Overview of Wildlife Farming and Ranching addition to specialized mesolithic economies based on selective hunting end perhaps in North America herding and supplemental feeding, some species were stockaded CR tethered in rather intensive prmiuction systems. Some of the most striking menageries were kept in the Old Kingdom of Egypt (2686- James G. Teer 2181 BC). Addax (Adda ~somocu~rur), oryx (Oryx spp.) and gazelles (G&/a spp.) W~ldcr Wildlife Foundorion were kept in the myal coutls, and were used in ceremonial and perhaps agricultural roles. Sinron. Texas From the ancient Roman Empire, full descriptions of enclosures stocked with ganx for hunting and meat pmduction come from the writings of Varm, Colwnella and Pliny (Anderson 1985). Private game reserves persisted from the middle ages to modem times throughout continental Europe and Btitah~. Although hunting increasingly became the ~remeativc of rhc king after Charlemagne consolidated his European empire in the 9th Century. game keeping was franchised to nobility and with tinu, to landowners. The zenith of wildlife propagation in Britain was in the 17th Century under the House of Stuat (Kirby Robert J. Hudson Drpanmenr of Aninkd Science a”d Kirby 1931. Kirby 1933). University of Albern This system of game husbandry, although effective in maintaining wildlife under heavy mmofuon Lwdus pressure, was considered aristocratic by those immigrating to Nottb America and abandoned in favor of public ownership and for awhile, open access (Tober 1981). The current North America” centralized system emerged (Geist 1988) from the inevitable This symposium covers the major policy issues asswiated with commcrcializatio” of dew&on that followed. wildlife in general and wildlife fting and ranching specifically. Our intiuctoty pqa is confined tu outlining the current status and Vends in wildlife farming and ranching in Canada and the United States. We limit ourselves to native and introduccd wild ungu- World Scene lates, and exclude domestic exotics such as llantas (faw peru~a). alpas (L P(IEDI) Game cropping and game ranching have continued into modem times with hunting and yak (Bos grunniens). However, we do include domestic reindeer (Ran&r mramfu.~) privileges. meat. brood stock and various parts of wild~animais used in medicinal con- because of the extensive nature of husbandry and their interactions with native wild Eactions being items of commerce. caribou. Commercialization of wildlife resources in Africa came atier European coloniratio”. Then is a growing number of books. conference proceedings and papers on the tieuw While endemic peoples depended on wild game for much of their food, its uses were and policy issues of game production in commercial and closely husbauded systeuts expanded by the advent of safari hunting by Europeans beginning in the early 19oOr (Burger and Teer 1981. Eltringhan~ 1984, White 1986. vo” Kerkerinck 1987. Vakiez (Blmkenship et al. 1990). Safari hunting was joined by photographic safaris and other 1989. Hudson et al 1989, Renecker and Hudson 1991, Renecker and KolaL 1987, Bmw” foruu of wildlife-related tourism after World War II; however, safari hunting has bee” 1992. Haigh and Hudson 1993). reduced in the last decade in many countries south of the Sahara. All uses. especially The game industry now is represented by a growing number of producer organilatious: wildlife-related tourism, an economically important to local and national economies (El- Exotic Wildlife Association, America” Bison Association, National Buffalo Association. ringham 1984). North American Deer Farmers Association, North American Elk Breeders Asuocietio”, Organized cropping of wildlife for local consumption and expolt was started in the Canadian Bison Association, Canadian Venison Council, and a vaiety of pmvinciai, 1950s with the pioneer work of Parker (1964) in Kenya and by Dasnumn and Mossman regional and state chapters of several organizations. F’mducer cmpx?.tives also ate in- (l%l) and Dasmann (1964) in southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Most cropping schemes volved in orderly marketing systems. organized on public (crown) land were short-lived or failed entirely (Gumming 1991). It is essential to state the definitions of game farming. game ranching and culling of ‘fhose on private lands have succeeded and are now flourishing in southern Africa For wild stock. I” its simplest form. game famting is intensive husbandry of wild stocks in example, although not all ~tre commercially oriented, more than 8.200 game farms “v- penned conditions. Game ranching involves free-ranging. managed wiidlife usu~ly MI eraging 2.531 hectares are located in the Republic of South Africa (Skinner 1989). private property. Culling is taking of animals from free-ranging wild stocks usually M1 Despite off-““d-o” criticism of the industry. cropping of kangaroos of three species- large blocks of public lands. the red (Mocropus rufus) and two grey kangaroos (M. giganrew and hf. fi/igi”osur)- is well-established