Almost every year 3,000 hunting prizes Internationally protected species entering the European Union include lions, elephants, zebras, polar bears and many other threatened or endangered species. A number that makes the European Union the second importer in the world after the United States. It’s the report he denounces Trophy hunting numbers: the European Union’s role in hunting world prizesPosted by Humane Society International / Europe. Between 2014 and 2018, according to the document, imports amounted to nearly 15 thousand and included 73 protected species. and increased by approximately 40% between the beginning and end of the examination period.
To counter this phenomenon, Humane Society International/Europe (HSI) has launched an international campaign to raise public awareness and pressure European governments to ban the import, export and re-export of trophies derived from protected species. The initiative, as stated in HSI’s press release, “highlights the brutal reality of the practice: taxidermy, taxidermy, packaging, and delivery of hunting trophies to protected animals.”
The fight for bounty hunting
The International Humane Society is the international division of the animal welfare community in the United States. Founded in 1991, it defines itself, Via its official website, an organization that “works around the world to strengthen the bond between humans and animals, rescue and protect cats and dogs, improve the welfare of farmed animals, protect wildlife, promote animal-free research, respond to natural disasters, and oppose all forms of animal cruelty.” It is headquartered in America and has operations in nearly 50 countries.
The new hashtag campaign #NotInMyWorld (“Non nel mio mondo”), “He wants to inform Italian citizens that even today, elephant legs can be turned into flower pots and ashtrays, and giraffe necks into floor lamps and polar bears into carpets. All this, incredibly, in a legal way.”
According to HSI, although the killings occur mostly in Africa, North America and Russia, “what’s really interesting for hunters is to be able to ship their trophies home.” Thus, legislative intervention by EU countries to ban imports would be a disincentive to the practice.
In Italy
Between 2014 and 2020, it wasItaly imported 437 prizes A protected species listed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (SITES). It is the first country in the European Union to import hippo cups, the fourth for the Wild African Lion Awards and the fifth for the African Elephant Awards.
The Director of Humane Society International/Europe for Italy said, “Italians are not in a position to stop the horrific killing of animals in other countries.” Martina Bloda. However, we can choose to close our doors to these awards and require politics to act. With #NotInMyWorld we look at the problem of prize hunting from a different angle than usual: we do not focus on what is happening in other countries, but we show that the European Union is contributing to the problem. The contrast between the killing and importation of internationally protected animals and the modern society where wildlife conservation and biodiversity protection must be at the top of the political agenda is striking. If Italy and the European Union are part of the problem, they can also be part of the solution, if they stop the import and export of prizes.”
the petition
On this matter, Hsi/Europe has promoted a petition Addressed to the Italian Government. The organization says that the executive branch “can no longer turn a blind eye to this problem. Trophy hunting has no place in modern society. The killing of wild animals by a small circle of hunters for trophies has a negative impact on populations of these species and on biodiversity.”
Indeed, animals of reproductive age and full strength are the target of bounty hunters, due to their characteristics: black mane, long fangs, and the size of the horns or horns. If animals that perform the functions of guidance and protection are hunted, the consequences for the herd or herd can be very negative.
The initiative In line with the opinion of most citizens. a survey conducted in March 2021 found that86% of Italians are against trophies, which is also similar to the EU average. 74% support a blanket ban on the export and import of trophies from dead animals.
country side
The awareness campaign, at the communication level, was developed jointly with the Austrian Agency Offroad Communication. The main image is a 3D animation of an elephant and a rhinoceros wrapped in wrapping paper. The motto is “Impallinati. Embalmed. Filled. Transmitting?”.
“The images show the dramatic reality: carcasses of endangered animals are shipped around the world for profit and entertainment,” he said. Benjamin RamhofResponsible for designing off-road communications. “Together with the campaign hashtag #NotInMyWorld, we are sending a strong and clear message.”
loot hunting economy
HSI also states that bounty hunting “favors geopolitical inequality and does not provide significant social and economic benefits.” Therefore, it negates one of the most widespread arguments in favor of this practice, the purported benefits to the local economy.
The HSI report reads: “Compared to bounty hunting, wildlife watching tourism generates significantly more income that can be devoted to conservation.” “It also provides more job opportunities for the local population.” If it is true that a hunter can pay 40 million dollars To photograph a male elephant, in fact, the same live animal can generate $23,000 annually through photography tourism. Over the course of his life, he can thus create a potential value for $1.6 million, or 40 times what the hunter paid.
