Safari Club International
Encyclopedia
Safari Club International is an international organization
composed of hunters. SCI has more than 50,000 members and 180 local chapters. SCI's website displays the bannertext "Safari Club International is the Leader in Protecting the Freedom to Hunt and Promoting Wildlife Conservation Worldwide".
Safari Club International Foundation, the 501 (c) 3 branch of SCI, funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian services. The organization has taken a stance against poaching.
In 2007, SCI elected a new president, Dennis Anderson, of Anaheim, California. Anderson has hunted in Asia, Africa, Europe, the South Pacific and North America, completing the "North American 29" (see below) in 2003. Anderson has reported hunting polar bear, ibex, gazelle, roe deer, wolf, Asian elk, bighorn sheep, rhinoceros, bontebok, rhebok, vaal, reedbuck, lynx, elephant, and hyena.
The organization's headquarters is in Tucson
, Arizona
.
An annual convention is held in Reno
, Nevada
.
of wild game were donated to charitable relief organizations. The Sensory Safari program allows sight-impaired individuals to get a “visual” perspective of what animals are like by feeling mounts, skins, skulls, horns, and antlers. The National Federation of the Blind
(NFB) asked SCIF to host a Sensory Safari at its annual convention. In 1997, the NFB signed a memorandum of understanding with SCI to host Sensory Safaris at all future NFB national and state conventions. Hunters who participate in the SafariCare program take bags filled by SCI chapter with medical, school, and relief supplies to clinics and schools to remote regions of the developing world. The SafariWish program is part of the SafariCare program, designed to give children with life-threatening illnesses a chance to go hunting. The Disabled Hunter program, through SCI chapters, provides sponsorship for hunting trips for disabled sportsmen.
It also publishes Safari Times, the news publication of the organization.
Every animal killed that meets the minimum score required for a record book entry makes the hunter eligible to enter the medallion program and is assured of receiving at least a bronze medallion.
s, cheetah
s, tiger
s, orangutan
s, snow leopard
s, and others) into the US for "scientific research and incentive for propagation and survival of the species." Because the animals were to be hunted, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the request.
1972 to allow for the importation of previously banned sport-hunted polar bear
trophies into the United States from Canada. In 2007, SCI testified at a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service hearing opposing the proposed listing of polar bears as a "threatened" species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
. The FWS is concerned that climate change is or will place polar bears at risk of extinction. SCI/SCIF argued that the science cited by the FWS speculative and incomplete at this time. Relatively healthy populations of polar bears exist in the areas where hunting is allowed and it said that sport hunting of these populations would provide funding for habitat and study as well as income for native populations. SCI stated that, "[...] [T]he U.S. decision to list will merely change the identity of those who hunt the animals from U.S. hunters to exclusively native residents[...]"
(HSUS) for supporting the hunting of endangered African antelope species at fenced "game" ranches in Texas and Florida and for giving awards for the hunting of big cats and leopard, elephant, lion, rhino and buffalo in Africa.
SCI counters that hunting can be an integral part of management of these species and provides needed funds for habitat preservation and enhancement. SCI, along with other hunting and non-hunting organizations, intervened in a federal suit where HSUS challenged regulations that allow hunting of captive scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle
and addax
. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) found that, “[c]aptive breeding in the United States has enhanced the propagation or survival of the scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelle worldwide by rescuing these species from near extinctions and providing the founder stock necessary for reintroduction. Sport hunting of surplus, captive-bred animals generates revenue that supports these captive-breeding operations and may relieve hunting pressure on wild populations.” As of February 2008, this case is still pending. In the case of black rhino, 83% of those countries represented at the 2004 CITES meeting approved sport hunting of the species in very limited numbers.
The tax code was amended in 2006 by the United States Congress. Current law allows for the deduction of either the market value of the trophy or taxidermy costs, whichever is less. The IRS code also now specifically prohibits deducting "direct or indirect costs for hunting or killing an animal, such as equipment costs and the costs of preparing an animal carcass for taxidermy".
, 2003. This book contains extensive details of SCI's annual conference. Scully is a journalist, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush
, and is an avowed conservative Republican.
In 2007, the New York legislature earmarked $50,000 of public funds for SCI.
