What are you talking about?

Trophy hunting is barbaric.

I am against it.

You can tell by my tote bag.

Look, I don't like it any more than you do.

I'm an animal lover, too, see?

This argument is really counterintuitive and, frankly,

kind of difficult to accept,

but I ask that you keep an open mind and hear me out,

because the evidence suggests that, in specific situations,

trophy hunting can really help endangered animals.

But how?

How can killing animals help animals?

Come here, I'll show ya.

(Adam) ...as read by Adam Conover.

Whoa! I'm an ostrich!

I am a frog man, and in Africa,

animals like these are in desperate straits.

Oh, my God. Can I finally talk to animals?

Do... you... love me?

Hey, no touching!

There are only 5,000 of us left alive, you know.

Ugh, I drink 50 gallons of water a day,

and I'm not as thirsty as this girl.

And the real threat to these animals

isn't trophy hunters.

'Sup? Ahem!

I'm a rich bro

who takes occasional hunting trips to Africa.

What can I say?

Kablammin' rare mammals makes me feel like a man.

(gunshot)

Meant to do that.

Judge this dweeb all you want,

but he's not why these animals are at risk of dying out.

The real threats are loss of habitat and poaching.

We're a criminal cartel

that systematically kills thousands of animals a year.

We cut off the horns and tusks

and sell them to foreign businessmen.

I shot Babar right through the heart, for money.

(laughing maniacally)

Poachers are organized, they're ruthless,

and they are decimating animal populations.

In some countries, rhino horn is believed

to cure cancer and even hangovers,

and sells for $28,000 a pound.

That's more than gold or cocaine.

(sniffs) Ahh.

Uck! That's awful!

Why don't the locals stop them?

Well, they're kinda busy, you know, living their lives.

Yeah, I got a family to feed.

Why should I waste time protecting a frickin' lion?

In his defense, I do eat his livestock on the regs.

Heck, sometimes I attack adults and children.

(gulp)

Hey!

And just as harmful to animal populations

is the habitat loss caused by farming.

These animals are literally running out of places to live.

So, some African nations came up with a plan.

They took advantage of the existing demand

for trophy hunting...

I would like to bazooka one rhinoceros, please.

...and used it to fund animal conservation.

Fine. There's an aggressive male who's too old to breed,

has attacked three people, and killed five other rhinos.

He's basically an ass(bleep).

You can shoot him for... $350,000.

Deal! This is what I choose to spend my money on

for some reason.

Here's your receipt and your

"I'm a Rich Jerk Who Shoots Rhinos" tote bag.

What the hell? He's gonna kill a rhino.

Yes, but we're going to use that money

to save more rhinos.

Say whaaaaat?!

Yeah, in Namibia, revenue from trophy hunting

is the main way they fund new wildlife conservancies.

And in South Africa, a portion of the proceeds

from trophy hunting is given directly

to local land owners, and that incentivizes them

to give the rhinos land to live on

and to protect them from poachers.

Hey! Stay away from those rhinos!

They're worth more alive than dead!

Breed, my little moneybags, breed.

But he's keeping them alive so they can be hunted!

Absolutely true, but still, this system works.

One-third of all white rhinos in South Africa

now live on private land,

and their population has gone from just 100

to more than 18,000.

I'm so confused!

You know ostriches don't really do that, right?

(muffled) I don't care!

It feels good.

Veronica, I understand that this is hard to believe.

I had a tough time with it, too.

But then I talked to Rosie Cooney,

the chair of the Sustainable Use and Livelihood Specialist Group

of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Whew! Glad I got through that whole title.

It's true, Veronica.

Trophy hunting can be a valuable part of conservation efforts,

even if you find hunting distasteful.

It's not the hunters running these programs.

It's the government agencies

or sometimes even conservation groups themselves.

The hunters' motives don't really matter.

The money they generate

can really help the animals who need it.

(Veronica) But how do I know the money

is going to the right place?

Well, that's a good question.

Like any program where there's a lot of corruption

or where things are badly managed,

these programs don't work well at all.

But that doesn't change the fact that when they are well-managed,

these programs can be a huge help for wildlife conservation.

In Namibia, for example,

100% of the hunting concession fees

go straight to the local communities.

It's been a huge success.

I don't know.

I still think that we should ban trophy hunting

and find another way to help these animals.

Sorry, but that's not a great idea.

Many countries are depending on this revenue to protect animals,

to pay the game guards, to buy the vehicles.

What happens if that money dries up?

It's very easy for us in the developed world

to judge how other countries should manage their animals,

but should it be our decision?

Or should it be up to the communities

who live with these animals every day?

Hunting is a really important source of conservation revenue,

even where you are, Veronica, in the U.S.

Hunting fees generate around $200 million a year,

which for many states is their primary source

of conservation funding.

If we banned all trophy hunting everywhere,

right now, it would do way more harm than good.

Bye, guys!

Yeah, thank you! Bye!

Oh, man. Fun way to travel.

(rifle cocks, gunshot)

Okay, stop!

I don't care how much good it does,

I hate that anyone would be allowed to kill an animal!

I just want to stop them from suffering.

Why is killing them the only solution?

I know it's hard.

We love these animals so much,

we can't imagine any benefit coming from their deaths.

It just seems wrong.

But you know what's worse than one animal

getting killed by a hunter?

Hundreds of thousands being wiped out by poaching

and loss of habitat.

The truth is, in some nations,

the regulated hunting of a few individuals

is helping to save entire species.

So, cute animals have to die... to live?

Well, I guess that's one way of putting it.

(ominous music)

(gasping and whimpering)

(shrieking)

I'm doing this for your own good.