Why are we still killing Bluefin Tuna? This question has
resonated through the ocean blogosphere recently, as various
experts weigh the issues surrounding overfishing and wonder why,
when we know how limited the Bluefin Tuna populations are, and
how precipitously they’ve declined in the last decade, do they
demand record-breaking prices able to support an industry that
must range further afield to chase that last, lonely fish? Other
conservation writers discuss the recent extinction of not one,
but two, rhinoceros species and ponder the fate of large
terrestrial mammals. Knowing how rare these rhinoceroses were,
why did they continue to be poached? Where does this demand come
from? In “Does change in IUCN status affect demand for African
bovid trophies?“, published this week in Animal Conservation,
scientists from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation
Research Unit tracked the change in demand for big game trophies
(that is, large mammals hunted for sport) as the rarity of those
species either increased,