Second American Sought For Killing Lion
PEREIRA: Officials in Zimbabwe are searching for a second American accused of illegally hunting and killing a lion. A Pennsylvania-based doctor allegedly hunted it in April in an area where it is not permitted on the border of a national park. This of course is following the fire storm surrounding the death of Cecil, the lion, who was reportedly lured off of the same reserve by a Minnesota dentist. Jeff Corwin is the host of ABC's "Ocean Mystery" and an animal expert joining us now. Good morning to you, Jeff. Here we are, again, talking about an illegal hunt, surprising to you, probably not.</s>JEFF CORWIN, ANIMAL EXPERT: It is very surprising. It's incredible these people are making fumbles and not following the laws of these regions. It is black and white. You do not hunt in the national park or lure an animal from the national park.</s>PEREIRA: You know, there is an environmental group called "The International Union for Conservation of Nature, they estimate the number of animals killed in these sorts of tourist hunts at 105,000 a year. That's got to impact conservation efforts.</s>CORWIN: The total take from Africa, remember, there's approximate Natalie 11 countries out of 54 in Africa that permit hunting. It seems to be decreasing year by year, and 105,000 trophies are taken across 200 million acres set aside for hunting in Africa. If you look at the whole statistics, overall hunting, you get about 50 million to 60 million tourists that go to Africa a year. Of that number, maybe 18,000 or 19,000 people are hunting.</s>PEREIRA: Interesting because you talk to some of the hunters who say, look, we are doing more for conservation efforts, which doesn't make a lick of sense to me. The money they spend for the hunts goes back into conservation efforts. Still, I can't see the rational.</s>CORWIN: It can be hard to wrap your head around it. You have to separate the emotion to the actual science. I'm going to put my wildlife biology hat on. Let me give you how it works in the United States. In the United States, we have just at white tail deer hunting. We have between 6 million and 10 million white tail deer hunters. They will take between 4 million and 6 million white tail deer in any given year. Each of the people has to pay for a hunting license, half of the budget to manage just about every state in the United States when it comes to environment and state parks. It comes from the hunting and fishing license and public land use. In states like New Hampshire, 90 percent of their budget comes from the fishing and hunting license. That is, essentially, the logic of where the money goes.</s>PEREIRA: Does it translate to Africa? Is it the same functioning of how things are done in those African nations?</s>CORWIN: Well, it really depends on what part of Africa you are in. In some cases, there is an argument that it does. An area that used to have hunting made it illegal. Why because there is this controversy. Why is it we are letting people from somewhere else, from America and Europe come to Africa and hunt when local people can't hunt? That's why they made the changes. This one has 140,000 elephants. Once in a while when they have hunting, they put up a permit. That brings in over $100,000. That money goes to the village. That's the mathematics of it. It is very different from the ethics of how one feels ethically or emotionally when it comes to hunting.</s>PEREIRA: There's a lot of emotion in this. A lot of people feel a connection to our wildlife into the beautiful creatures. Jeff Corwin, always great to have you. Thanks for joining us on NEW DAY on this Monday.</s>CORWIN: Thank you.</s>PEREIRA: Chris.</s>CUOMO: The stock market in Greece is plunging. Trading for the first time in five weeks amid the country's economic turmoil. What does it mean, especially for you here in the U.S.? Got it for you ahead.