White-Tailed Deer Predator / Prey Study For Immediate Release: May 23, 2012 Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) proudly announced today that it made a donation of $25,000 to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to conduct a white-tailed deer predation study. The SCI Foundation and Wisconsin DNR Predator / Prey study will examine challenges wildlife managers face in finding a balance between predator and prey populations. “We are proud to partner with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources,” said SCI Foundation President Joseph Hosmer. “State agencies provide the most critical on-the-ground science to improve game management in the United States. By working collaboratively with state agencies we will be building a long term partnership to keep wildlife populations sustainable for future generations of sportsmen and women.” “This generous donation from the Safari Club International Foundation will be used for field research to assess causes and rates of fawn and adult buck mortality in Wisconsin’s white-tailed deer herd,” said Dr. Karl Martin, Chief Wildlife and Forestry Research Section. “Partnerships like these are the key component to the success of large-scale field research projects.” The Wisconsin predator / prey study will evaluate the impact of black bear, coyote, wolf, and bobcat populations on white-tailed deer survival and recruitment where fawn survival is low. The outcome of this study will provide decision makers with important science-based evidence to support practical management options for both predators and prey species. “Collaborative partnerships in the name of conservation help the SCI Foundation ensure a larger impact by making the money spent go further in support of the mission,” concluded Hosmer. Contact: Nelson Freeman, media@safariclub.org - SCIF – Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education, and humanitarian services. Since 2000, SCIF has provided $47 million to these causes around the world. Visit www.safariclubfoundation.org for more information.

HUNTING IN BOTSWANA – STATEMENT TO VALUED CLIENTS, AGENTS AND FRIENDS

Over the last 5 years, Botswana’s trophy hunting industry has been subjected to some extensive changes to areas available for hunting, and changes in land use in other areas where photographic and hunting operations have been combined – these changes have given rise to much speculation amongst the international hunting fraternity:  the Botswana Wildlife Management Association wishes to confirm that from the end of this year big game hunting will continue in the following concessions:

Butler & Holbrow Safaris / Chobe Enclave CH1/2 – end of 2013

Calitz Hunting Safaris / Mababe NG 41 – end of 2017

In spite of draconian cuts in quota for other species, elephant remain the flagship species in Botswana and sustainable offtake of this species will continue under the guidance and direction of the Botswana Government.  Recent aerial surveys conducted by independent researchers, in collaboration with Government and the Association, have determined that the Botswana elephant population is stable and in some parts of the country are considered locally over-abundant.   The Special Elephant Quota, which is auctioned annually to industry members and stakeholders, will continue in select areas for the benefit of local communities and for elephant conservation and management as a whole.  Private research on tusk weights/population distribution and densities, supported by outfitters, is ongoing and will continue to inform Botswana’s wildlife Management Authority. 

 Assurances have been made to the industry by senior members of Government during the course of the last five years that elephant hunting will continue in Botswana; in the meantime, outfitters remain committed to ongoing discussion and consultation with Government to determine the way forward.  Hunting on game ranches is unchanged.  Please contact your safari outfitter or the Botswana Wildlife Management Association (botswanawildlife@yahoo.com or debbie@mochaba.net) for any further information or confirmation you may require.

The Botswana Wildlife Management Association

Private Bag 098   Maun    Botswana   Tel:  + 267 6862 671   Fax:  + 267 6862671

The Greatest Wildlife Recovery Story Ever Told:
How Conservation is Creating Prosperity and Stability in Rural Namibia

U.S. Congressional Briefing
Featuring Digu Naobeb. CEO of the Namibian Tourism Board, and speakers from WWF and the Safari Club International Foundation

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 – 10:00 am -11:00 am

Room H-137
U.S. Capitol Building

Speech, as it was prepared. It was however presented with several tangents and twists…

Joe

 

Good morning, my name is Joe Hosmer, and I am delighted to speak on behalf of the hunter-conservationist community today. I serve as the president of Safari Club International Foundation (SCIF) and am a lifelong hunter. I am proud to be able to join the Honorable Minister and Mr. Dillon to share the story of Namibian wildlife recovery and how international hunting has been central to developing sustainable income for rural communities. SCIF commends the success of wildlife management programs in Namibia, and we are working to apply them to other countries that are struggling to modernize their own wildlife conservation policies.

