Born Free USA supports Compassionate Conservation. This means conservation action that takes into meaningful consideration the individual animal and his or her welfare in developing and delivering programs to conserve both species and the natural environment.
This consideration extends to local communities, ensuring that conservation programs do not detract from the livelihoods or well-being of local people, and that where possible, local communities benefit from conservation efforts on their land and provides opportunities for local community members to occupy meaningful leadership positions in conservation initiatives.
The principles of Compassionate Conservation:*1
WE RECOGNISE that wild animals, whether free-ranging or in captivity, may be affected by the intentional or unintentional actions of humans, as well as the natural processes within ecosystems and the wider environment;
WE ARE CONCERNED that many human activities, including those undertaken for a conservation purpose, may directly or indirectly cause harm to individual wild animals, populations, species, or ecosystems;
WE RECOGNIZE that both conservation and wild animal welfare should implicitly respect the inherent value of wild animals and the natural world, and that both disciplines should try to mitigate harms caused by humans to other species;
WE BELIEVE that all harms to wild animals should be minimized wherever and to the extent possible, regardless of the human intention and purpose behind them;
WE PROPOSE that the principles and actions that underpin Compassionate Conservation, by combining consideration of animal welfare and conservation, will lead to a reduction in harm and in the suffering of individual wild animals, and will improve conservation outcomes.
As a practice, which neither considers the individual animals, nor engages or provides meaningful benefit to local communities, trophy hunting fails to meet compassionate conservation principles.
Be a Compassionate Conservationist
Join us in upholding the values of Compassionate Conservation and fighting for wildlife by making a donation. Your gift will enable us to stay on the front line of the fight against trophy hunting and other practices that hurt wild animals; advocate for change at the local, national, and international levels; continue to produce reports, investigations, and other research to educate the public and decision makers; and more.
You can also help by amplifying Compassionate Conservation on social media. Follow Born Free USA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to stay up to date!
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Liz
1. Source: http://compassionateconservation.net/about/principles/
