Hey guys,

I am doing an argumentative essay for my English class and I am arguing for the pros of Exotic Game Ranching. I need four major points(how it is good).
This is what I've thought of:
*Conservation
*Tourism
*Market/Economy
*Hunting?(should I put it within tourism?)

Thanks for any tips or help!

You might want to touch on how game ranching kept some old time ranches viable with the collapse of the mohair market.

I would point out how in some cases without "exotic game ranching" in the United States some pretty amazing animals would have been extinct long ago. The scimitar horned oryx jumps to mind. It is my understanding that they were hunted to complete (or near complete)extinction in Africa.

As for the economic benefits I would say this. Over the last 24 months I have made 5 trips to Texas from Washington state. in those trips I have never flown alone so a total of 15 people have purchased round trip airfare, thus stimulating the economy of the airline. We spend money in the airport before each light,both ways. Our groups have spent in excess of $13000 to Texas ranches and another $2000 in local stores or small restaurants while traveling to and from, putting money both into your local economies and into your (Texas) tax system. Then after the hunt we have used 3 different Texas taxidermists ($3000++) and then a shipping company ($$$). That is a fairly large chunk of revenue raised both in taxes and in real spendable money for business owners in Texas. That is from only 5 people in less then 2 years. Plus as a business owner myself (small bar and grill) These represent the most sought after dollars. These are not the "locals", that you can count on month in month out. This is money removed permanently from 1 economic system (Washington State)and introduced into another economic system (Texas).

In my humble opinion the whole story could come down to pros vs cons

Pros; jobs (and loads of them from the guys on the ranch to the fence builders to the guy at the feed store and the good Lord knows how many large animal vets), tax money, tourism, animal welfare, personal income.

Cons; you might offend some bunny hugging liberal

Pere David deer were thought to be extinct, then found in a monks grounds and now thrive on many ranches in Texas.
Blackbuck have been replenished in their native lands from Texas ranches.

Good food, I guess is part of market. Axis is some of the best meat there is.

Maybe research, they do a lot of research on food habits, etc. for exotics on game ranches. They learn about their diet and interaction with other species this way.

Thanks a lot!
And that's not really a con for the last part haha I go to schreiner not any of those here as far as I know or concerned!

You all missed the most important point.......oryx, addax, and blackbuck horns make great weapons for when the zombies come. Write your essay on that, guarenteed you get an A.

I don't know why there has to be four points but off hand I would say the local economies were probably improved. For some reason the idea that hunting exotics pleases sportsmen seems unimportant but a person can hunt an animal in Texas that would cost much more to hunt in Africa or elsewhere. In addition to saving exotic species there is also a safe guard that the Texas animals could be repopulated in their native lands if disease, etc. impacted native herds. Wildlife biologists, or students of biology can also study the Texas animals rather than traveling far aboard.

While I was at University I did several projects on deer, the one that comes to mind is one I did on Pere David's deer. They were made extinct in the wild but fortunately a priest named Pere David took some from the wild (they live in China) and took them back to Europe where they were kept safe. Before world war II they were classed as extinct in the wild but some from the original Pere David's herd were released back and started doing well until the japs and chinese came in and shot them out for food during the war. Fortunately though they were still held in captivity. They were released in the 80s and again poached heavily, and as of mid 2000's there were a small number back in the wild.

And of course they were sent to the US which was definitely a good thing and added another level of security to their existence. Though the states weren't really instrumental in "saving the species" from purely environmental points of view they did inadvertently do so.

The issue with Pere David's deer is that at one point the species came down to about 12 individuals from memory so they went through a genetic bottleneck and now have a low genetic diversity and there is a consern that in the next couple of hundred years they will hit a genetic brick wall and no longer be able to reproduce.

There are plenty of good ones to use though, Scimitar oryx are still extinct in the wild so having them in Texas is keeping them in existence, Addax are just about extinct in the wild now, Eld's deer are endangered.

You can also use other social comparisons, Australia has the only stable popualtion of Banteng in the world. We manage them here with hunting but also capture them and release them back into the wild in Asia where they originate. We have the only secure self sustaining population of hog deer in the world as well.

from a conservation perspective you should have no trouble making a point. Often it may not be around preserving the genetics of a herd as such but if a ranch is managing an animal like scimitar oryx for nothing other than hunting then I'd still class it as a great achievement.

You only have to look at Teddy Roosevelt to remember that hunters are the first and greatest conservationists in the world.

Probably under the conservation point, but it creates a much greater holding habitat for the species in question than zoos could ever provide. The San Diego animal park is 1,800 acres, most are probably much less than 100 acres. And they have to keep a generally broader variety - meaning not much room to roam per species - not as conducive to reproduction, and certainly not as natural.

For the Market/Economy point Would also be valuable to provide some perspective - it's not new, and not unique to Tx - been going on since the Romans at least, and significantly present on every continent.

Also (under same point) market is not just based on hunting - there's a significant amount of income from products like meat, velvet, and antlers - would do some research on the NZ/Aus deer farming industry for the Asian velvet market as an example. Could also be used to support the conservation point as farming for the products market reduces pressure on the wild populations (legal or poaching).

Thanks for all the help you guys!

It helped me add quite a bit to my essay and so far everyone who has reviewed it has loved and approved of it!