Trophy hunting of wild animals, particularly in Africa, is being directed and encouraged by Safari Club International, an organization founded in the 1970s.
SCI is comprised of over 50,000 hunters in 180 regional chapters. Over 25,000 members met at a recent convention held annually where hunters display their trophies.
This continued killing for the sake of killing is made even more disturbing by the gratuitous award system for kills. The animals’ bodies are measured and medals and awards given for the largest and most unique animals killed..
SCI has done damage to endangered species by lobbying Congress to allow for increased hunting of polar bears in the arctic, arguing that climate change wasn’t a threat to polar bear populations, and has been criticized by the Humane Society of the United States for encouraging hunting of leopards, elephants, rhinos, and endangered African antelopes. The SCI website brags that they have spent $140 million since 2000 lobbying in Washington. Please sign the petition to demand reform and encourage greater protection for endangered species from trophy hunting and an end to this paid Congressional lobbying.
Dear Mr. Sackman,
While Safari Club International has done much good to encourage awareness and conservation of animals, it has also done too little to protect endangered species from trophy hunters and too much to try to decrease government protection when it is convenient for hunters. With that in mind, I write to you in the hopes that SCI can turn its conservation failures into an opportunity for greater animal protection in the future.
The SCI website boasts of having spent $140 million since 2000 alone on congressional lobbying. In the past, SCI has repeatedly lobbied against protections for polar bears, even denying climate change to do so, to name but one species. Imagine if that $140 million had been spent actually protecting the lives and well-being of these endangered creatures instead of paying lobbyists and representatives to eliminate their protections.
I am writing to ask that you encourage funding science-based conservation efforts instead of lobbying for decreased regulations in the future. The health of the animal populations is not only a practical concern, but also an ethical concern, and I hope with that in mind that you will push for the right decisions to be made in the future.
