Cost of Big Game

“The Cost of Big Game”

A study has shown that human-hunted species have undergone the most rapid change and that this has forced dramatic shifts in features such as average size and age of reproductive animals. The way that natural selection works is that predators target the small, the weak, and the sick. Hunters on the other hand target the largest, strongest animal with the largest hides, horns, tusks, or antlers.

Researchers have now discovered that bighorn sheep in Alberta, Canada have adopted smaller horns compared to 30 years ago. Similarly, red kangaroos in Australia have become both smaller and fewer in size and fewer African and Asian elephants have tusks. In today’s context, survival of the fittest includes having no tusks; this plays an advantage because these individuals are less attractive targets to hunters. So has evolution completely flipped? This newly developing pattern has been at the expense of the collective species’ population. “Tusks use to make elephants fitter, as a weapon or a tool in foraging – until ivory became a precious commodity and having tusks got you killed”. When you take out the big game you are merely left with losers to do the breeding. Logically, “losers” do not make the best breeders and subsequently, the demographic shifts and threatens the viability of the species.

According to Richard Harris, a conservation biologist, “The hunters wish for animals with large antlers and large horns, and yet their actions are making that harder to achieve.” This leads to a vicious cycle of seeking out the best trophies. Needless to say these method have become counter to natural predation.

This really begs the question as to what the scope of the EPA is in such a case. Obviously, they regulate and manage endangered species, but what about such non endangered species? There are strict rules and regulations when it comes to hunting game however to what extent should these regulations be extended in order to aid in survival of reproductively fit animals. This is not to say there are not some useful purposes to hunting. Hunting is often necessary for deterring overpopulation as well as for sustaining a source of food and nutrition yet at what point is that line crossed? When the need of hunting for survival subsides and the drive to hunt for big antlered game heightens who is to define that gray line. “We’re changing the very essence of what remains, sometimes within the span of only two decades. We are the planet’s super-predator’