Submitted by AskScienceModerator t3_118wdoz in askscience
nationalgeographic t1_j9lmase wrote
Reply to comment by Igor_Kozyrev in AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator
Hard to say-- here in the USA, for instance, a lot of our conservation & conservation research funding comes from the hunting permits and hunter groups. Depending on the context, hunters can be a really good contingent for sustainable wildlife management- because it's in their best interest to keep wildlife around. (I'm saying all of this as a vegetarian/pescatarian, by the way). It also depends on who is making the decision - are there people who rely on hunting for sustenance or to help their families get by? How are they being involved? A great example of what *not* to do is in all of the dialogue right now about trophy hunting in Africa- a very polarized issue, but most of the anti-trophy hunting folks are actually not Africans at all and are from the Global North. They should not have any decision making power over what goes on elsewhere.
In short, to answer your Q such a decision would need to be very deeply community-involved and science-informed.
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