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It has been suggested that trophy hunting may be one way to derive economic
value from wildlife, giving people an incentive to coexist
with lions, rather than seeing them as an expensive nuisance
and eradicating them. It is counterintuitive to think that
killing lions could benefit their conservation, and may seem
hypocritical to allow rich foreigners to kill lions for sport,
while local people, whose livelihoods are being threatened
by lions are actively discouraged from killing them. Yet some
conservationists believe that the revenue from hunters, who
are willing to pay considerable sums of money to kill a trophy
male, could potentially be used for lion conservation, compensating
for livestock losses and reducing the overall number of lions
that are killed. For more information on this controversial
potential conservation strategy click
here.
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A male lion like this could fetch huge
sums of money from trophy hunting, but could killing lions
for sport really benefit their conservation?
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To most conservationists however, ecotourism
is a much more tolerable way of deriving economic value from
wildlife. Tourism is a great source of income for Kenya, with
big cats being a major lure for visitors. It was estimated
that a male lion in Amboseli National Park is worth US $128,750
a year in tourist income. If landowners and communities were
to receive a proportion of these vast earnings they would
have a strong incentive to conserve lions, and the greater
ecosystem that supports them.
Many livestock ranches are starting to supplement their incomes
by opening tourist lodges, and are protecting the wildlife
on their ranches, rather than destroying it. Pastoralists
on the communal lands, however, have not yet fully realized
tourism as a potential alternative to their dependence on
livestock, and wildlife is still scarce in many areas. The
lion conservation projects are helping to educate people in
these communities, encouraging them to become involved with
ecotourism and explaining that tourism requires wildlife,
especially predators, and that maintaining healthy populations
of grazers like wildebeest and zebra is also likely to decrease
attacks on their livestock. They are hoping that local pastoralists
will put aside areas of land for the exclusive use of wildlife,
and that their negative attitudes towards wildlife, and carnivores
in particular, may soon change.
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Ecotourism is another way for local
people to gain income from wildlife.
Some livestock owners are
building tourist lodges on their
land and are encouraging wildlife
in the area.
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