First, I would like to tell you a little bit about our Foundation. Safari Club International Foundation is the charitable arm of Safari Club International. SCIF’s missions include promoting and funding wildlife conservation, outdoor education, and humanitarian services. Currently, we have over 60 ongoing conservation research projects. Over the past decade, SCIF has contributed over $50 million to advance global wildlife conservation. SCIF has worked tirelessly to increase wildlife management capabilities throughout Southern and Eastern Africa through strategic partnerships with African nations and conservation NGOs. In Namibia, for instance, SCIF is working with the government to obtain the best science available regarding the population status of leopards.

Safari Club International Foundation has also awarded multiple grants to land conservancies in Southern Africa that serve as important reserves for black rhinoceros and other wildlife. Since 2008, an increase in rhino poaching has been reported in southern Africa and SCIF has responded by providing over $80,000 to fund rangers, aircraft, trail cameras, telemetry equipment and other tools to combat the increase in poaching. Collaborative efforts among conservation organizations and the hunting industry are using hunter-generated revenue to successfully prevent poaching. Ensuring that animals harvested lawfully do not enter the illegal trade and tarnish the reputation of legitimate conservationists is a major consideration of SCIF. Poachers and smugglers should not benefit from the dedicated work of conservationists by skimming the gains made after decades of investment in conservation.

The largest of SCIF’s programs in Africa is the African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF). SCIF hopes that this cooperative forum will help spread the Namibian successes in wildlife conservation to the rest of Africa. AWCF is an annual forum that convenes delegates from most of the sub-Saharan African governments for a week-long discussion on wildlife management, conservation, and hunting priorities. The forum provides an opportunity for these countries to come together to compare problems and develop common approaches to future management of their wildlife resources. Over fifty participants attended the 2011 AWCF in Swaziland. Contributors included wildlife professionals, regulatory officials, and representatives of the hunting industry. By providing the forum for wildlife professionals across Africa to discuss successful management approaches SCIF believes that best practices can be shared amongst partners and the success of sustainable-use hunting will spread across Africa.

Over the past decade, the AWCF annual meetings have included major themes in African wildlife management. Human-wildlife conflict, wildlife population management, predator-prey interactions, habitat use, hunting regulations, and anti-poaching campaigns have all been central to the Forum. Key topics at the most recent meeting included rhinoceros conservation, leopard population status, lion management. Attendees also heard reports on current policies and regulations for each country present.

One of the most critical issues addressed in the 2011 AWCF was the landmark agreement to organize and support the collection of current lion census data from all of the range state nations. The attending government entities agreed to fully cooperate to address the ambitious deadlines set for the CITES Periodic Review of the African lion. The Periodic Review will use the best science available to determine if lions are appropriately listed in the CITES Appendices.

Enhancing wildlife management in Africa is only part of the solution, and cannot succeed in a vacuum. The success of the sustainable wildlife conservation program hinges on the dedicated funding that international hunters provide to these communities. Hunting has funded the enhancement of many species around the world, including a long list we are all fond of here in North America (elk, white-tailed deer, wood duck, wild turkey, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, bison and more). It is the license fees and taxes on hunting gear that fund conservation in the United States, and international hunters provide the same steady revenue stream to African communities.

International hunting has been one of the main economic engines in rural communities. In many countries of southern Africa, agrarian or pastoral economies cannot flourish, due to limited land suitable for agriculture or grazing. In these areas, regulated hunting has been a consistent form of revenue for local communities. To take better advantage of sustainable wildlife use, many governments have begun Community Based Natural Resources Programs. These programs, in essence, devolve power from the central government so that locally created community councils can regulate and manage wildlife in their areas. Their mission is to utilize wildlife so that it remains a sustainable resource.

