Zoo, conservationists buy out hunting rights

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

PITTSBURGH, VANCOUVER –The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium and
the British Columbia-based Raincoast Conserv-ation Foundation have
each taken sizeable habitats away from trophy hunters with recent
land acquisitions.
The Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium announced on January 9 that it
is spending $2.5 million to buy the 615-acre Glen Savage Ranch from
Jerry and Iris Leydig of Fairhope, Pennsylvania.
“The ranch now offers hunting of whitetail deer, elk, red
stags, wild boar, buffalo and black bear. That will end,” wrote
Bill Zlatos of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Instead, the ranch
will become “an education and conservation center for breeding
elephants and other animals,” Zlatos said.
The Raincoast Conservation Found-ation on December 12, 2005
disclosed that a month earlier it paid $1.35 million Canadian (about
$1 million U.S.) to acquire the guiding and outfitting rights to more
than 20,000 square kilometers of B.C. coastal habitat stretching from
northern Vancouver Island to Princess Royal Island.
“Raincoast, with the six first nations that occupy the
territory, intends to put an immediate end to commercial hunting in
the area,” wrote Nicholas Read of the Vancouver Sun. “No one from
outside B.C. will be permitted to kill animals in the region for
sport. B.C. residents, who operate under different regulations,
may continue to hunt in the area, but members of the first nations
hope to see an end to that early next year.”