Comprehending trophy hunting : hunting, hunters, trophies and antis

Abstract

Since the lion Cecil was killed by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe in 2015, trophy hunting in Africa has been a hot topic and an even hotter potato. Popular media tends to reflect the wishes of the general public in the West to be rid of it. Conservationists tend to argue that although it can be distasteful, trophy hunting funds protection of wildlife from much greater threats such as poaching and habitat loss. Most trophy hunting literature – scholarly and otherwise – has thus been written with a clear agenda to prove specific points, and it is usually confined to narrow scientific disciplines. There has been a noticeable lack of attempts to examine trophy hunting in a comprehensive, and interdisciplinary manner. This thesis does just that. After introducing this unique field of research and defining trophy hunting in chapter 1, I present in chapter 2 a general history of hunting and of our attitudes toward hunting. I observe the development of arguments for and against hunting over time and uncover how the interest in trophies arose. In chapter 3, I examine what hunting trophies are in a literal sense – such as skulls and taxidermy – and what they mean and symbolize to hunters and antihunters alike. I also shine a light on key hunting organisations, explain how trophy scoring systems work, and discuss the purposes and consequences of trophy record books. In chapter 4, I describe hunter demographics and consider why trophy hunters and antihunters are so far apart. I also note different archetypes of hunters based on their motivations for hunting and collecting trophies. Chapter 5 regards conservation; I here distinguish domestic trophy hunting in Europe and North America from the stereotypical African safari hunt and evaluate the conservation problems and benefits of both kinds of trophy hunting. This notably includes trophy hunting’s role in supporting rural development in Africa. After discussing the meaning of sport hunting and the relevance of fair chase in chapter 6, I argue in chapter 7 that anthropomorphism so suffuses our perceptions of nature and wildlife that it can explain popular resistance to trophy hunting. In chapter 8 I discuss moral issues unique to trophy hunting and argue mainly that a dislike of hunters more so than a dislike of hunting may be central to the trophy hunting controversy. My final chapter discusses trophy hunting in a context of Covid-19 and post-truth.