Cecil the lion cost $55,000 in the trophy hunting economy

Farmer Mick Jameson grew up hunting in Nebraska, and travelled to South Africa for a trophy hunting expedition last year where he shot plain game like deer and ampala. And he’s planning another trip this year.

“I took 700 pictures — mostly of wild game that I didn’t shoot it,” Jameson toldMashable. “I love animals, and through hunting, I get immersed in that kind of environment just full of them. And I get to see more of them than those who are against hunting.”

But trophy hunting has come under fire in the past few days, after Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who allegedly killed the famous Cecil the Lion, reportedly paid $55,000 for the opportunity to shoot a lion.

The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force says now that the hunt wasn’t legal, but Palmer insists he relied on his guides to make sure the hunt was legal. All are now facing legal charges.

That $55,000 isn’t out of the ordinary. Trophy hunting, which sends many hunting-enthused tourists to Africa to hunt and allows them to bring back animal parts as "trophies," is a highly lucrative business in low-income countries in Africa. And it’s also entirely legal, unlike poaching, so long as hunters have the proper permits from animal trade organizations.

Google ‘trophy hunting’ and you’ll find a slew of businesses that offer trophy hunting packages with price tags in the thousands. Smithsonian cites figures that say 600 lions, 800 leopards, 640 elephants, and 3,000 buffalo are slain by trophy hunters each year.

The values placed on these animals seem random and arbitrary: Wild Africa Hunting Safaris — which take place in the Limpopo province, which have the highest poverty rates in South Africa — charges tourists $4,500 to hunt a giraffe, $2,800 for a waterbuck, $1,800 for a zebra, and $350 for a porcupine. Namibia Hunting Safaris charge $600 for an ostrich, $800 for a honey badger, and nothing for birds.

Jameson, who works as hunting consultant for Wild Africa Hunting Safaris, tellsMashable that these prices are all determined by supply and demand.

“Each of these places has to put a value on the animal,” Jameson says, noting that factors that may lead to the variance in pricing include how hard the animals are to hunt and how much it costs for the concession to take care of the animal.

Price lists for animal life

The gold of the trophy hunting economy is clearly the Big Five: the elephant, the buffalo, the leopard, the rhinoceros, and lions like Cecil. Luxury Hunts, for instance, charges $49,000 for a lion-hunting package, $20,000 for a package to hunt an elephant, $16,500 for a package to hunt a leopard, and $11,999 for a package to hunt a buffalo.

An African elephant takes a mud bath in March 2015.

IMAGE: REX FEATURES/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jameson says that these prices are good for the low-income countries that are home to trophy hunting concessions, which he said are plentiful. “That’s kind of their farms,” Jameson said.

“I take care of my cattle so they make me the most money,” Jameson said. “And that’s the way that the people over there live too — they take care of their animals, and they’ll make the most money.”

But where is that money actually going?

That’s a point of debate for conservationists and hunters. Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman for the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, says we’re lacking data on whether that money is being funneled into communities and conservation efforts.

“If we have sufficient animals, then it could help the economy to hunt the older animals but the problem is, we don't know how many animals we have here,” Rodrigues told Mashable in an email. “A proper audit hasn't been done since 1997.”

A highly cited study from 2006 says that trophy hunting generates $200 million in revenue for African countries annually, and that that money aids conservation and communities.

But a report by Economics at Large disputes that figure, and says that money sure isn’t reaching the people in the African communities who need it the most. Another report from the International Union for Conservation says that this money also isn’t going toward conservation at all.

Protests outside the Dallas Convention Center where the Dallas Safari Club is holding its weekend show and auction, where a permit to shoot an endangered black rhinoceros in Africa was up for bid, in Dallas in Jan, 2014.

IMAGE: TONY GUTIERREZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS

“It is a corrupt business from start to finish,” conservation group Lion Alert said in a statement published on its website. “Change can come, but it will take a concerted effort by clients to seek out hunting operators who truly are involved with conservation ethics and amelioration of rural community poverty and hunger.”

In the wake of Cecil the lion’s death, some have advocated to get rid of trophy hunting completely for humane reasons, or push other forms of tourism, like photographic tourism, to bring in the bucks. Lion Alert notes that photo tourism can boost permanent employment 39 times more than the trophy hunting industry.



Jameson says that Cecil’s death was unfortunate, but doesn’t agree that ending trophy hunting will solve anything. “The sportsmen are going to stand behind any kind of punishment for what these guys did wrong, and that’s the way it should be,” Jameson says.

And Rodrigues says that he doesn’t believe the industry will undergo any significant changes after Cecil’s death — even though he says it desperately needs it — unless African governments yield to international pressure.

“It is such a lucrative business,” Rodrigues says.

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