Maps in the News: African Elephant Trophy Hunting

Fred Krakowiak drawing

World Wildlife Federation 

Maps in the News:  Hunting Elephants for Trophies

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it has lifted a 2014 Obama administration ban on importing sport-hunted trophies of elephants from Zimbabwe and Zambia.  In a statement to National Public Radio, the Service “determined that the hunting and management programs for African elephants in Zimbabwe and Zambia will enhance the survival of the species in the wild.”

The Humane Society of the U.S. plans to fight the lifting of the ban, claiming that Zimbabwe’s unstable government will not support an elephant management plan.  From Wayne Pacelle, the organization’s president and CEO: “Elephants are on the list of threatened species; the global community has rallied to stem the ivory trade; and now, the U.S. government is giving American trophy hunters the green light to kill them.”

National Geographic published maps (above, click to enlarge) related to sport-hunted trophies in the decade leading up to the ban in 2014.  Canada was the biggest source of trophy imports due to its close proximity and popular species such as black bears, grizzly bears, moose, and wolves.  South Africa was the second largest source with nearly 400,000 imports.

According to the report from National Geographic, in the decade from 2005 to 2014, “American trophy hunters imported nearly 32,500 lions, elephants, rhinos, buffalo, and leopards.”  1,892 African elephants were imported to the U.S. from Zimbabwe during that time.

In 2007 National Geographic published maps depicting the range of the African elephants in 1979 versus 2007.  And the next map shows the range of the elephant in 2012 just prior to the ban.

For more information about cartographic resources for threatened and endangered species, please contact the Ball State University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) at 765-285-1097.