In a bid to capture more people into the international sports trophy hunting market, Zimbabwe officials now allow bow and arrow hunting of buffalo.
“As part of diversifying our product, we have now introduced bow and arrow hunting… to attract more people to Zimbabwe,” Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, told AFP.
This goes after trophy hunting among wealthy hunters from the developed countries is becoming more competitive, which meant money involved is also higher these days.
Just like Botswana, who ended a five-year ban on elephant hunting earlier this week, Zimbabwe argues that ending the ban will provide more money that could lead to better management of animal stocks in the country.
“What we are doing is to capture that market, so that we can also have more revenue and put the money back into conservation, improve our economy, create more jobs,” Farawo said.
Zimbabwe has hundreds of thousands of buffalos, which makes trophy hunters from United States, Europe and South Africa fly there directly.
Back in 2015, the much-loved lion Cecil was killed by an American hunter with a bow and arrow in Hwange, the best-known game park located on the border with Botswana. Meanwhile, the government even sold nearly 100 elephants to China and Dubai earlier this year for a total of $2.7 million in over six years. The government cited overpopulation, encroaching into human settlements, destruction of crops and a risk to human life.
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– Government plans to kill 2,000 hippos in Zambia, Africa
