Hunting  Trade  Collection  Overexploitation

The reasons for hunting can be split into five main catergories; necessity, commercial exploitation, predator control, recreation and the worst poaching, not all of which are that bad.

Hunting to survive and for food has been practiced for centuries by all population groups including Red Indians, the San, even Eskimos, but know that these groups of usually peaceful people have almost disappeared, their care for animals and plants has gone with it, and few now kill for survival.

Hunting for commercial gain has done the most damage to large groups of animals especially whales. For information also view overexploitation

Many animals have suffered from the wrath of farmers laying traps, killing them for the killing of livestock. Many have called this predator control. This problem would not be as worrying if the populations of predators were extremely low already. Recently farmers were introduced to newer and more effective methods of farming, and therefore some species are making a comeback, slowly but surely. This applies especially to the cheetahs in Namibia and the tigers in India.

Another form of hunting are recreational activities. This especially applies to trophy and canned hunting. Canned hunting is extremely bad, it usually occurs when animals are bought from poachers via the black market and then tranquilised when people come to shoot them for trophy hunting. The animals do not stand a chance as they cannot run due to the tranquilisers they are given. Many of the hunters do not realise that the animals are being drugged. Trophy hunting is a sport that has been around for a long time. Men often display the heads on their livingroom walls to boast at how brave they were. This sport has decreased the populations of many animals including bears, cheetahs, tigers and deer.

Illegal poaching is the most gruesome of all forms of hunting. Poachers usually kill the animals for parts such as rhinos for their horn and elephants for their ivory tusks and leopards, cheetahs, tigers for their skins, claws and teeth (See trade). Sometimes the animals are trapped and then sold alive on the black market to the highest bidder. Often, the animals are caught, are sent to purchasers in cages and die en route due to stress and improper care.

Poaching is not restricted to places outside wildlife parks as figures show that in Kenya alone, a population of 20 000 black rhino was reduced to 500 individuals in less than a decade.