We have all heard the saying perception is reality. Hunters are experiencing persecution based on emotions, not science, like never before. But the truth is that hunters are the true conservationists.

If politics supercedes science-based wildlife management, we will have placed the death sentence on Africa's game.

Without the irreplaceable financial benefit that legal sport hunting brings to the rural people who live among the wildlife, the game will ultimately disappear, as surely as the human population swells to devour it.

As the debate continues between the anti-hunting community and those who believe in the "Conservation Through Hunting" model, the unheard voice is the rural African who must live among the wild animals. It is these people who are most affected when politics supercedes science in the management of wildlife.

Anti-hunters and the hunting community share a common passion... their love of wildlife. However, the anti-hunter views wildlife through the nirvana-like bubble of national parks. The harsh reality is the vast majority of Africa's game lives outside of these protected areas, a point skillfully made by professional hunter Paul Stones in this response