These communal programs have been successful because they effectively create a financial incentive for the rural communities to actively conserve wildlife. Revenue retention rules ensure that money generated from sport hunting ends up in the hands of indigenous people. In the case of international hunting in southern Africa, communities in the most rural areas of countries reap the benefit of conserving wildlife through Community Based Natural Resource Programs.

Creating this incentive to coexist with wildlife has been a central reason why so many populations of species are now thriving. The growing population of white rhino has been one of the most notable success stories. Namibia has been the leader in this area with I believe zero rhino poaching in the last two years. It is not terribly surprising that in countries like Kenya, where wildlife utilization by indigenous people is extremely limited and where hunting does not exist, wildlife population levels are now low and in continuous decline. Hunting was banned in Kenya in1977 and this ban has resulted in an accelerated loss of wildlife due to the removal of incentives for conservation (Baker 1997; Lewis & Jackson 2005).

SCIF’s sister organization, Safari Club International (SCI) recently held its annual Hunter’s Convention where over 2,200 outfitters came together and raised $16 million dollars, a substantial portion of which will contribute to international wildlife conservation. Many of these outfitters booked trips to Africa that will support these community based conservation programs, build value into these wildlife and support these rural economies.

I would like to leave you with just a few thoughts about how you can help. One way is to continue to fund programs such as Namibia’s LIFE program at high levels moving forward. The LIFE program is funded by USAID and has been central to building community based natural resource management in Namibia. Programs that promote sustainable-use conservation such as the LIFE program are not just aid, but an investment that helps build a self-sustaining rural economy while creating community incentives to protect these treasured species.

There Is yet another key component to the success of sustainable-use conservation where more work is needed — reducing regulatory burdens. Often times international hunters are faced with obstacles at the U.S. border. Sometimes it is a problem with bringing a favorite hunting rifle with them on their hunt. More frequently, it is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stopping a hunter from bring their legally harvested animal back in to the U.S. These barriers discourage hunters from travelling, reduce the value of overseas wildlife and take much needed dollars out of rural African communities. It is vital that the United State modernize the border process for wildlife so that millions of dollars of African conservation dollars are not lost because of over-zealous wildlife inspectors and byzantine regulations. Over the 20th Century, hunters brought back the great herds of the United States through their funding of conservation. All we ask is that the U.S. government helps hunters do the same in Africa.

Thank You.

Taking Action Against Rhino Poaching: The Safari Club International Foundation
by OUTDOOR HUB REPORTERS on FEBRUARY 24, 2012
submitted by: AGNIESZKA SPIESZNY - Original post.

It’s become a hot-button issue since the price of rhinoceros horn increased. Poachers are scrambling to deliver the valuable product where demand is high. The rhino was a nearly extinct species in Africa one century ago, but through intense conservation efforts its population flourished.

Now in 2012, the rhinoceros has been hunted to extinction in Vietnam and now buyers are paying a high price for the horn that they believe cures cancer. It is estimated that there is one rhino killed for its horn every 18 hours in Africa. Last year, there were almost 450 rhinos killed. That number has skyrocketed considering that there were only about 15 rhinos killed per year in previous years when the price of the horn was lower.

Safari Club International Foundation President Joe Hosmer vehemently opposes the poaching. “I believe it to be absolutely horrendous,” Hosmer said. The SCI Foundation (SCIF) is battling the issue throughout the entire African continent at the governmental level.

SCIF has an office in Pretoria, South Africa where they are able to monitor all rhino activity on a routine basis. Their main objective is to make sure each country involved knows what other countries are doing. “If there are known poachers in an area we make sure to send out a warning.”

Current operations

In partnership with the Friedkin Conservation Fund, SCIF has acquired a micro-light (or ultra-light) hang-glider which runs daily patrols over thousands of acres of rhino habitat. If suspicious activity is spotted, the pilot will get GPS coordinates of the location and then a ground crew that is associated with the government will go in to investigate.

