunt-
ing program in detail, we should look at the general concept and explore why it might be
seen as a valid conservation approach.
HOW KILLING ANIMALS MIGHT SAVE THEM
Web sites, brochures, and topics written by and for the trophy-hunting community are
rife with explanations and defenses of trophy hunting as a conservation tool. Most can
be encapsulated by the oft-heard “trophy hunting shows local people the value of these
animals,” an explanation that manages to be simultaneously arrogant (in implying that
locals don't already place value on local wildlife) and incomplete (in assuming that hunt-
ing automatically leads to valuing, and thus by extension, to conservation). I will not
credit these simplistic arguments by reiterating them here, but prefer instead to present
the more objective and credible arguments put forward by natural resource economists
and biologists. Among the most persuasive and justified writing in support of high-priced
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