Jim if the money paid to hunt the lion goes to keeping the land available to wild animals and the game from being poached out by subsistence hunters then there is good being done. I would also think the legal number of lions allowed to be taken each year was set to a sustainable number.
This wouldn't apply to every legal lion hunt in every situation but it would tend to go that way.
I limit the number of quail I take out of a covey and the number of times I hunt a covey each year so that they will be there next year. I hunt private land. I would imagine all the people making money in the big game hunting business and the land holders would be interested in the lions being a steady source of income over decades.
Best,
Mike
