Does Trophy Hunting Support Biodiversity? A Response to Di Minin et al.

In their recent article ‘Banning Trophy Hunting Will Exacerbate Biodiversity Loss’ [1], Di Minn et al. presented a set of arguments in support of trophy hunting. They suggested that trophy hunting will benefit biodiversity (i.e., the number of plant and animal species in an area) through several main mechanisms, including (i) increased funding for conservation; (ii) a smaller carbon footprint compared with ecotourism; and (iii) the emphasis on maintaining large wildlife populations. Unfortunately, these justifications do not go deep enough into the direct and indirect mechanisms that affect native plant and animal species and ecosystems. In addition to potential social, economic, and ethical issues, we argue that greater consideration of the ecological and evolutionary effects of trophy hunting is required to fully evaluate it as a conservation tool.