Written by Justin Park|
Last updated
The idea that hunting is the best way to sustain wildlife populations can be a counterintuitive pill for non-hunters to swallow. But in the U.S. and Canada, that's exactly how we brought wild animals back from the brink of extinction due to the excesses of colonizing the continent.
Most American hunters are familiar with the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, which holds wildlife in the public trust as a shared resource and funds conservation largely through hunting and fishing. But Africa boasts its own wildlife success stories and the robust wild mammal populations enjoyed there today are the result of much different practices.
Dr. Robert Kröger is a South African-born restoration ecologist, hunter, and conservation advocate who now lives in the U.S. and has a global perspective on how hunting can sustain wildlife conservation.
Kröger founded The Origins Foundation to reshape public understanding of hunting and sustainable wildlife use. Trained in environmental conservation biology, wetland ecology, and aquatic biogeochemistry, Kröger spent more than two decades working in restoration ecology before turning his attention to storytelling and conservation communication via Origins. Through documentaries, digital media, and educational outreach, the foundation argues that regulated hunting and other forms of sustainable use can incentivize habitat protection, fund conservation, and support rural communities.
The organization has grown into a broader international conservation nonprofit focused on what it calls “telling the truth” about hunting and wildlife management. In this interview with HLRBO, Kröger discusses the organization’s ethos, the role of private landowners in conservation, and what the United States might learn from South Africa’s wildlife model, where private ownership and economic incentives dramatically expanded wildlife populations over the last several decades.
What is the Origins Foundation and what's your role?
We are a nonprofit public charity in the U.S. with a very simple mission: to convey the truth around the sustainable use of wildlife, which includes hunting. You can find a lot of information about the organization on our website, www.theoriginsfoundation.org.
My specific role in the organization is that I was the founder and now am fortunate to be the executive director. The board of directors asked me to become the full-time executive director in January of 2023, and we haven’t looked back.
If you had to sum up the ethos of Origins in a sentence or two, what would you say?
The ethos of our organization is that a rising tide raises all ships. We have no ego about what we do. All we do is look for people doing great work for hunting and showcase those efforts. Any organization in our space that’s doing great work, we will champion and shout from the rooftops about the work they’re doing.
What's the role of private land in promoting conservation and hunting opportunity? Most American hunters have an idea of the North American Model, but can you clue us in on the basics of the South African approach?
The South African wildlife model is quite simple. In 1991, the Game Theft Act of South Africa was put in place, which allowed private landowners to own the wildlife on their property with appropriate enclosure and fencing. That piece of legislation allowed wildlife to have tremendous value — in some circumstances, even more value than livestock.
Because of that, wildlife populations have gone from roughly 500,000 head in the mid-1980s to 22 million head of wildlife today.
We’re very proud of the successes of the North American Model, but what do you see in the South African model that we could learn from in the U.S., particularly as it applies to private land’s role in hunting and conservation?
There are obviously significant benefits to the North American Wildlife Conservation Model. It is a bastion of wildlife conservation success stories in the world.
However, the private landowner has a significant role to play in the North American wildlife model. Private landowners significantly invest in habitat stewardship, habitat protection, and habitat restoration all across the U.S. because they value wildlife. That investment, unlike the private land model of South Africa, is tied into the North American model and still works very well.
You grew up in South Africa, but your bio says you didn’t grow up hunting because it was reserved for the wealthy. Has that changed at all in South Africa?
The South African hunting model is a very unique hunting model. It is not a wealthy man’s hunting model. It’s very much a rural country model. If you want to go out and hunt for jerky — biltong — you can, and it’s not that expensive.
Not many people in the urban environment know or understand the role of hunting in wildlife conservation in South Africa. I’m fortunate to be able to go back to South Africa multiple times a year as a result of my job, and because of that I get to see places that very few people would ever get to see.
What I’m figuring out when I approach wildlife conservation across the globe is that when someone values wildlife, wildlife prospers. Whether that valuation comes from ecotourism, sustainable use, or hunting, it doesn’t matter. All you need is for people to truly value the wildlife for it to prosper.
However, there are a number of wildlife conservation efforts that do not actually value wildlife. They simply want to ban an activity they do not believe in — for example, hunting.
To learn more about Robbie, The Origins Foundation, and the South African Model, visit TheOriginsFoundation.org. You can watch documentaries and shorts on hunting produced by Origins on their YouTube channel.
Justin Park is a Colorado-based writer, editor, and avid hunter with a passion for the outdoors. He contributes to leading publications such as GearJunkie, Popular Mechanics, Powder, and Men's Journal, and serves as Editor of Wild Snow. Park is deeply involved in conservation and recreation advocacy, serving as Chapter Chair of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) in Summit County. He also represents RMEF on a state recreation committee focused on proactively addressing land use conflicts.