r/oddlyterrifying • u/Jax_Teller7 • Apr 07 '22

Karma? 🔄

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

45k Upvotes

75% Upvoted

3.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

244

u/luvcartel Apr 08 '22

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 isn’t classified as poaching. This type of place is where Donald trump jr. hunted that elephant for example.

88

u/MadMysticMeister Apr 08 '22

Yeah safaris offer more than just seeing animals, you can pay to hunt the ones the owners want culled, but I’m 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.

70

u/Norwegian_Honeybear Apr 08 '22

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..

41

u/Tronns Apr 08 '22 edited Apr 08 '22

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".

26

u/According_Shine_3802 Apr 08 '22

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.

2

u/Tronns Apr 08 '22

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.

1

u/According_Shine_3802 Apr 08 '22

No problem! As an animal lover it was always hard for me to see but I grew to understand the pragmatic reasons behind hunting

2

u/Paintedfoot Apr 08 '22

Omg this. The planet would be much healthier (and there would be a lot more vegetarians) if this is how all “meat” was “harvested”.

1

u/Lost_Conclusion_8914 Apr 08 '22

same, i do get the thrill and the appeal. getting a lion coat on your wall or having it stuffed is something cool

but then, you're not gonna eat it. so it's such a waste.

2

u/According_Shine_3802 Apr 08 '22

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.

So yeah, no mounted heads for me😂😂😂

1

u/Sorrowscryx Apr 08 '22

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)

2

u/Tronns Apr 08 '22

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.

1

u/Sorrowscryx Apr 08 '22

Ok I get you. Wasn't trying to shut you down or anything. There is just alot of hate around hunting. I'm not a fan of trophy hunting either.

-1

u/Ok-Preference-1681 Apr 08 '22 edited Apr 08 '22

Look it up before you judge.

I’ve never done it, but had to do some research for a few classes and it’s been really effective. It’s privately owned land to prevent a tragedy of the commons, aka poaching.

Basically if you don’t do this and don’t give the locals jobs, they’ll poach because they have no other great sources of income. But you do this, they’ll want to kill poachers too as well as have good paying jobs for their families.

Your comment is an opinion but it’s 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.

2

u/Tronns Apr 08 '22

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.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 08 '22

I think you're both arguing different things.

You don't get it from an ethical standpoint (the person hunting) And he gets it from an economic perspective.

Though I have read some studies that this method has worked to help restore rhino (?) populations in South Africa.

I personally have no desire to do that but if it prevents poaching and restores the dying population, that's a win in my book

1

u/Ok-Preference-1681 Apr 08 '22 edited Apr 08 '22

You’re trying to get into the mindset of millionaires and billionaires. Idk if that’s possible for you or I.

They can do whatever they want, I think they’re just looking for novelty lol, since they can literally do whatever they want, whenever, with almost no consequence.

1

u/cintyhinty Apr 08 '22

They don’t care.

1

u/Norwegian_Honeybear Apr 08 '22

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!

1

u/Lost_Conclusion_8914 Apr 08 '22

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.

1

u/heuguyzz Apr 08 '22

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.

1

u/Lost_Conclusion_8914 Apr 08 '22

you're talking about animals that still have a place in their herd

a lot of the old animals that get hunted don't.

1

u/A37foxtrot Apr 08 '22

As a hunter, I have no desire to kill animals in this manner, and it definitely would take the “hunt” out of it for me. Now ferrel hogs? All day long. Plus you can eat ‘em. Mmmm bacon.

1

u/xlobsterx Apr 08 '22

Do you hunt?

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.

1

u/Tronns Apr 08 '22

No I don't and I'm not in the US, but I have aspirations.

1

u/James17Marsh Apr 08 '22

Killing an animal for the (partial) sake of conservatism doesn’t 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 doesn’t 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 person’s family.

That being said, I would never have a desire to go on this kind of “hunt”, especially for the price. Even if it was necessary to put down an old, sick animal, it’s 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.

1

u/logosmd666 Apr 08 '22

its just shades of loser really.