Wildlife Ownership and Conservation

I received a survey recently from a South African University that was investigating world wide perceptions of their "game ranch" industry.  I hope to see the results of that survey some day.

I'm not sure how many people are aware of the philosophy that underpins most of the wildlife conservation laws in the US.  Here is a summary of that model written by the Boone and Crocket Club.  The North American Model Of Wildlife Conservation

I witnessed a different approach when we went to South Africa.  I stumbled across this article recently that describes some of the practices there.
South African Wildlife Ranching

Not sure that there is a right or wrong.  I much prefer wild, free ranging, naturally occurring.  But you can't argue with the success of South Africa preserving and growing populations that would otherwise be depleted/extinct.  The extremes of the SA game ranching approach - breeding genetic oddities for trophy hunting, "put and take" lion hunting, etc are too much for me.  Not sure where the line should be drawn. 

To a degree, even QDMA practices are "game ranching". And US State Wildlife Department quotas and seasons are "game management".   Some people argue that the extirpation of predators that occurred in most civilized/agricultural areas over history is the same thing (hence reintroduction of wolves, etc).  I suppose that I'll vote my opinion by what I choose to participate in.  I will always favor wild free-ranging versus high fenced and managed.  But I'm afraid that over time, there will be less and less wild and free-ranging.