in Australia. Kangaroo “teat worth 5942.ooO and skins work 59,672,000 were exported h-am Australia in 1982-83 (Poole 1984). Origins of Wildlife Ranching and Farming Farming and cropping of wild stocks of the green iguana (Igua”” iguana) (Werner Game husbandry has been practiced since ancient times (Hudson 1989), and it has “et 1991). capybara (Hydmchoew hydrochaeris) (Ojasti 1991). paca or agouti (Smythe been limited to the early stages of domestication of conventional farm livestock I” 1991). and cairnan (C&tan crocodile) (Thorbjamwso” 1991) are widely practiced in Central and South America. Most production. however. comes from wild stocks. and agencies choose to provide supplemental feed to free-ranging stock during winter. Only most is harvested in subsistence hunting. Annual production of dry, salted capybare meat New Mexico made provision for ranchers to fence large tmcts of land end then incor- averaged 4OO.CKXt kilograms on 53 ranches in Venezuela during 1975-1985 (Ojasti and porate the animals enclosed by the fences into their commercial hunting operations. RivenBlenco 1988). However. production from the 53 ranches was less than 2 percent In a mail survey of the 50 states in the United Stales and IO pmviws and 2 territories of the total value of capybata meat harvested in the state of Apure (Ojasti 1991). The of Canada concerning game farming end ranching. respondents reported fellow deer total value of the caiman harvest in Venezuela in 1987 was 19.017.072 (lltotbjamatson @ama doma). sika deer (Cervus nippon) and wapiti were the most numerous on game IMI\ famu Cre-~r 1991). other common srxcies of deer on farms and ranches included axis ‘77,,. The success of game famting pmbably is best known from New Zeebmd (Yerex 1979). deer or chital (Axis axis). and red dkr. While not repotted in the survey. it is known where the industry in 1990 contained over a million animals (Drew 1991) on mot-e than that some landowners have samba (Cerws unicolor), bamsinga or swamp deer (Ccrw 5.@30 farms developed since the early 1970s. Sales of antler velvet for Oriental medi- dwaucelr7. end musk deer (hfoschus moschfenu) in penned or husbanded stocks. cines, meat and brwd stock have been a powerful stimulus to an economically Bat Today, tbc economic value of the commercial deer farm industry in the United States agricultural indusy on the island. is about $1 million in animals (farm gete vahte) and another $54.8 million in facilities While Europe has been the primary market for venison end Asia for antler velvet, it excludbtg land (Barbara Fox. North American Deer Famters Association. pxsonel was not until the success of the New Zealand industry became known that intensive communication). game famGtg began to develop in other regions of the world. Taking the cue from New Importatioo of exotic animals is a growing practice. Ninety-eight petzent of the average Zealand. Australia Europe end now North America am developing geme-farming indus- of 700 bmw.locations of wildlife of all species made attnttaUy in the world was made in tries which have revolutionized pmduction of venison for P growing market. the United States and Canada (Griffith et al 1989). Of all the states. intrcdttctions end Hat-vests of several ungulates, primarily moose (Alces &es). red deer (Ccrvus sh- tmnslocations of exotic largemammals for the purpose of sport hunting are most ad- phus). nx deer (Capreolus capreolur). saiga antelope (Saiga rarorica) and wild boat (Sw vanced in Texas (Tea 1991). Ranching of large mammaIn produces important revenues scro/a, totaled 460,ooO heed in 1988 in the USSR, of which 134,250 were reindea to the owners. surveys of eF.otic largemammals by the Texas Parks and Wildlife De- (Kuzyakin 1991). Except for reindeer. these largely are culling figures from wild stock. pattment have been made et intervals of about five years (Ttaweek 1989). Numbers and The saiga antelope is receiving increased attention because of the decrease in its nwn- kinds have gtown from B few hundred atdmals in 1963 to more than 164,000 individuals hen in Kalmykia and Kazakhstan. Cropping or culling of saiga antelope in the Soviet of 67 species on 486 ranches in Texas in 1988 (Figure I). Union for meet, hides and horns used in Oriental medicines is perhaps the best known AlesLa’s reindeer are non-native. con-specific with caribou end classified as domestic wildlife cropping scheme in Eastern Europe (Bannikov et al. 1961). Upwards of 6oo.aoO livestock. The herd has bed a checkered pest. From an intmdwtion of 1.280 individuals were cropped in some years. in the late 1800s. reindeer numbers grew to over 640,RXl by the early 1930s (Dieterich However. the decline of saiga in recent years has greatly curtailed production of the 1991). Numbers declbttd to about 25,ooO in the 1950s becattse of overgrazing. paaching. species in the Autonomous Republic of Kalmykia and perhaps also in Kazakhstan. Poach- ing for the animals’ horns, overgrazing of its habitat by sheep and disruptiotu of its Table I.