Texas may as well be a trophy hunter’s Disneyland. The state is rumored to have more than one million exotic animals on private hunting ranches, with many of them being African species. This is great news for many American hunters who want to bag a trophy but don’t have the money or desire to visit Africa.

And business is booming for many of the game breeders and ranch owners in Texas with the economic impact of the industry exceeding $1 billion and continuing to grow. On the surface, this industry might seem beneficial for conservation.

It is clear there is a lot of money to be made breeding and hunting exotic animals in Texas. But proponents also say there is the added benefit of private ranches serving as veritable Noah’s Arks. They believe the industry can protect small populations of endangered species and send them back to their native habitats to restock wild populations.

Unfortunately, Texas’ exotic animals only serve as ticking ecological time bombs. The animals may soon become invasive species destroying North American landscapes or transfer poor genetics and deadly diseases to Africa’s wild populations.

It is important to note the potential ecological damage these exotic animals could have in North America if they were to escape or be intentionally released into the wild. The only difference between these animals being idolized as “exotics” and demonized as “invasive” is when they get loose and start damaging native habitats.

Invasive species like feral pigs cause billions of dollars in damage annually in the United States. The feral pigs seen today can trace their lineage back to wild Eurasian boar released by hunters in Texas in the 1930s that hybridized with previously domestic feral pigs.

But it gets worse for hunters, they are also responsible for intentionally shipping them around the United States in the 1980s because they enjoyed hunting them and wanted them in other areas.

“One problem is that hunters are relocating pigs to hunt them and the territory is what is expanding so dramatically. They move slowly across landscapes on their own, so this is a human cause,” said Dr. Steve Ditchkoff, an Auburn University associate professor of wildlife ecology and management, in a Reuters article.

When we look at how poorly and inconsistently regulated the current exotic trophy hunting industry is, we must be concerned because of the story of North America’s feral pigs.

As well, the idea ranchers are breeding exotic species for reintroduction is pro-trophy hunting rhetoric that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Animals must be bred under strict regulations to increase the chance of successful reintroduction to the wild.

The industry’s lack of regulations has been lauded by ranchers because it makes it easier to breed for exploitation and, therefore, profitability. To assume industry members are adhering to strict conservation and reintroduction guidelines is simply idealistic.

To better understand this concept, we can use the professional athlete analogy. Wild animals are like highly trained athletes bred and raised to survive the sport of life.

What happens when we take these professional athletes and breed them for profit? Their offspring are no longer being raised in environments promoting survival of the fittest. We end up with generations of unfit offspring who are shells of their wild ancestors at genetic and morphological levels.

A combination of artificially selecting for individuals who are easier to breed and hunting for trophies is known to change the genetic make up of populations. But morphological differences also occur when animals are kept in unnatural environments and fed unnatural diets.

If these animals were released back into the wild, they would not be able to successfully compete to survive. There is also the worst case scenario where they mate with genetically-pure wild populations and dilute the gene pool.

Even if the exotic animals on the Texas ranches don’t make it into the wild, there are still concerns about the proliferation of deadly diseases if they are transferred to hunting ranches in Africa. Again, we don’t have to look far to find an example of the possible outcomes with chronic wasting disease in North America.

The disease is infecting wild deer species after being transmitted from captive breeding and hunting facilities. But deer in North America aren’t the only ones at risk, the disease has made its way to Europe and South Korea thanks to breeders shipping infected animals to foreign facilities.

Learn more about chronic wasting disease here.

There is not much stopping a disease like chronic wasting disease from starting in North America and making its way to Africa’s wild populations. All it takes is for one Texan game breeder to send infected animals to another game breeder in Africa and for those animals to come into contact with wild populations.

American breeders sending unfit animals back to Africa isn’t just a fear. It is a reality. Ranchers say they shipped animals back to Africa with the help of the hunting organization, Conservation Force.

It is a shame there are proponents of African trophy hunting who applaud the exotic hunting industry in Texas. The industry is a large risk for the health of both North America’s and Africa’s wildlife. We must take a deeper look at this industry and weigh the risks about allowing it to continue. What is more important, the short-term profit from killing animals or protecting native wildlife from invasive species and deadly diseases?