For better and for worse, the coronavirus episode has had a profound effect on hunting around the world and also on wildlife.
In the United States, travel bans occurred at the beginning of spring turkey season. Nebraska and Kansas suspended the sale of non-resident turkey hunting permits. That probably benefited wild turkeys in Kansas, where declining turkey populations prompted the Kansas Department of Parks and Wildlife to reduce the annual bag limit from three turkeys to just one in 2020. Non-resident hunters played a role in the decline by killing too many turkeys over the years.
State wildlife management agencies set bag limits on turkeys based on the amount of harvest local populations can sustain ordinary, regular hunting pressure. When a state like Kansas gets "hot," outfitters lease game-rich farmland and book as many clients as their calendars can accommodate. A prolonged influx of hunters kills far more than the game harvest calculus accounts for locally and regionally. It is a form of unregulated market hunting and conservation is not part of the equation. Combine overhunting with bad reproduction for a few years and you threaten to collapse the resource.
Nebraska, which also has a three-gobbler limit, is heading in the same direction. Relieving hunting pressure will help replenish the flock in Kansas and will certainly augment already healthy numbers in Nebraska.
In other countries, particularly in African nations, suspending non-resident hunting is having a demonstrably detrimental effect on wildlife. Nations like South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Namibia do not have well-funded, professionally staffed game and fish agencies. Wildlife management in those countries depends entirely on the safari trade. Wild game concessions are strictly regulated in terms of numbers and ages of specific animals that can be taken to balance the animal populations with their habitat's carrying capacity. Trophy fees pay for habitat enhancements and also for private enforcers to protect animals from poachers. They are mercenaries and they are expensive. Without safari hunters, concessionaires cannot afford them.
Also, lack of visitors means fewer eyes in the bush, which emboldens poachers to operate in places they ordinarily avoid.
CNBC.com featured the dilemma on April 24 in an article by Emma Newburger titled, " 'Filthy bloody business:' Poachers kill more animals as coronavirus crushes tourism to Africa." Newburger cites travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic as enabling poachers to kill rhinoceroses in "travel hot spots how devoid of visitors and safari guides."
In Botswana, Newburger said at least six rhinos have been poached, and at least nine have been poached in South Africa. Poachers kill rhinos for their horns, which are in high demand in China as symbols of wealth and prosperity. Rhino horn ground into powder is also said to be prized as an aphrodisiac in China.
Elephant poaching is also on the upswing, as well. Poachers remove the ivory tusks and leave the meat for scavengers.
In the April issue of Safari Times, published by the Safari Club International, the lead story is titled, "Covid-19 Adversely Affects Worldwide Hunting Industry." It addresses the impact of coronavirus travel restrictions on hunting in Africa, Europe and South America.
In early March, the article noted, hunters from the U.S. and Europe arriving in Argentina and New Zealand for the peak of red stag season were turned back or quarantined. Sheep hunters traveling to Mexico were also stopped. Safari hunters were denied entry into South Africa and Namibia.
Goose hunters and bear hunters traveling to Canada are in jeopardy of losing their opportunities, as well.
Outfitters are encouraging their clients to reschedule their hunts, but that's not easy. Many safari clients plan their hunts up to a year in advance and budget accordingly. Very few hunters have schedules flexible enough to adjust. Some outfitters are refusing to refund clients fees. If clients can't reschedule, some outfitters attribute it to "an act of God." Their rigidity will irreparably damage their reputations.
Also, game quotas can change. A client permitted to hunt a certain animal this year in Botswana might not be allowed to kill that same animal next year or the year after.
None of this accounts for the loss of individual income that might prevent many non-wealthy hunters from rescheduling. They might not get another opportunity.
Sports on 04/30/2020