So far, with the help of SCIF, Swaziland tells one of the most successful anti-poaching stories. The country has only had three rhinos poached, but in turn has shot three poachers who opened fire on rangers who caught the three men.

Hosmer said there have been plenty more poachers already stopped, although efforts are far from over. Facilities in Zimbabwe continue to monitor a number of rhinoceros that were moved from a park to a confined area where they are physically guarded until the issue is resolved.

The issue is taken on one day at a time. Just recently rhino poaching received more national attention through a report on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams”. Below is a clip of the segment. A link to all the segments is available on Hosmer’s blog.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

February 23,2012 by Britt Hosmer Peterson originally posted on wild.org.

Last night, the TV show “Rock Center with Brian Williams”  on NBC aired a segment on rhino poaching in South Africa.   Some of the shocking statics highlighted that last year almost 450 rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa for their horns.  And so far this year South Africa is losing a rhino a day – one poached every 18 hours!

The segment showed several ways people were trying to individually combat the war on illegal wildlife trade.  Ranging from using a chainsaw to cut off the horn (which does not harm the animal) to darting and inserting a microchip for tracking the animal and would potentially track the horn if it were ever removed.  DNA samples were collected while the rhinos were under sedation which is being stored in Pretoria.   These DNA banks are being used to match confiscated horns with poached carcasses in order to make arrests.

Watch the “Rock Center” video segments:

• Last Stand: Rhino horn trade leads to spike in poaching

• Last Stand: Desperate moves to thwart rhino poachers

• Last Stand: Environmental group dehorns to save rhinos

• Last Stand: Producer’s journey to the rhinos

• Last Stand: Trafficking rhino horn

• Last Stand: Rhinos under assault by poachers

The conservation of rhino in South Africa is at the root of The WILD Foundation’s long history.  The founder and wilderness champion, Ian Player of South Africa, was the initiator and team leader of an innovative project ‘Operation Rhino’.  In the 1960s, the program established breeding colonies of white rhinoceros at zoos and protected game reserves in order to assure the survival as a species.  In addition he established a successful anti-poaching network in South African game reserves which resulted in an impressive reduction in poaching.  Fifty years later, The WILD Foundation is still at the forefront of conservation efforts in Africa.

An ongoing project is the Rhino Informant Incentive Fund.  Through a partnership with Safari Club International Foundation and the Magqubu Ntomebla Foundation, in 2010 we established an expert team of informants with experience in intelligence gathering,  the law, and forensics. The goal of the informants is to collect information to reduce the threat to the rhinos by better deterring and detaining poachers. We had good success thus far.

>>Read more about the Forever Wild Rhino Protection Initiative

>>Donate to rhino conservation and anti-poaching efforts

February 23,2012 by Britt Hosmer Peterson originally posted on wild.org.

Last night, the TV show “Rock Center with Brian Williams”  on NBC aired a segment on rhino poaching in South Africa.   Some of the shocking statics highlighted that last year almost 450 rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa for their horns.  And so far this year South Africa is losing a rhino a day – one poached every 18 hours!

The segment showed several ways people were trying to individually combat the war on illegal wildlife trade.  Ranging from using a chainsaw to cut off the horn (which does not harm the animal) to darting and inserting a microchip for tracking the animal and would potentially track the horn if it were ever removed.  DNA samples were collected while the rhinos were under sedation which is being stored in Pretoria.   These DNA banks are being used to match confiscated horns with poached carcasses in order to make arrests.

Watch the “Rock Center” video segments:

• Last Stand: Rhino horn trade leads to spike in poaching

• Last Stand: Desperate moves to thwart rhino poachers

• Last Stand: Environmental group dehorns to save rhinos

• Last Stand: Producer’s journey to the rhinos

• Last Stand: Trafficking rhino horn

• Last Stand: Rhinos under assault by poachers

The conservation of rhino in South Africa is at the root of The WILD Foundation’s long history.  The founder and wilderness champion, Ian Player of South Africa, was the initiator and team leader of an innovative project ‘Operation Rhino’.  In the 1960s, the program established breeding colonies of white rhinoceros at zoos and protected game reserves in order to assure the survival as a species.  In addition he established a successful anti-poaching network in South African game reserves which resulted in an impressive reduction in poaching.  Fifty years later, The WILD Foundation is still at the forefront of conservation efforts in Africa.

