by Abhaya Raj Joshi on 26 July 2023

• Nepal’s environment minister has suggested selling licenses to hunt tigers in the country as a means of both controlling the predator’s population and raising money for conservation.
• But conservationists, wildlife experts and local communities have denounced it as a “terrible idea,” saying it would endanger the tigers and their wider ecosystem, as well as violate Indigenous beliefs.
• Researchers warn hunting is ineffective and unnecessary as a means of reducing human-tiger conflict, and that the tiger population may have reached its natural limit in the country anyway.

KATHMANDU — Nepal’s environment minister has suggested allowing wealthy foreigners to kill tigers for “sport,” sparking outrage from wildlife experts, conservationists and local community representatives.

Birendra Mahato raised the issue in a recent podcast interview, where he said he’d received offers from U.S. and Japanese hunters…