NC

activities each year in the U.S. alone. And anyone
who keeps a freezer full of venison is likely to tell
you that the act of killing your own dinner in the
wild is more humane than buying the plasticwrapped
meat of industrially raised livestock.
But trophy hunting today, especially of the socalled
big five in Africa (elephant, lion, leopard,
rhino, and Cape buffalo), brings with it a larger
set of moral and financial questions. The sport
killing of animals beleaguered in the wild can
arouse fierce opposition, even more so if the
animal— Cecil the Lion, for example—is named.
Biologists estimated total losses of large mammals
in protected areas on the continent at up to
60 percent between 1970 and 2005. As big game
populations dwindle further under pressure from
human encroachment, shifting climate norms,
and widespread criminal poaching, there are
hunters—the American client in Nyae Nyae, for
one—who argue that a thoughtfully regulated
and expensive hunt for bull elephants in their
waning days makes a sustainable way to protect
both species and habitat.
On we went, following the footprints. Every
so often Dam would retrace his steps, circling in
the dust, until we slowed to a more careful crawl.
Coming over a knoll, we saw them at last, Loxodonta
africana—what seemed to be three bulls,
munching on leaves and grass. Marnewecke
reached for his binoculars, the American client
took his rifle in hand. Everything narrowed to a
nervous point. African elephants live to be 60 or
70, and the biggest tuskers usually are older than
45. Tusks are measured by weight, and anything
estimated to be over 50 pounds is considered a
“shooter” by hunters. The client was looking for
80 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • OCTOBER 2017