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the ecology of fragile areas, and without disrupting social patterns. 



Safari hunting does all of this in a way that would never be possible if those who 

 would prohibit wildlife imports have their way. The prohibitions force an 

 unacceptable situation on African indigenous peoples ~ a situation in which they must 

 give up the preferable alternative and get nothing in return. There has been an 

 increase in indiscriminate and wanton poaching and increasing loss of habitat because 

 of the bureaucratic and misguided administration of U.S. laws regulating wildlife. 



The primary law in question is the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Act itself 

 is not necessarily the problem. The way the Act has been administered has definitely 

 become a problem, as evidenced by a diplomatic protest filed last month by four 

 southern African nations. I would like permission to submit this letter (which is 

 attached to my testimony) for the record. 



The letter is blimt and eloquent testimony to the way in which the ESA has been used 

 to hamstring the conservation of wildlife in Africa. The inappropriate listing of many 

 species, followed by the rigid administration of the permit provisions of the ESA, has 

 made it next-to-impossible for African nations to utilize their wildlife as an economic 

 resource. This in turn has made it next-to-impossible for these countries to provide 

 incentives to rural people to prevent poaching and to keep landowners and community 

 governments from turning wildlife habitat into cattle pasturage. 



I am accompanied today by a person who has seen this for herself for the last five 

 years in Zimbabwe. Her statement is also attached to my testimony and I would like 

 your permission to have it also made a part of the record. Ms. Rihoy has spoken to 

 villagers in rural communities whose children were killed by marauding elephants. 

 She has seen crops, which represented an entire year's income, destroyed overnight 

 by wild animals. She has seen the spoor of leopards right inside village compounds. 

 This is the reality that rural Africans live with every day. To them, wildlife is not 

 some cute and cuddly thing that can be used for ftmdraising purposes in New York 

 and Miami. It is a harsh reality that can kill you and your children and destroy yoiu" 

 livelihood. Africans will only continue to endure these hazards and hardships if they 

 can share in the benefits from managing their land so that the wildlife will stay. 



To turn again to the ESA, let me point out that more than half the mammal species 

 listed under the ESA occur outside the U.S. Most of the ESA's "beneficial" provisions 



