International Journal of Social Science and Business (IJSSB)

Sport hunting is considered by some researchers as promoting wildlife conservation while others feel otherwise. It is pointed out that with proper regulation, enforcement and control sport or trophy hunting would be beneficial to wildlife populations. However, wanton and indiscriminate killing of certain wildlife species can have disastrous ecological consequences. This paper aims to contribute to the on-going debate by examining critically the relationship between sport hunting and wildlife management in Kenya. It is the thesis of this paper that well regulated sport hunting could benefit wildlife populations and may be the only way to ensure their very survival. Therefore, the paper reviews available literature on trophy hunting in Africa and the rest of the world with the objective of assessing both positive and negative impacts of hunting on conservation. Lessons learned can be used as basis for re-introducing sport hunting in Kenya. The main finding is that there is evidence that wildlife populations especially for elephants, rhinos and buffaloes are increasing in the countries where sport hunting is encouraged and the reverse is the case where it has been restricted or banned. Therefore, it is recommended that Kenya borrows a leaf from these success stories and re-introduces trophy hunting to save its wildlife.