An ongoing project is the Rhino Informant Incentive Fund.  Through a partnership with Safari Club International Foundation and the Magqubu Ntomebla Foundation, in 2010 we established an expert team of informants with experience in intelligence gathering,  the law, and forensics. The goal of the informants is to collect information to reduce the threat to the rhinos by better deterring and detaining poachers. We had good success thus far.

>>Read more about the Forever Wild Rhino Protection Initiative

>>Donate to rhino conservation and anti-poaching efforts

 

All the same, the bones of the “Centaur of Tymfi” stands proudly on display at Tucson’s International Wildlife Museum in a just-opened exhibit. Nearby is the skull of a “griffin,” a legendary flying lion with an eagle’s skull, and the noggin of a “cyclops,” the one-eyed giant of Greek myth. Taking center stage is the centaur, designed by sculptor and zoologist Bill Willers of the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.

Entitled “Mythological Wildlife,” the exhibit aims to make folks think about how we know what is real, says museum director Richard White. A paleontologist, White says the exhibit also looks at how folklore might hold a few hidden scientific stories.

“Once upon a time, mythology was science,” White says, accepted as part of the natural history world as perceived by the ancients. The ancient Greek poet, Hesiod, wrote about centaurs around 700 BC. Herodotus, “The Father of Historians,” wrote about griffinsaround 500 B.C. “It’s legitimate for museums to display mythological creatures to make people question what is real and what is science today.”

A shadowy corner of scholarship called “cryptozoology,” filled with folks looking for Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster, has put these sort of questions into disrepute. But scholars such as Stanford University’s Adrienne Mayor, author of The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times, have opened wide questions about what folklore has to offer science today.

For the exhibit, for example, the “cyclops” skull on display takes its cue from the suggestion that the skull of a prehistoric elephant called a mastodon, tipped on its side, might have resembled the skull of a one-eyed giant to the ancients, including a Roman emperor who perhaps kept a mastodon skull on display. A horn-faced dinosaur called Protoceratops, may have partly inspired the griffin.

“Someone saw a man on a horseback perhaps, and couldn’t explain it,” White says. “To him, the hypothesis was that it was a centaur. Now we know better. But there are still many things we struggle to explain, even today.”

Looking at the scientific origins of legends isn’t a new idea, notes art professor Beauvais Lyons of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, who points out that New York’s American Museum of Natural History ran a “Mythic Creatures” exhibit so popular it was extended from 2006 until 2008. And the renowned Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles has for decades blended real natural science with flights of biographical fantasy.

Lyons heads the “Hokes Archives” (as in hoax) at his university, “devoted to the fabrication and documentation of rare and unusual cultural artifacts.” The university brought “The Centaur of Volos,” created by Willers in 1980, to the university’s John C. Hodges Library. Instead of a standing centaur, the Volos display is of a centaur half-excavated from the ground in classic archaeological museum fashion.

“I am excited that Bill Willers has extended his investigations of centaur anatomy with his new upright work now in Tucson,” Lyons says. That centaur skeleton, the Centaur of Tymfi, in contrast, stands upright, the bones of a man seemingly jointed perfectly to a horse. Tymfi (TIM-fee) is the mountainous Greek village, a plaque carefully explains, where the centaur was found intact in the far recesses of a cave.

” There is an unconscious impulse to clothe bones in flesh when we first see them,” Willers says, explaining his centaur creation. With the Tymfi centaur, the plaque also offers visitors a written backstory of the legend, pure hokum of course, meant to extend the duration of time before disbelief takes over again. “I want to trigger that belief and extend it, to trigger a feeling of wonder that connects people to the natural world, to see a person like themselves as a wild animal,” says Willers.

