- ABC News
- July 19, 2018
Texas ranch: Hunting exotics helps conservation
With its rolling hills, lush vegetation and sunlit canopies, the Ox Ranch looks like a scene straight out of an African savanna. The 18,000-acre preserve is home to 60 species of the world's most majestic animals, from giraffes and Cape buffalo to wildebeests and gazelles. Some of the species are threatened and some are endangered. But this sprawling ranch, larger than the island of Manhattan, isn't in Africa. It's in Texas, and some of the animals are allowed to be hunted. "A lot of people just enjoy coming out and seeing the animals," Jason Molitor, CEO of the Ox Ranch in Uvalde, Texas, told "Nightline." "If you want to hunt, each animal, which is available to be hunted, has a price associated with it." Ranchers like Molitor and some hunting advocates say that hunting is actually a form of conservation. They argue that by killing a selected, few animals, they are helping to save the species as a whole. "I know a lot of people are critical because we do hunt and harvest the...