Dallas auction to kill rare black rhino - Camille Vigil

     This week in Dallas, the Dallas Safari Club held its annual convention that included the auction of a permit to kill one black rhino in Namibia, Africa. The black rhino is a highly endangered species, with only about 5,000 left in the world, and only 1,700 left in Namibia. The auctioning of the permit was estimated to bring in anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million. All the money raised in the auction is to be put towards conservation efforts to help protect the black rhino population in Africa. The sponsors of the auction have received death threats that were being investigated and monitored by the FBI. In addition, the auction will be held in an isolated place, where no cameras will be allowed, so as to protect the identities of the bidders. Marcia Fargnoli, the CEO of Save the Rhino Trust in Namibia says that this auction promotes the idea that this rhino is worth more dead than it is alive. She is just one of many who disagree with the premise of this auction.
     I completely disagree with the idea behind this auction. There is absolutely no logic in promoting the killing of the same animal that conservationists are trying to save. It also promotes interest in the hunting of endangered animals, which is another main issue that conservationists are trying to combat. As is mentioned in the video, there are also other means of raising large sums of money for conservation efforts, such as auctioning off the opportunity to take a trip to SEE the rhinos, for example, rather than killing one. Though funds from $250,000 dollars up to $1,000,000 are large sums of money, in reality, these amounts would not go far in the conservation of the rhinos. They could buy a new facility for the conservationists to work from, or can pay a few salaries for a while, but all in all, the killing of one of these extremely endangered animals is not in any way worth the comparatively small sum of $1 million dollar. The auction of the permit also leaves the amount of money raised limited to one bidder, rather than multiple bidders. In other words, more funds would have likely been raised if the safari club bad auctioned off some other rhino experience, such as a trip to see the rhinos, which could be offered to multiple bidders, raising more money, and conserving the life of one rhino.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/01/10/erin-pkg-lavandera-black-rhino-auction.cnn.html