The International Wildlife Museum is a bit unusual as well, White notes. Supported by the Safari Club International Foundation, its funding ultimately draws from hunters interested in animal conservation, and contains displays of wild animals (real ones) in most of its exhibits.

“I’m not worried about kids seeing the centaur and drawing the wrong conclusion. They have very strong senses of what is real and what is fantasy,” White says. “I’m a little worried about their parents,” he jokes.

No one is hunting for centaurs these days, of course, but science remains on the trail of all sorts of mysteries. People centuries from now will doubtless find some of those ideas credulous as well.

For now, anyone hoping to see a centaur might want to stop by Tucson sometime in the next two years, while it is on display at the museum. “After that, I’m hoping to find the centaur a good home,” Willers says, perhaps with a collector or museum. “After all, I have some ideas for other skeletons that I would like to start on.”

By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

 

The following letter was sent to a concerned SCI member who was curious about the SCI Foundation’s support of the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks Department.  The following is my reply which goes along way in explaining our Foundation’s scientific position, in support of the legal issues, tackled by SCI.

-Joe Hosmer, SCIF President

 * * * * *

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXXX:

I have had a couple of your email messages forwarded to my attention.  I find your concerns well warranted and certainly worth a response.  Before I dive into the details, I want to thank you for your concerns and for bringing them to our attention.  I have also asked Dr. Al Maki, Chair of our Conservation Committee to follow up with a call.  Al is currently elk hunting but will return in a couple weeks and will call you directly.

Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) involvement with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MT FWP) is primarily within the realm of predator-prey interactions. It is not exclusively wolves. Most notably, elk calf recruitment in areas occupied by wolves has declined, so the work is focused upon improving elk populations. SCI Foundation has partnered with MT FWP to determine which factors may be contributing to the decline in elk calf survival. To what degree does predation, nutritional status, and weather contributed to the poor performance of elk, in parts of Montana.  Unfortunately, it has only been speculation until this scientific study was initiated. This science-based information is exactly the type of data that will be used in the next MT FWP elk management plan.  As hunters and even wildlife biologists, we can probably all speculate, but we all truly need scientific data to base our arguments on.

SCI Foundation partners with state wildlife management agencies because they are the ones who are entrusted to manage wildlife for the benefit of the people, in this case Montanans. Providing sound data is a major component of making informed, science-based management decisions. We know from our experience that the implementation of management prescriptions, firmly rooted in science, is simply more likely to stand up in the courts. Groups that operate only on emotional justifications, rather than the facts, are usually defeated. We all know that these emotional groups undermine the great contributions hunters have made to wildlife conservation in North America. We work alongside state wildlife agencies not only because we must abide by their regulations, but we are also the beneficiaries of good wildlife management.

History has shown that predator eradication campaigns have resulted in the removal or change of the management authority, from the States, to the Federal Government. Further restrictions placed on the ability of MT FWP to manage a state-trust species could adversely impact producers, landowners and hunters. Again, we believe that it is imperative to have strong science to support SCI Foundation’s position on these various issues. If we can scientifically demonstrate the adverse impact that wolves are having, and present a viable plan for mitigating the impacts of the current management strategy, then we will have the greatest chance to influence wolf management decisions.

In summation, funding projects that work toward the improvement of science-based game management, has always been deemed a successful investment, by your great organization, the SCI Foundation.

I hope these points help clarify our involvement and better explains our motives.  Your concerns have not gone unheard.  Thanks again.

Hosmer’s speech at the 2011 African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF) held in Swaziland.

Good morning everyone. My name is Joseph Hosmer. Over the past year, you will have noticed some changes to Safari Club International Foundation, we have improved our focus to make the Foundation an institution devoted exclusively on our core missions of science based wildlife research, improving wildlife conservation education, and increasing on the ground efforts for our humanitarian work. I am quite humbled to continue serving as the President of the Safari Club International Foundation.

