Two South Africans who farm rhinos on game ranches appeared in court today in Pretoria seeking to overturn the country’s ban on the domestic rhino horn trade. John Hume and Johan Kruger argue that the ban, which has been in force since 2009, is unconstitutional. And they claim it has contributed to the recent sharp […]
Category: Polls
POLL: Should the annual Canadian seal hunt be banned?
The Canadian government in early March announced this year’s quota for its annual, and highly controversial, seal hunt. The allocation for 2015? 468,000 harp, hooded and grey seals. In an effort to minimize inhumane treatment, the Canadian government mandates that seals can only be killed using a high-powered rifle or shotgun, a club or a […]
POLL: Should the Spanish bullfighting tradition be banned?
As scores of young men march out of the medieval Castilian town of Tordesillas on 15 September, their iron-tipped lances glinting in the late summer sunshine before they do battle with a 640kg (100st) prize bull, you would be forgiven for thinking it was 1520 and not 2015. Even for Spain, where the man-against-beast concept […]
POLL: Can African trophy hunting support conservation?
The recent media frenzy over the killing of two named lions in Zimbabwe has brought undue focus to African big game hunting. While conflicting versions of exactly what happened prevail, we will let the legal system determine first if these actually were illegal acts and secondly where guilt lays. The media coverage predictably spawned global […]
POLL: Should raptors be culled to protect racing pigeons?
Feathers are flying in the bird world. Potential changes to the law, following a campaign by pigeon fanciers to reduce attacks on their pets by raptors, have met with opposition from the RSPB. The Raptor Alliance, a body representing many of the UK’s 42,000 pigeon owners, is writing to MPs warning that an “iconic traditional […]
POLL: Should the grey squirrel be culled to protect the red squirrel?
The last safe haven for red squirrels on the English mainland is under unprecedented threat from an invasion of grey squirrels. Conservationists protecting the native reds in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, say sightings of grey squirrels on the fringes of the forest have escalated in recent months and there have been more than a dozen greys […]
POLL: Should “Drive Hunt” Slaughter of Wildlife be Banned?
Animal welfare groups in South Africa on Monday failed to prevent the opening of a week-long “driven hunt”, in which foreign hunters pay to shoot wildlife that is herded past them for easy dispatch. More than 20 Belgian and Dutch hunters took part in the hunt on a farm near the town of Alldays, in […]
POLL: Should there be an international agreement to protect the arctic?
The Northwest Passage is not an obvious choice for a holiday cruise. It is, after all, one of the most notorious ocean routes. Many hundreds of sailors died in opening up the seaway, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Canadian Arctic, before it was conquered just over a century ago. But the […]