Texana Ranch, a canned hunting operation in Blackwell, Texas, has applied for a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to "cull"—a bloodless euphemism for killing—the "excess males" from its captive-bred herd of 22 red lechwes, a species of southern African antelopes listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Texana wants to offer hunters a chance to kill these animals in the name of conservation.
In its permit application, Texana claims that the canned hunting of red lechwes would benefit populations in the wild by "attempting to eliminate the poor or inferior animals to prevent reproduction of such." What's more, in its application, Texana pledges that 10% of each trophy price will go to Conservation Force, an organization that promotes hunting as a conservation tool, to fund efforts to enhance the survival of the red lechwe in Zambia, one of the species' range states. Texana offers no proof of the legitimacy of this promise, aside from the ranch's own letter and a confirming statement from Conservation Force. No specific program in Southern Africa is identified or described.
Based on this seemingly hollow promise and a variety of incomplete or non-existent answers to required questions on the permit application, the FWS will judge whether Texana Ranch may have a permit, issued for five years, to practice its unique brand of conservation: Killing threatened African antelopes to save threatened African antelopes.
If the FWS allows the permit, it will surprise nobody. In the past 20 plus years, the agency has granted several permits allowing the canned hunting of members of this species—as well as for the culling of captive herds of endangered deer species such as Eld’s and barasingha and antelopes such as Arabian oryx. The majority of these animals, apparently like the lechwes at Texana Ranch, are captive bred for the express purpose of being hunted for a price.
It’s a theme: Kill to conserve, conserve (and breed more) to kill.
The Limits of Endangered Species Protection
Many of us in the United States think that when a species is classified as endangered or threatened by the federal government and protected under the Endangered Species Act, the species will receive thorough and comprehensive protection under U.S. law. In other words, the law would prohibit any activity that would harm an endangered or threatened animal. This isn’t the case; the regulations implementing the ESA allow activities that are hardly in the best interest of the individual animal or its species as a whole.
Through a system of permits in the regulations that implement the ESA, the FWS allows you to breed and sell endangered and threatened wildlife, import their trophies when hunting abroad, and even peddle opportunities to kill them for trophies in canned hunts. Some of these activities are limited to captive-bred individuals. In short, the permits issued by the FWS under the ESA can appear to contradict the basic purpose of the act: to conserve endangered and threatened wildlife.
"Let's use tigers as an example. The captive breeding of tigers resulted in so many hybrid individuals that the FWS removed such tigers from permitting requirements in 1998, calling these 'generic' tigers unsuitable for scientific breeding," said HSUS Director of Captive Wildlife Richard Farinato. "If breeding of endangered tigers in captivity promoted the conservation of tigers in the wild, wild tigers would not be on the brink of extinction."
The rationale behind allowing these permits is that the breeding of endangered and threatened species in captivity, and the use of these captive-bred individuals in exhibition or display or education, enhances the conservation of the species in the wild. These animals could be used as stock for reintroduction programs or funds generated from their sale could go to support conservation programs in the countries where wild populations still exist. For both these scenarios, there is very limited documented evidence that such actions occur.
As for Texana's pitch that hunting its captive-bred herd would attempt "to eliminate the poor or inferior animals to prevent reproduction of such," HSUS Wildlife Scientist Bette Stallman says the argument doesn't begin to stand up to scrutiny. "The owners of Texana would likely have no idea what traits make these animals well-adapted to their natural environment, so any 'weeding out' of individuals will be reduced to artificial selection," Stallman notes, "and almost certainly Texana will just be selecting for trophy characteristics, which may or may not have anything to do with evolutionary fitness."
Culled at Canned Hunts
Perhaps the most perverse activity permitted as conservation enhancement is the shooting of endangered and threatened species of exotic hoof stock bred on ranches in the United States as trophies. The animals are often bred and raised on site, but may also be purchased from breeders, auctions, animals dealers, or zoos. HSUS Hunting Campaign Manager Kristin Leppert characterizes canned hunting as an "abhorrent activity for the elite, in which would-be hunters fly in, stay in deluxe accommodations, eat gourmet meals, wake up in the morning, pick out the animals they want to hang on their wall, shoot them, and get their souvenir trophy shipped in the mail."
And the process is just as easy for the owner of a canned hunting ranch: Get the permit, charge a client to shoot an animal, and (supposedly) support the conservation of the species with part of the trophy fee. In theory, it's very neat. In reality, in terms of conservation dollars and effectiveness, it's an unsubstantiated stretch. Sources have stated that Conservation Force has said that it does not have a valid red lechwe conservation program in Zambia. Freedom of Information Act materials on cull permits granted show that the amounts of money generated from them is minimal; in one instance, seven trophy animals resulted in less than $2,000 for conservation.
What You Can Do
Please write (fax) the FWS before the June 20 (close of business) deadline. In your letter—the FWS is only accepting written comments—ask that Texana’s permit application be denied on the grounds that killing a confined, captive-bred animal on a canned hunting ranch to hang the animal's head and horns on a wall is by no means a method of enhancing the conservation of threatened or endangered species. Say that there is no recognizable benefit to the protection or study or conservation of these animals and their habitat under Texana’s scheme.
Office of Permits
Division of Management Authority
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 700
Arlington, Virginia 22203
For information only: 703-358-2104
Fax: 703-358-2281
managementauthority@fws.gov
