A new study reveals how legalized hunting of wildlife may not necessarily reduce poaching activities. Many worldwide governments and organizations resort to the legalization of hunting under controlled regulations to fight illegal hunting, however, researchers say that this approach may not be efficient in eradicating of illegal hunting trends.

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According to co-author of the study, Guillaume Chapron of the Grimsö Wildlife Research Station under the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, governments have succumbed to killing in an attempt to conserve wildlife, tin order to justify this act. In this new study, there is no scientific support behind this approach and so-called solution.

By analyzing data based on protection policy changes for carnivores in the United States, especially the growth rate of wolves, this helped them create a model revealing that controlled and legalized hunting already significantly affected wolf populations in Michigan and Wisconsin in recent years. 

More specifically, researchers observed slower rates in the population growth of these wolves, in a repetitive pattern. Due to legalized hunting, their growth rate only became 12 percent from 16 percent.

Researchers claim that there are no natural factors to consider, where they believe that the most likely driving force for slower population growth rates is due to poaching. They also observed that during the time when there are hunting policy changes, poaching activities even increased.

These new findings also suggest that the legalizing of wolf hunting also depicted a total loss of regard to the iconic status of the creature, of America's rich wildlife. These results also predict that the government may totally remove restrictions on poaching, which could mean a losing end for conservation efforts.

Apart from wolves, Chapron also says that those wildlife affected by legalized hunting are similar carnivores as well, such as the lynx, wolverines and mountain lions.

The most recent example of this threat is the possible delisting from the endangered species list of the American grizzly bear in the Yellowstone region and nearby states, which could lead to controlled hunting even if the iconic bear has not yet fully recovered, with only less than 700 individuals in the U.S.

This new study is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.

Tagswolves, wildlife conservation, poaching, legal hunting, endangered species, US, wildlife