As the debate on the ethics of 'trophy hunting' rages on, a new international study claims to offer a proposal that would sound the controversial industry's death knell -- by taxing tourists a 'lion protection' fee. But is it really time for the entire hunting industry to disappear in life's great rear-view mirror?

When it comes to South Africa's charismatic megafauna, there are those who hold that a wild animal's natural habitat is neither on a plate nor a wall. For some conservation and welfare groups, in fact, shooting high-profile or other species is abhorrent, and they worry the practice is damaging South Africa's economy, even though the hunting industry may generate a rough spending stimulus of about US$180-million (R3.4-billion) a year.

It might even be more, or less, than that, depending on who one speaks to.

Yet, a new open-access study proposes an ambitious plan: a "modest lion protection fee" charged to international tourists -- whether from overseas or other parts of Africa. The idea is to replace the money made by the recreational hunts of mostly large mammals -- "trophy hunting" -- by paying the hunters and their staff to go away, or to move to hands-off wildlife tourism such as photo safaris.

The joint peer-reviewed study, co-led by Pretoria University and World Animal Protection, a welfare NGO, said they had found "universally strong" support for a levy of up to $7 a day.

It also "revealed a desire to finance the protection of the nation's iconic wildlife through paying...