First, I would like to thank everyone for joining us for the 10^th African Wildlife Consultative Forum. This year we have representatives from the countries of Botswana, Ethiopia, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe; seven NGOs and scientific bodies; and representatives from seven professional hunter associations. The AWCF has grown significantly in 10 years, and we are looking forward to investing in this meeting for the next 10. We hope that throughout the coming year, you are able to discuss the importance of the AWCF with your colleagues who could not join us this year. By increasing participation annually, we can increase the effectiveness of our work improving wildlife conservation and management. However our work must continue if we are to build on our past successes.

Africa continues to face great challenges in wildlife conservation. Human population growth and consequent loss of wildlife habitats will be a continual problem – globally – but especially in Africa. This is because Africa still has much undeveloped space and unexploited natural resources that will be of greater and greater value to both wildlife and humans. More urgently, the world is begging for a solution to put an end to rhinoceros poaching and illicit trade of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn. In the past year we have seen dramatic increases in anti-poaching and enforcement efforts, but the problems remain. Perhaps today we will have some creative ideas shared to help us find solutions to the problem.

I want to discuss with you today, and also throughout this week, how SCIF can become a resource for you, so that together, we can improve wildlife conservation in your countries and improve relations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Over the past 10 years that we have gathered for AWCF, you have had the opportunity to work with our incredible staff; Matthew Eckert who manages SCIF’s conservation programs, our staff from the South Africa Office and George Pangeti who has always been such an asset. What many of you do not realize is that we have a larger staff working in Washington, DC; well positioned to meet with representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or with members of embassy staff. It is my hope that at the conclusion of the 10^th AWCF, we can collectively agree on principles of conservation that need to be improved with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others in Washington. Safari Club’s staff is ready to do more for conservation than we ever have in the past. We want to act not only as a partner, but more importantly, as your voice when we discuss conservation concerns with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By agreeing upon a core set of conservation principles at this meeting, Safari Club will be more proactive to improve wildlife conservation both at home and in Africa.

We must continue to witness tangible improvements – across the continent – in wildlife management and the professional capacity of many of the people sitting in this room. We need to encourage our colleagues to attend AWCF next year. We need to inform more of our conservation partners, government officials and the general public about the incredible work that needs to be done to ensure wildlife conservation continues for future generations. I hope the cooperative spirit that lives in this Forum continues throughout this week and many years into the future.

Thank you all.

Washington, DC - Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) has announced that it is close to hitting an unprecedented milestone by contributing nearly $1,000,000 to African lion projects for conservation and research.

“SCI Foundation has continually been a leader in lion conservation in collaboration with the African lion range states,” said SCI Foundation President Joe Hosmer. “Our specific research efforts have provided the best available information on the status of lions, which hopefully will be used by the range states to ensure well managed populations.”

This new information comes at a crucial time when the international conservation community is conducting a review on lions. This review will determine whether lions are appropriately listed in the CITES Appendices. Currently, they are listed as Appendix II, which poses restrictions on international trade in the species.

Annually, SCI Foundation underwrites the African Wildlife Consultative Forum (AWCF), a meeting where government officials from various African countries convene and discuss leading wildlife conservation issues and wildlife policy and management. The AWCF promotes the practice of sustainable use, including hunting. Therefore, Professional Hunting Associations and other NGOs are represented at this meeting to share their expertise and concerns with regard to wildlife conservation and hunting regulations.

“Throughout the decade long effort to improve the AWCF, lion conservation has been a continual theme that SCI Foundation hopes will result in ever improving management for such an iconic species,” concluded Hosmer.

# # #

The SCI Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization that funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian services, including such programs as Sportsmen Against Hunger, Sensory Safari, Safari Care, Disabled Hunter, the American Wilderness Leadership School, Becoming an Outdoors Woman & More and Youth Education Seminars (YES) Outdoors. Call 877-877-3265 or visit www.sci-foundation.org for more information.

Contact:
Nelson Freeman
(202) 543-8733
media@safariclub.org