Should private companies that accidentally kill migratory birds be held criminally responsible? The Trump administration didn’t think so and changed an interpretation of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty that made an unintentional killing of migratory birds a crime. Now the Fish and Wildlife Service is reversing the Trump administration’s decision. The Migratory Bird Treaty was…
Tag: Hunting
Wisconsin’s Controversial Wolf Hunt—Still an Issue
After the gray wolf was delisted as endangered and hunters brought a lawsuit, the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources allowed a wolf hunt in Wisconsin in February—the first since 2014. Its impact is still reverberating, says Field & Stream. The hunt was called off after three days (it was supposed to extend a week) because…
The Future of Wildlife Funding: Hunters and Non-hunters
This post by contributor Wallace Kaufman is a reply to Sterling Burnett’s post, “Where Are the Eco-tourists’ Dollars?” For openers, let me suppose that I am a lion, a giraffe, or a Cape buffalo. I ask myself, “Who is going to save me from a poacher?” And “Who will put up the most money to…
Where Are the Eco-tourists’ Dollars?
Reports from Africa confirm what I’ve written about the continuing criticality of hunting to wildlife conservation, along with the inability, unwillingness, or lack of awareness of the need for the eco-tourism industry to step up to the plate, replace hunters’ dollars, and protect wildlife. Domestic and international travel bans and internal economic shutdowns brought international…
Why Hunting Dollars Still Matter
Liberty and Ecology has posted a number of articles discussing hunting as a means of conserving wildlife. Every article acknowledges the vital role the hunting community has historically played in wildlife conservation both in the United States and internationally. Among these articles is a three-part series by Wallace Kaufman. He argues that hunting is no…
The Pandemic and Trophy Hunting
Fear that the coronavirus pandemic came from wild animals has evoked calls for greater limits on trade in wildlife. But Catherine Semcer of PERC (the Property and Environment Research Center), in a thorough discussion of the issue, says that the coronavirus did not come from legal trade in wildlife and warns against further restricting trophy…