Legal trophy hunting creates an incentive for entrepreneurs to preserve endangered species since the trophy hunting industry makes these species valuable as investments. The logic here is so apparent that even TruTV's show "Adam Ruins Everything" — which is hardly a right-wing propaganda rag — has figured it out:
Two years after the killing of the cutely-named Cecil the Lion sparked outrage over trophy killing, the topic has once again been stoked by the Trump administration said it planned to end the ban on the importation into the US of some trophies from hunting. A backlash followed, and now Trump says he's not so sure.
This is a topic we've already covered more than once here at mises.org. The fact remains that when animals have no economic value, there is no incentive to preserve them from total destruction:
- "Trophy Hunting Helps Save Endangered Species" by Ryan McMaken
- "Privatize: Governments Have Failed to Protect Endangered Species" by Michael Malin
- "The Economics of Hunting and Species Preservation" by Ryan McMaken
- "Property Means Preservation" by Doug French
- "To Protect and Conserve" by Ninos P. Malek
- "Endangered Species, Private Property, and the American Bison" by Benjamin Wiegold
