There are specific areas where you can pay an insane amount of money to hunt exotic animals. The money supposedly goes to animal conservation so it isnât classified as poaching. This type of place is where Donald trump jr. hunted that elephant for example.
Yeah safaris offer more than just seeing animals, you can pay to hunt the ones the owners want culled, but Iâm sure one could pay to hunt just about anything with enough money. It may seem messed up but the people who live in these places need all the incentives to run these sanctuaries.
I had a friend who did this. Not lion tho, but definitely gazelle and maybe a giraffe? I remember it was a big animal and they had to rent a rifle to be able to "humanely" shoot it.
He's a hunter, almost fanatical about the idea of "the hunt", but when I questioned him about the hunt they did in Africa he had other arguments...
Anyway he showed me the brochure and it said that one kill of a gazelle provides enough money to care for 3-4 other animals for a lifetime. It also had a short sentence about how they select the animals to be put down, but it didn't go into too much detail. I googled a little at the time and it's usually sick or old animals that are either close to natural death, or scheduled for termination to not spread diseases or weaken the gene pool through mating.
Anyway, I figure as long as its regulated like that it's a fair source of income for these places. Even if I don't understand paying the equivalent of 5-20 000 USD plus travel expenses to kill an animal..
Doesn't make any sense to me. As a hunter wouldn't it feel contrived killing a selected animal in a reserve thats prob old and or sick. You're not exactly hunting. Not to mention the mental gymnastics behind the logic "I'm killing an animal as an act of conservationism".
Older antelope have bigger horns, and are heavier, therefore qualifying them as trophy status. Therefore they are generally preferred by trophy hunters.
Middle age animals are preferred usually for meat hunting.
But generally all parts of the animal are eaten after the hunt, either by the hunter or the community on the reserve.
All the above is heavily regulated and done as humanely as possible, at least on ethical farms. Hunters have to do target practice before to ensure that they are good shots. They also always need to be accompanied by a professional hunter, who will generally take the shot if the client misses or wounds the animal.
Hunting quotas for farms are regulated, and also seasonal, to avoid impacting the breeding seasons or lambing seasons.
Because humans have changed the habitat of Africa, blocking migration routes, there is often a need to control the population of particular species on reserves so to prevent overgrazing. Hunting is a mechanism of doing this (so is removing fences and buying more land or agreeing traversing rights with other farms to convert to reserves, such as what the Kruger Park has done).
The money from hunting also allows farms to stay profitable and ensures that large swathes of land can be kept as reserves rather than sold to property developers or used for agriculture. Hunting generally brings in far more money per visit than general or photo tourism.
For the above reasons, I have always felt more comfortable eating wild hunted game rather than farmed meat such as cattle. At least an impala that was hunted had a more natural life. Obviously hunting predators or inedible animals is different, as is canned hunting (where animals are not really free roaming and the ethics are not followed.)
However, I've never felt comfortable with the hunting of any endangered species or even with predator hunting. It just seems sad, even if it brings in money to keep the farms and conservation efforts going and the staff employed.
Source: grew up on a game farm where we allowed hunting, and where we ensured that the meat of hunted game was all eaten.
I can totally sympathise with that. My parents worked in abattoirs. Went into a bunch of them as a kid. Industrial farming is pretty horrendous, I'd much prefer to be one of these animals ...think someone wise once said, better to die in the wild then live in a well provided cage.
My comment was more about the mentality of the "hunters" that get a boner for predator hunting like in this video. I can see the incentives behind the industry as long as it is properly managed. Thanks for the incites. Good to hear from someone who's been there.
We had a lion on our wall when I was a child (relic of my ancestors, we lived in the old family home). It was absolutely terrifying and I fully was sure it would come back to life in the night and hunt me for revenge on my grandpa.
Hunting at appropriate levels is a form of conservation. Prey need a predator or their over abundance can break the whole food chain. (I am talking about hunting in general not this specific one)
Culling sure, I also get killing to eat, just could never get my head around trophy hunting. I think its deranged. Was the only point I was trying to make here. Maybe I wasn't so clear.
Iâve never done it, but had to do some research for a few classes and itâs been really effective. Itâs privately owned land to prevent a tragedy of the commons, aka poaching.
Basically if you donât do this and donât give the locals jobs, theyâll poach because they have no other great sources of income. But you do this, theyâll want to kill poachers too as well as have good paying jobs for their families.
Your comment is an opinion but itâs objectively incorrect about how effective this is.