International organization
An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...
composed of hunters. SCI has more than 50,000 members and 180 local chapters. SCI's website displays the bannertext "Safari Club International is the Leader in Protecting the Freedom to Hunt and Promoting Wildlife Conservation Worldwide".
Safari Club International Foundation, the 501 (c) 3 branch of SCI, funds and manages worldwide programs dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian services. The organization has taken a stance against poaching.
Leadership
SCI was founded by C.J. McElroy, a hunter who was eventually forced to resign his leadership role. McElroy has 335 hunted animals listed in SCI record books, including African elephants, Pacific walrus, southern white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, Scimitar-horned oryx, addax, hippopotamus, pygmy hippopotamus, dama gazelle, polar bear, African lions, Bengal tigers, wolves, leopards, jaguar and others. Some of these species have become endangered and can no longer be hunted in their native habitats.In 2007, SCI elected a new president, Dennis Anderson, of Anaheim, California. Anderson has hunted in Asia, Africa, Europe, the South Pacific and North America, completing the "North American 29" (see below) in 2003. Anderson has reported hunting polar bear, ibex, gazelle, roe deer, wolf, Asian elk, bighorn sheep, rhinoceros, bontebok, rhebok, vaal, reedbuck, lynx, elephant, and hyena.
The organization's headquarters is in Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
An annual convention is held in Reno
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
.
Conservation projects
SCI conservataion and education programs are conducted by Safari Club International Foundation, a non-profit organization "dedicated to wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian services." Although this foundation was set up by SCI and shares board members with SCI, it is a separate legal entity.Humanitarian services
Sportsmen Against Hunger began in 1989, and through the network of SCI chapters, provides food banks with meat from harvested animals. In 2006, over 250,000 poundsPound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
of wild game were donated to charitable relief organizations. The Sensory Safari program allows sight-impaired individuals to get a “visual” perspective of what animals are like by feeling mounts, skins, skulls, horns, and antlers. The National Federation of the Blind
National Federation of the Blind
The National Federation of the Blind is an organization of blind people in the United States. It is the oldest and largest organization led by blind people in the United States...
(NFB) asked SCIF to host a Sensory Safari at its annual convention. In 1997, the NFB signed a memorandum of understanding with SCI to host Sensory Safaris at all future NFB national and state conventions. Hunters who participate in the SafariCare program take bags filled by SCI chapter with medical, school, and relief supplies to clinics and schools to remote regions of the developing world. The SafariWish program is part of the SafariCare program, designed to give children with life-threatening illnesses a chance to go hunting. The Disabled Hunter program, through SCI chapters, provides sponsorship for hunting trips for disabled sportsmen.
Annual hunters convention
For the last 37 years, SCI has hosted an Annual hunters convention. In 2007, over 22,000 SCI members, and 1,000 exhibitors participated in the convention.Publications
The organization publishes Safari magazine, a bi-monthly publication that features hunting stories, issues affecting the hunting sportsman, reviews of books and equipment, as well as conservation reports. Safari also has a special awards issue, which honors trophy hunters each year.It also publishes Safari Times, the news publication of the organization.
Awards
SCI has its own scoring and record book system which ranks the biggest tusks, horns, antlers, skulls and bodies of hunted animals. Hunters are rewarded with trophies for completing a “Grand Slam;” a “Special Awards Issue” of SCI’s magazine is dedicated to this topic and those who win awards are listed in SCI’s “Record Book of Trophy Animals.” This book ranks every species of game animal using the SCI official scoring method. “Highest scores go to the animals with the largest measurements.”Every animal killed that meets the minimum score required for a record book entry makes the hunter eligible to enter the medallion program and is assured of receiving at least a bronze medallion.
Political lobbying
In 1979, when SCI was fairly new, it sought government approval to import 1,125 trophies from 40 different species (gorillaGorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s, cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
s, tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s, orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s, snow leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
s, and others) into the US for "scientific research and incentive for propagation and survival of the species." Because the animals were to be hunted, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the request.
Polar bear imports
In 1994, SCI successfully lobbied for a change in the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection ActMarine Mammal Protection Act
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 was the first article of legislation to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation. MMPA prohibits the taking of marine mammals, and enacts a moratorium on the import, export, and sale of any marine mammal,...
