SCI and SCI Foundation to Represent Hunters at CITES
Safari Club International 02.26.13
Safari Club International (SCI) and Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) and will represent hunter-conservationists during the 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The 16th CoP takes place in Bangkok, Thailand March 3-14, and may be the most influential event that will shape international wildlife conservation objectives for the next 3 years.
“Our organizations are leaders in wildlife conservation who represent the hunter-conservationist at the world level,” said Joe Hosmer, President and SCI Foundation delegate. “For decades now, SCI and SCI Foundation have been working with countries to develop science-based wildlife management goals that benefit overall wildlife population health and sustainability of rural economies.”
CITES is a treaty among 177 countries that ensures cross-border trade in animals and plants does not harm individual species. SCI Foundation and SCI attend as international non-governmental organizations, and work with delegates from various countries to ensure that major trade decisions are based on sound science rather than politics and emotion.
“High profile policy issues such as the potential up-listing of polar bear will be exploited by animal-welfare organizations that ignore substantive science in their lobbying,” stated John Whipple, President of Safari Club International. “The range nations for polar bear — Canada, Norway, and Denmark which represents Greenland — and the CITES secretariat oppose the proposal for up-listing because it lacks a scientific justification. The animal welfare organizations have little interest in science; choosing to only advocate for their parochial political motivations.”
“SCI Foundation, in cooperation with Safari Club International, developed a comprehensive voting guide on all the policy recommendations being considered at the 16th CoP. We hope that every international conservationist will seek the counsel of the accomplished advisors who developed our materials for this incredibly important conference on wildlife conservation,” concluded Hosmer.
Find SCI Foundations positions on issues at www.safariclubfoundation.org/CITES.
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