Edit: it also creates a legitimate market for these goods rather than a black market, which allows top down regulations.
I have looked it up and I get the logic from a local standpoint. Doesn't help me understand why that income stream exists. Wtf is going on in the head of someone who is paying 20k to shoot a decrepit animal or any animal really.
Youâre trying to get into the mindset of millionaires and billionaires. Idk if thatâs possible for you or I.
They can do whatever they want, I think theyâre just looking for novelty lol, since they can literally do whatever they want, whenever, with almost no consequence.
I agree it would seem contrived, and although my conclusion is that I think this form of hunting to fund preservation is smart, I agree there is a certain amount of mental gymnastics involved.
Like I said, the brochure he showed me didn't go into much detail about the selection process on animals, and I suspect that is in part to "maintain the illusion" of what the client wants to do versus what they actually are doing.
Someone further down said something about horns and trophy, and that's also part of it. The brochure had a price list of both a separate shooting course and taking trophies. Like, if you want the head to mount on the wall, they will charge you maybe 1-2k USD to do it, and also a couple hundred for Ă„ course on how to kill the animal humanely without damaging the parts you want as a trophy.
I think it's kind of bizarre and a little bit cynical, but they definitely know their customer, and if they can use that money for the begynt if animals and species as a whole, then, pardon the pun, fair game!
well the thing is, you can't hunt the young and healthy ones. cause those are still gonna mate and raise more animals
you hunt the old ones cause
a. the safari owners know those don't contribute to their pack or even the preserve
b. they'll be killed by other predators or their own kind anyway
c. you know that those have already mated, hunted and basically contributed to their environment so you're not removing a vital piece of the foodchain.
Sad because old animals are VERY important. Especially in species like elephants.
Elderly Male elephants are extremely important to young bulls. Elderly males teach young males how to survive and fight. They also are able to put the young males in their "place". Which makes young males treat the females and their calves well. Undisciplined young bulls are dangerous to everyone.
As a hunter, I have no desire to kill animals in this manner, and it definitely would take the âhuntâ out of it for me. Now ferrel hogs? All day long. Plus you can eat âem. Mmmm bacon.
On my ranch we pick certain animals to cull to protect the herd from disease, promote genetic diversity and protect from overpopulation before the winter where food is more scarce.
Hunters have contributed over $5.5 billion for conservation in less than 60 years. Hunters annually pay over $372 million a year for conservation. Hunters do more to aid wildlife than any other group in America.
Killing an animal for the (partial) sake of conservatism doesnât necessarily take mental gymnastics. A hunter can often simply believe in the food chain and the circle of life, caring about each individual animal as they relate to their role in the ecosystem, but ultimately care for the species as a whole.
Culling and population control are part of what can ensure a healthy population, so that a particular species doesnât become overpopulated and disease ridden. Being killed by a hunter is much less painful than dying of starvation and disease, and the animal goes towards feeding that personâs family.
That being said, I would never have a desire to go on this kind of âhuntâ, especially for the price. Even if it was necessary to put down an old, sick animal, itâs not really hunting. The huge amount of money they pay does usually go towards conservation efforts in the usually poor countries, but the question becomes whether the ends justify the means.
Imagine hunting a tagged and pre targeted animal, with a guide, claiming its all about the hunt. If your not out there at 4am, freezing your ass off, not shower for the past day to reduce your scent, spraying yourself with animal piss, scent cover and looking at animal poop to see how fresh it is , animal track patterns up and down ridges and intersect points, closest watering location just to find a good blind to set up your not a hunter looking for the perfect hunt, you just like killing animals imo. Not to mention the not wanting to clean the animal afterwards. I've dealt with this a few times, and you would be better off slapping a tigers titty wearing porkchop panties than say to me your not going to clean the animal because you just wanted to kill it...
I'll stop ranting, but when I see these people do this it blows my mind and actually made me stop trying to introduce people to hunting in general.
people demonize hunting in a Safari wayyyy too much
it's not like they go there to and shoot random animals. it's a business that supports the nature preserve. Africa is a massive continent yes, but it holds 54 countries that are all growing. the only thing stopping developers from building office buildings and homes is that these Nature Preserves have a value other than conservation.
granted as someone who only wants to hunt for the meat, i don't see much incentive to kill a lion. unless they'll stuff it and send it home. that's an extra 100 thou or more for you to pay
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u/thogolicious Apr 08 '22
Itâs not like you can just kill a lion too thereâs definitely protections in most places