PrintMore than twenty-five hunting and conservation organizations have sent a letter to Rep. David Obey, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee and Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Ranking Member as a proactive move to request that the committee includes report language that recognizes the valuable role that controlled, regulated sport and trophy hunting has in the advancement of international wildlife conservation efforts in this year's appropriations bill for FY 2009.
In 2007, language was included in the House Committee Report on the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations bill that would have instructed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)* not to fund activities that involved recreational, sport or trophy hunting. The language was inserted at the request of organizations that are avowed opponents of hunting in the United States and worldwide. The language was modified in the 2008 ‘omnibus' spending bill signed by the President. Funding for the USAID programs is appropriated annually.
Licensed, regulated tourist hunting provides tens of millions of dollars for the operating budgets of foreign wildlife departments, significantly reduces poaching, and creates incentives for local inhabitants to perpetuate biodiversity on hundreds of millions of acres where it is needed beyond the borders of protected areas. In twenty-three African countries that allow licensed, regulated hunting, approximately 18,500 hunters generate over $200 million annually in remote rural areas. The USAID programs are extremely important to the survival of many species worldwide, and the signatories of the letter strongly encourage that this be formally recognized in the development and ultimate passage of the FY 2009 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Bill.
CSF President Jeff Crane spent years in Africa as a licensed Professional Hunter and knows the value of game management programs that are supported by hunting. On the USAID language, he commented, "Hunters are the best conservationists. Programs in Zimbabwe, Namibia and elsewhere have benefited wildlife populations enormously and supplemented local economies. We will maintain our diligence with USAID when it comes to support for pro-hunting management programs."
Read the Letter to the Appropriations Committee
*The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States.
