Hunting animals to save them?

(CBS News) 

You don't have to go to Africa to hunt exotic animals. In fact, Texas may have more of some endangered exotics than live in the wild. That's because breeding them is a billion dollar business in Texas, where over 100 species roam large ranches and can be hunted for sport. The hunters and the ranchers they pay to hunt the trophy animals say the money generated by hunting these animals is helping to save them. They claim only 10 percent of any species can be killed annually. But to animal rights people fighting to shut them down, they're nothing more than slaughter houses. Lara Logan reports on this little known practice on "60 Minutes" Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Hunters pay up to $50,000 a kill for the rarest trophy animal, like a cape buffalo. "60 Minutes" cameras followed one hunter who, in two days, could not bag the scimitar horned oryx he sought. On another occasion, cameras capture him shooting one after six hours. The hunter took the head of the oryx, with curved horns that grow to be four feet long, as a trophy.

It all began decades ago, when ranchers took in surplus animals, some endangered in the wild, from zoos. Now there are more than 250,000 exotics living on ranches, mostly in Texas, in a business that supports 14,000 jobs. "That's why these animals thrive...because of that value they have to the hunting community," says Charly Seale, a rancher and executive director of the Exotic Wildlife Association in Texas.

Seal says he loves these animals and that's why he defends hunting them. "I know it's for the welfare of every one of those animals, so that you sacrifice one so that many more are born," he tells Logan. Seale points out that some of the species owned by ranchers are either extinct or endangered in the wild. "Three of our biggest successes have been the scimitar horned oryx, the addax and the dama gazelle...numbers [of them] have absolutely skyrocketed in the last 15-20 years."

Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, an international animal rights organization, believes such rationale is "ludicrous. I think it's immoral," she tells Logan. "They are saying it's an act of conservation and that's lunacy," says Feral, who would rather them not exist in Texas than thrive on a ranch there purely as prey for sportsmen. "I don't think you create a life to shoot it."

Feral has created an oryx preserve in Senegal and has waged a legal fight for years against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has permitted sport hunting of three endangered African antelope on Texas ranches. "The future for oryxs is Africa...not Texas," she says. "A Texas hunting ranch is not the same as being in a reserve in Senegal," Feral says.

[Northwin]

I was sitting up in a tree this past fall, armed with bow and arrow, hunting whitetail deer. Like many hunters, I passed on several deer and ultimately ended the season without filling my tag-- but greatly enriched by the experience. One of the enriching moments came of an evening when I was watching a group of raccoons pass by. They suddenly scattered in all directions, except for the biggest one which was seized upon by a coyote. The fight lasted for what seemed like several minutes and was was constant screaming and snarling as the raccoon was torn apart to his death. As I read comments implying that nature is a benevolent care provider, I am reminded of those last few minutes of life for that raccoon. (A bullet would be a far quicker and kinder end.)
These game ranches have provided a chance for survival (and a darn good life) for these animals, and in the reality that is our modern world it is a real shame that well-meaning but ill-informed thinking will do them in.

[sanitypassiton]

The logic of PianoHumbert IS ludicrous. It follows that if a group of men donated their time and money to provide housing and food for the street children of____(name your country) and they happen to open it up to fellow pedophiles to pay and do as they wish with those they "saved". They too could argue that "they are the ones paying for their preservation". They pay big money for the privilege of ________ing ONE so the others can flourish. If it wasn't for them they would be left to the elements to die, etc. etc. etc. The truth is that these ranches exist to make big money. In just a few hundred more years (especially as the lines are continually blurred between human mammals and other mammals in terms of sentience, intelligence, etc.) we will look back at these times with the same horror as we do with the killing of humans for fun, profit, consumption recreation, "sport". At least I hope we continue to evolve.

[draggard]

Hunters are NOT conservationists. Natural conservation includes making any species stronger. When predators hunt they weed out slower and weaker members of the herd and they get killed off. Thus, improving the gene pool that is available for breeding.

When hunters kill they go for the largest and strongest of a species thus making the weaker ones available for breeding thus making the overall species weaker.

Last time I checked making a species weaker is NOT helping it in any way nor does it qualify as "conservation". Ecosystems were balanced for millions of years until human greed came into the equation and it got worse when guns were added in.

[Lee_Hall]

No, hunting ranches will not be allowed under the law to kill these animals. Taking includes killing which is now prohibited by the Endangered Species Act. These animals are now legally protected. Now: When will the mean attitudes stop?

[PlanoHumbert]

The whole sick thing about all this is that 60 minutes and the animal rights whackos are all focusing on the HUNTING. Ranching these animals is what it is REALLY about.

Part of ranching (and wild animals also) is about thinning the herd and managing it. Probably less than 5% of the animals are harvested. The hunting is such a small part of the ranching of these animals - but these people would/will bring down the whole industry because of small percentage that are hunted or killed out of management.

And the ironic things is that these hunts are EXPENSIVE. So expensive that the small percentage that is rancher allows to be hunted (under tight controls) allows the rancher to breed and raise the rest by paying for - or offsetting - a large portion of his costs.

This is what is meant that the HUNTERS are the ones paying for the preservation of the animals. HUNTERS who pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of harvesting ONE animal - foot the bill for the other 99 to flourish.

