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might not be positive. This has unfortunately been the case for most hunting organizations”. Flackcontinued to state that hunting associations need to apply strategic planning procedures and establish aneffective communication and information policy. „When you need positive public opinion, it is already toolate. Hunting needs PR-experts and a clear strategy is the first step,” he said.CIC Honorary PresidentDr Nicolas Franco concurred, saying „that ongoing cooperation with scientists seems to be of essence,especially since a trophy record book should be monitoring species and habitat and includescientific data. Trophy recording is for the good of the species and not for the ego of a hunter.”Gerhard Damm agreed with both gentlemen saying that „a critical analysis of the scientific relevance ofpresent recording systems is required”. Directed towards some critics from the audience, who requested thatCIC should not change the formulas for cervidae in order to preserve comparability, Damm suggested that„continuity lives through change and adaptation.”The deliberations resulted in a final statement, proposed by Peter Flack (CIC Delegation South Africa)and unanimously adopted by the participants. This statement was read to the full assembly by Dr Rolf Baldusduring the closing ceremony of the 54 th CIC General Assembly at the Serbian Parliament:“As a side event of this General Assembly a large number of CIC members and experts havediscussed the issues of hunting trophies in a constructive and cordial atmosphere. It wasgenerally felt that this discussion was useful and should be continued. More concrete andupdated norms and standards for dealing with hunting trophies by CIC could be a result inthe future. This morning the discussion group has asked me to read for the information ofthe General Assembly a request for a more pro-active CIC information policy directed to thegeneral public.1. Hunting has guided development of man for thousands of years.2. All sustainable hunting – be it traditional, trophy or recreational – still plays this roletoday. In addition, it is the key to the conservation of game itself.3. We believe that the public is largely in favor of hunting in general, but opposed tounsustainable practices of individuals if they occur.4. We believe that CIC should develop a strategic plan, including a public relations actionplan, to bring the facts and figures, which support good hunting practices, includingtrophy hunting, to the attention of the public, in particular to educators and children.”It was also agreed that the CIC Administrative Office in Budapest will coordinate the formation of aninternational task force recruited from CIC members, representatives of other hunting associations and theadditional expertise of outside experts from science and research. This task force will tackle the complexissues of trophy hunting and trophy recording through cooperative dialogue and exchange of ideas withregional and global hunting organizations. A report will be submitted to the Executive Committee of the CIClater this year. The trophy hunting topic will also be revisited at the 55 th General Assembly in Marrakech inApril 2008.Don Causey of the Hunting Report, Dr Karlheinz Betz of Wild & Hund and Malte Doerter of JagenWeltweit have to be thanked for reviewing the presentations and for their valuable inputs. Thanks are alsodue to the administrative staff of the CIC Budapest office for preparing the meetingComments and views from the readers to this complicated and vast topic are invited andshould be send by email to Gerhard Damm (Gerhard@muskwa.co.za) or to Kristof Hecker(K.Hecker@cic-wildlife.org).Readers can download the keynote presentations “Trophy Hunting: Past, Present andFuture” by Gerhard Damm and “The Essence of Hunting” by Gray Thornton from African Indaba Vol5/3a at this link http://www.africanindaba.co.za/HuntingTrophies/AfricanIndabaVol5-3SpecIssue2.pdf140