Jack and DP said:
cms186 said:
Jack and DP said:
cms186 said:
Shippou said:
I'm not a fan of trophy hunting endangered animals. I don't care about people hunting for sustenance or taking care of animals that have destroyed their property(wild pigs, coyotes, etc.)
But there's something about going across the globe and shooting animals that may not be around in 20-50 years that irks me.
Just my two sense, I don't give a damn about the nra or anything, I just like animals.
I feel the same, if you're going to kill an animal for food or its causing damage to your property in some way then fine, but trophy killing, especially for harmless animals (relatively) like Elephants (which are endangered) then i dont really get the point, i mean, Mrs LaPierre shouted "Victory" after sawing off an elephants tail, Victory? over what? a large, slow, defenceless target?
Endangered?
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/25/africa/zimbabwe-elephants-for-sale-intl/index.html
yes, endangered: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/181008073/181022663
Not endangered
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=200104722
https://www.krugerpark.co.za/krugerpark-times-2-2-elephant-overpopulation-19037.html
https://www.voanews.com/africa/botswana-repatriate-elephants-angola-reduce-overpopulation
Exactly. Opponents of hunting & guns love to employ the false dilemma.
being on the endangered species list, subject to CITES controls, does not not mean "endangered everywhere." Elephant populations are a small percentage of what they were 200 years ago, mostly due to loss of habitat. In some areas, they have disappeared and have no chance of recovery (habitat loss). In others, they have suitable habitat, but difficulty holding on for numerous reasons. And, in some areas, they are actually overpopulated.
The elephant I took was from a herd of 10 that left the Zambezi River valley due to culling pressure. That's right. Culling operations. The government of Zimbabwe was using game department employees to cull elephant herds in order to protect existing habitat in government parks & hunting concesssions. (Overpopulated elephants destroy forest & scrub habitat in ways that take decades to recover, unlike grasslands which recover annually from overpopulated plains game). Ten young bulls left the valley and entered a well developed commercial farming area, doing much damage to farm infrastructure (that generated hard currency to a nation starved for it), to include garden plots of farm employees. So the local game management council sold hunts for small amounts to make the elephants "pay their way...." the money generated being used to repair elephant damage. The intention was that aspiring professional hunters would get a chance to earn their ratings on dangerous game without having to bid for game in commercial hunting concessions against wealthy foreigners. I shot the second one taken. The next day, they were gone back to the Zambezi Valley. So the process worked exactly as planned. Two elephants taken, to the tune of about $4000ZD (About USD 8k at the time) in trophy fees (10% of market price), plus the value of all the meat (fed to locals.) I sold the skin for $1400. Net cost to me = $600. And it happened in the long grass. For the last 100 years, elephant range has been constricted to the scrub and forested areas of Southern Africa. The Zim farmer who was my rated hunter for the hunt was quite nostalgic about that. "Do you know how long it's been since a wild elephant was taken in the long grass?"
The are many parts of Africa where elephants are so numerous they pose a problem.