1972 to allow for the importation of previously banned sport-hunted polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
trophies into the United States from Canada. In 2007, SCI testified at a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service hearing opposing the proposed listing of polar bears as a "threatened" species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s. Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973, it was designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and...
. The FWS is concerned that climate change is or will place polar bears at risk of extinction. SCI/SCIF argued that the science cited by the FWS speculative and incomplete at this time. Relatively healthy populations of polar bears exist in the areas where hunting is allowed and it said that sport hunting of these populations would provide funding for habitat and study as well as income for native populations. SCI stated that, "[...] [T]he U.S. decision to list will merely change the identity of those who hunt the animals from U.S. hunters to exclusively native residents[...]"
Endangered species
SCI has been criticised by the Humane Society of the United StatesHumane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2009, HSUS reported assets of over US$160 million....
(HSUS) for supporting the hunting of endangered African antelope species at fenced "game" ranches in Texas and Florida and for giving awards for the hunting of big cats and leopard, elephant, lion, rhino and buffalo in Africa.
SCI counters that hunting can be an integral part of management of these species and provides needed funds for habitat preservation and enhancement. SCI, along with other hunting and non-hunting organizations, intervened in a federal suit where HSUS challenged regulations that allow hunting of captive scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle
Dama Gazelle
The Dama Gazelle is a species of gazelle. It lives in Africa in the Sahara desert and migrates south in search of food during the dry season. Their habitat includes open steppes, bushy, grassy steppes, semi-desert, and deserts, while their diet includes grasses, leaves, shoots, fruit, and...
and addax
Addax
The Addax , also known as the screwhorn antelope, is a critically endangered species of antelope that lives in the Sahara desert. As suggested by its alternative name, this pale antelope has long, twisted horns. It is closely related to the oryx, but differs from other antelopes by having large...
. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) found that, “[c]aptive breeding in the United States has enhanced the propagation or survival of the scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelle worldwide by rescuing these species from near extinctions and providing the founder stock necessary for reintroduction. Sport hunting of surplus, captive-bred animals generates revenue that supports these captive-breeding operations and may relieve hunting pressure on wild populations.” As of February 2008, this case is still pending. In the case of black rhino, 83% of those countries represented at the 2004 CITES meeting approved sport hunting of the species in very limited numbers.
Promoting questionable tax deductions
In 2005, controversy erupted over tax write-offs taken by big game hunters for donations of trophies to museums. IRS rules allowed only the fair market value of such donations to be deducted, but many donors filed returns claiming deductions at "replacement cost," calculated to include airfare, guide fees, taxidermy, shipping, permits, and all other costs associated with the original hunt. In most cases, the donations were worth only a fraction of the claimed value, and often accumulated in museum storage facilities.The tax code was amended in 2006 by the United States Congress. Current law allows for the deduction of either the market value of the trophy or taxidermy costs, whichever is less. The IRS code also now specifically prohibits deducting "direct or indirect costs for hunting or killing an animal, such as equipment costs and the costs of preparing an animal carcass for taxidermy".
In literature
Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, by Matthew ScullyMatthew Scully
-Speechwriting career:Scully worked as a speechwriter in the 2000 presidential campaign, and served as a special assistant and senior speechwriter for President George W. Bush from January 2001 to August 2004. He also wrote speeches for vice-presidents Dan Quayle and Dick Cheney, Governor Robert P...
, 2003. This book contains extensive details of SCI's annual conference. Scully is a journalist, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, and is an avowed conservative Republican.
Revenue sources
For the tax year ending June 2006, SCI reported $2.87 million in revenue from SCI publications, $3.17 million in membership dues, $205,967 in interest on savings and temporary investments, $75,771 from sales of assets other than inventory, $6.86 million from special events such as the annual convention, $156,014 from sales of inventory, and $6,089 miscellaneous income.In 2007, the New York legislature earmarked $50,000 of public funds for SCI.
External links
- Safari Club International
- Safari Club International - Conservation Efforts Home
- Video of an anti-SCI protest at an annual SCI fundraiser in Foster City, CaliforniaFoster City, CaliforniaFoster City is an affluent planned city located in San Mateo County, California, 94404. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 30,567. Forbes ranked Foster City #10 on their 2009 list of America's Top 25 Towns to Live Well. Money has also recognized Foster City multiple times as...
on 2011-03-05