When I heard the news that the last male Northern White rhino had died, leaving the species condemned to extinction I searched for images of trophy hunters posing with rhinos.
Surprise surprise I found a lot… a real rogues gallery of misfits and wannabe Cruella de Vil’s posing with their unfortunate victims.
It is fair to say this completely unnecessary killing spree, along with rampant poaching..has helped condemn this species to the history books.
So if both have played a part in this extinction event.. why is one legal and the other not? After all both trade in body parts, one for the black market, and the other for a currently allowed market. The same endangered species is being killed nonetheless.
Why are at risk species not fully protected? Why this loophole?Why is it not closed? Could it be because prominent members of our society, enjoy doing it?
Sadly Evil does exist. Unfortunately it is a part of the human condition…and both poaching and trophy hunting are a manifestations of this. Both totally unnecessary, planned, abuses of power. For what justifications could there be for trophy hunting, other than that people like to do it?
It is a sublime example of an abuse of power, because those involved in this elitist ‘‘sport’’ actively choose to use their wealth, in a manner that is Anti-Life. Think of the good they COULD do. Instead they use their wealth to destroy.
There is absolutely nothing “sporting”in the whole thing. Just abuse of power.
What about the conservation argument?
Trophy hunting is a rich persons activity. If they genuinely had any interest in conservation or the local communities, they would simply make substantial donations which could be used to encourage more life within them.
That donation could help fund the conservation work that is necessary, rather than lining the pockets of the many middlemen and people who are happy to facilitate this trade.
In this modern era, where wild animal numbers world wide are in extreme decline (as highlighted by the World Wildlife fund), there can no longer be any justification for killing for pleasure. It is anti life, anti social and unacceptable..
So what about the argument that they contribute to the local economies and help local people? Could there be any substance in that?
Well, could it be better argued that there is in fact an an exploitation of local people .. and that this act of unnecessary violence is not only against the unfortunate animal itself. It is also an act of violent taking from the local community.
It is a violent act of appropriation. Of taking something that does not belong too them. All very colonial.
Take for example the sad story of Cecil the lion. This impressive lion was a tourist attraction bringing joy to tourists and locals alike, and as a result he was an asset to the local community..
That was so until he was allegedly deliberately lured away from the safety of the Hwange National Park and then shot with a bow and arrow in the most appalling circumstances. The Culprit in this, was a American, who paid for a safari hunt.
The tawdry circumstances of his death, of how he was allegedly lured out of the park using the carcass of a hunted Elephant, are outlined on Wikipedia for any interested reader.
That act of violence was not just against Cecil, but against that local community. You could say he robbed them of a tourist attraction. Their most impressive living lion. He robbed them of part of their natural heritage.. He economically adversely affected them with one act of act of selfish violation.
Another more recent example was the visit to Scotland by an American self publicist. Photos of her posing with a dead goat caused widespread outrage in the UK. Again a pattern of selfish violation against a community and an animal.
A community can feel justly outraged when a visitor, a guest, abuses hospitality and imposes their value system, their acts of violence, on it. Trophy hunters do this. They abuse animals, communities, hospitality.
The same could be said of trophy hunters wherever they go in the world. For wherever they go, they disrespect indigenous cultures, they disrespect life, they bring pain and suffering, death and outrage.
There is indeed something very stinky about this whole notion of trophy hunting. It sees itself as an elitist sport and there are nasty undertones of a colonialist/ imperialist mentality.Just look at some of the photos..
The culprits are almost always white, rich types who seem to enjoy killing for no good reason. A mixed bag of unlikely looking wannabe Ernest Hemingways. A lot of the images are of women. You have couples, family groups, you name it, so long as they have enough money to pay to abuse.
All of them share one thing in common. They were happy to leave photographic evidence of their pleasure in having killed something.
Most are probably rich Americans. Many come from old colonial powers in Europe such as England. Many go to South Africa which was formerly associated with a policy of Apartheid (Seperateness) or other countries which have be adversely affected by colonialism
Look at the photos. There are a lot because on the whole they seem to be an arrogant bunch..They are almost always triumphant white faces. No wonder they are feeling pleased with themselves. They have just helped reinforce an old imperial/ colonial stereotype.
The stereotype of the rich colonialist who came, who saw, who conquered and took what he wanted, no matter what the consequences, no matter what or who got hurt,.
There is nothing glamorous in trophy hunting, nothing right about it, and it serves to reinforce negative stereotypes.
So why do African nations permit this hangover from colonial behaviour? Why do African leaders Still play a role in facilitating this evil trade?
Can they not see the irony that it is in fact a stereotypical and damaging image for modern Africa.. The rich white man with his now dead bit of African heritage?
Trophy hunting = Seperateness by largely rich, white, people from the consequences of their actions.
What would Mahatma Gandhi have made of it all? After all he is quoted as saying..
““The greatness of a nation, and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals…
The recent history of Africa is a sad story of exploitation by foreigners abusing their power and exploiting African resources.
From European countries making land grabs, resulting in artificial borders which continue to divide communities and lead to wars, to American corporations and the Chinese making aggressive land grabs on vast tracks of Africa to exploit it further.
The legacy of colonialism is a long one. The abuse of African resources/culture has been a constant theme ..and that abuse continues today.
The abuse of African wildlife by largely rich white folk is not so surprising in that context.
What is to me is…is that African leaders continue to tolerate it.
Its time to relegate Trophy hunting to its colonial past.
Help end it by supporting the campaign at www.bantrophyhunting.net
