Scott Spongberg

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Smith English 1010-30
Final Project Argument Essay
July 31, 2015
Sport Hunting
The topic of hunting as a sport has been on my mind lately,
mainly due to recent events involving a lion called Cecil in Zimbabwe.
It seems that this particular story has been all the rage over the last
couple of days. Its all over social media and has been one of the main
stories covered by local and national news both on the radio and on
television. The story involves an American who travelled to Zimbabwe
to hunt for exotic animals. He paid a very high price to have some of
the local guides to show him where a notorious lion was known to be.
The lion was famous in the area because of his size and jet-black
mane. Part of the popular outrage was due to the questionable legality
of luring the lion off of protected land in order for the American to get
close enough for a shot with his bow and arrow.
Ive always thought that, as long as people follow the law,
hunting is a good thing. It helps control overpopulation, sustains a rich
and diverse ecosystem, and raises funds to help animal conservation
and maintenance to the natural land in the area.

One remarkable story is when wolves were reintroduced into

Yellowstone National Park. This story is wonderful not only because it
helped control the overpopulation of elk, it also brought the Grey Wolf
back from near extinction. In the early 1990s, conservationists began
noticing the negative effects of a large elk
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population in the areas of eastern Idaho, south west Montana, and
Yellowstone National Park. According to Deborah Byrd in her article
called Yellowstone benefitting from return of wolves, Oregon scientists
say, published on www.earthsky.org on Dec. 27, 2011, there were
noticeably fewer shrubs, bushes, as well as fewer young trees because
the elk were consuming everything around to survive. Byrd states that
The wolves prey on the elkwhich in turn graze on young aspen and
willow trees in Yellowstone, which in their turn provide cover and food
for songbirds and other species. It became imperative that the elk
population needed to be downsized, however, hunting inside a national
park is illegal. So wildlife biologists and conservationists implemented
the reintroduction of wolves into the area to prey on the elk and reduce
the population. Two decades later, were seeing that not only are the
wolves flourishing, but the over ecosystem has improved dramatically.
Another benefit to hunting is its impact on the economy.
According the National Shooting Sports Foundation, in an article called

Hunting in America, published on www.nssf.org in January of 2013,

they cite the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2011 National Survey,
hunting and wildlife-associated recreation reports 13.7 million people
aged 16 or olderwent hunting that year and spent a whopping $38.3
billion on equipment, licenses, trips, and more generating $11.8
billion in federal, state, and local taxes while maintaining 680,300 jobs
nationwide. Hunters have created one giant economic engine,
providing the financial support to create thousands of jobs directly
involved in the manufacture, sale or provision of hunting
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and outdoor products and services. They also help support
businesses that are indirectly involved such as local stores, restaurants
and hotels.
There are those that argue that hunting is unnatural and humans
have should have no part in nature and killing animals. Some people
have even made death threats to hunters, such as the high profile
story of the dentist who recently killed a
lion in Zimbabwe named Cecil. However, there are other reasons why
this particular hunter should be criticized. For example, he killed the
lion illegally on lands where his group was not authorized to hunt.
Secondly, they didnt use the lions meat, the only removed the head

and fur to show as trophies, and left the carcass in the wilderness. For
these reasons, I cant condone this type of hunting.
But we have to look at the larger picture before making a claim
that hunting should be abolished in countries like Zimbabwe. In a
recent CNN article, posted July 30, 2015, authors Niki Rust and Diogo
Cerissimo reminds readers that in 2013, Zambia banned trophy
hunting of big catsonly to reverse it earlier this year because the
government needed the money to fund conservation. It notes that
through the CAMPFIRE program, more than $20m was given to
participating communities, 89% of which came from sports hunting.
So we can clearly see that, even though poaching is a terrible and
tragic practice, there are significant benefits to legal hunting in
countries like Zambia and Zimbabwe.
As we continue to study ecosystems and economies around the
world, we are reminded that humans have an important role on our
planet. As our population grows, its important that we strive to
maintain a balance with nature. We all share
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the same Earth, and every part of life impacts another. Hunting and
conservation go hand in hand as well as help sustain a strong
economy. I look forward to a future where all life on Earth can keep
each other in balance and can benefit us all.

Works Cited
Allen, Tom; Howlett, Doug; Southwick, Rob
National Shooting Sports Foundation, January, 2013
Hunting in America

http://www.nssf.org/PDF/research/HuntingInAmerica_Econo
micForceForConservation.pdf
Byrd, Deborah
EarthSky, December 27, 2011
Yellowstone benefitting from return of wolves, Oregon
scientists say
http://earthsky.org/earth/yellowstone-benefitting-fromreturn-of-wolves-oregon-scientists-say
Rust, Niki; Verissimo, Diogo
CNN, July 30, 2015
Why killing lions like Cecil may actually be good for
conservation
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/30/opinions/cecilconservation/