To save lions like Cecil, turn poachers into gamekeepers | Simon Jenkins
by Simon Jenkins from on (#FWA8)
Big game hunts outrage the west, but South Africa shows that sustainable ranching is more effective than bans
A dentist from Wisconsin goes hunting in Zimbabwe and bags its most famous lion, Cecil. In response, Cecil's friends have gone hunting in Minnesota in the hope of bagging its most infamous dentist, Walter Palmer. Welcome to the world of charismatic mega-species, their predators and protectors. One thing only is for sure, the predators are winning.
Last month the Dallas Safari Club announced that one of its number had killed a black rhino in Namibia, one of four allotted for culling each year. The permit to do so had been auctioned for $350,000, which goes to the Namibian wildlife conservation service. Palmer paid $50,000 to kill Cecil, but who knows where that went.
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