Trophy hunting: Bans create opening for change

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

First paragraph: In their Letter “Trophy hunting bans imperil biodiversity” (30 August, p.874), A. Dickman et al. warn that banning trophy hunting, a practice many of them deem “repugnant,” could threaten African biodiversity and livelihoods. What they actually describe is how loss of funding may impart these effects, without specifying any unique benefits of trophy hunting. It is defeatist to defend business-as-usual instead of promoting alternative conservation activities that could sustain formerly trophy-hunted species and areas.