But the animal rights people focus on the "hunting" and ignore the big picture - and they don't pay not one centavo to the ranch for the cost of keeping the animal alive. Their mantra, chanted like so many feral hogs grunting, is that "hunting is bad" - eliminating hunting is "good".

Even if you eliminated "hunting", ranchers would still end up having to kill animals to keep populations in check, disease under control, etc.

Ms. Feral, in her "wisdom" thinks the solution is to eliminate ranching of these animals altogether, because she believes that even one animal killed for any reason is "unethical". She doesn't understand ranching.

She purposely mispresents the facts, guiding people to the false conclusion that these animals are "being raised only to be hunted" - and that is simply not true. They are simply considered livestock (just like in their once native areas), just like cows, chickens, pigs, turkeys, etc.

[WildlifeMargrit]

I agree with Priscilla... ludicrous rationale.
Did you know that 90% of the trophy hunters in Africa come from the USA? Sadly Americans have this need to control and conquer... at what cost?
Makes abut as much sense as pushing Native Americans onto homelands, enslaving African Americans, keeping women from voting and legalizing drugs!

[PlanoHumbert]

Under the Texas plan (which was in effect until 1/1/2012):

A rancher with 100 head of Oryx feed and maintains the herd and allows them to breed on his 2000 acre ranch. The first year the cows give birth to 20 new Oryx. He hunts/sells 3 to cover his costs. At the end of the year, there are now 117 Oryx. After 5 years, he has 185 heathy and happy Oryx. And the sales/hunts pay for his cost. Meat or horns are used. The future is bright for both Oryx and rancher.

Under Ms. Feral's plan (now in effect as of 1/1/2012):

The rancher has 100 Oryx. But due to the new regulations, he can't keep them, sell them, or hunt them - or turn them loose in the wild. He has until 4/4/2012 to comply. He has no choice under the law but to kill them. All 100 animals are killed, many going to waste by the government deadline. Prices drop do the massive sell-off End of first year : zero oryx. End of five years: no oryx. Rancher is unhappy. Oryx are dead.

Which is better, WildlifeMargit?

This is the result of Ms. Feral position and efforts. It is happening now at ranches all over central/south Texas. Check for yourself.

Here in Texas, we have a different idea of what being a "friend" means. We also have a different meaning of "feral". Pricilla is no friend to the animals, but she may be Feral.

[PlanoHumbert]

And another thing. 90% of hunters in Africa DO NOT come from the USA! Where do you get that tripe? There are far more Brits, Germany, French, etc. than Americans. Obviously you have never been there. Especially in the past few years since the economy went in the toilet.

[PlanoHumbert]

With all due respect, Ms. Feral should get her facts straight and 60 minutes should present the actual facts.

In regards to the three species mentioned, especially the Scimitar Oryx, they are extinct in their native habitat. Wiped out by the people who live there, who DO NOT WANT THEM.

They only exist in the numbers today because Texas ranchers used their own money to save the remaining animals and stock them on their ranches. They breed and raise these animals, and to offset the HUGE cost, sell a few - very few - for hunts or meat.

This practice allowed the animals to thrive and the numbers to increase dramatically. This is fact.

It should be noted that every single one of the agencies trying to stop the "slaughter" has not - and has refused - to spend a single penny to help the direct support in the care and feeding of these animals.

The entire amount of the funds they raise are spent trying to stop the hunting, or even ownership of these animals. Not a dime goes directly to the animals, anywhere.

On the other hand, the EWA spent millions to bolster up the herds, and even building a program to re-introduce them to their native habitats. None of the so-called "friend of animals" spent or donated a penny to this effort.

Instead, they spent thier millions to lobby the government to pass legislation to stop the Texas ranches from raising and managing these animals.

The end result? Because of these "friends of animals" efforts, the new legislation is forcing the Texas ranchers to kill thousands of these wonderful animals because the government won't let them keep them. This is also fact.

The numbers will be reduced so much that it will probably not be enough to sustain the herds and only a small fraction of the existing numbers will be left.

It is Ms. Feral efforts that has DIRECTLY caused a "mass slaughter" and then end of animals prosperous growth over the past 10 years.

The Oryx can do without friends like that.

[Knappett]

In their natural habitat, no one has to "spend a single penny to help the direct support in the care and feeding of these animals." They exist because they are wild animals who know how to take care of themselves- as do all animals until we interfere. The animals need a home not a caretaker.

The trouble with our society these days is that everything is measured- from our forests to the animals we use for livestock by its monetary value. We have commodified our entire world- in this case even our conservation efforts! Can we really commodify doing the right thing? Can't we just give animals the right to exist in their habitat free from human interference? I'm sure they got along fine before we hunted them to near extinction.

[TOMHEMING]

I have spent quite a bit of time on Texas hunting ranches the last few years and specifically the last few weeks. Ms. Feral has just made sure that every Oryx in texas will be killed in the next few weeks. Speaking with the ranchers they have no other choice but to eliminate them from the property.
They will be finacially liable for the fines levied and criminal punishment handed down by the governmant because these animals will remain on thier property. No rancher that I spoke to will take that chance.
They are extinct in thier native land because there is no laws or enforcement to protect them and now they will be extinct in Texas.
WELL DONE MS.FERAL!
You have signed thier death warrent.. and left the ranchers no choice.