Recently, someone in my ever-shortening list of “friends” on Facebook decided to make a comment on what she felt was a grave carriage of unjust behavior and actually made the point of vilifying the person seen in the shared article. She doesn’t know this person, never met this person, never even heard of this person until she saw the picture and glanced at the headline and decided to offer her grim retort. A woman in the picture was holding a high powered hunting rifle and was perched on top of a dead giraffe she had just killed. I can understand what people feel when they see this for the first time. It can be bothersome and even disturbing if you have not been raised around this mindset and activity. However, the ignorance and vitriol dispensed in the comments to this picture are nothing short of sheer stupidity, intolerance and rage; ignorance being the worst of it all.
It really seemed to bother most people that this woman had a smile on her face. It seems they wanted her to be plain-faced or sullen, to at least show remorse for the “damage” she has done. Those comments make no sense. It is painfully obvious that this was this woman’s goal, to take a trophy animal in Africa. I’m sure the cost associated with the safari, the license to harvest the animal and any other’s she may have taken and the cost of shipping home any mounts, skins or memorabilia was staggering. This money pays those that worked for her to take the animal, as well as paying the government to continue to fund conservation methods keeping the giraffe and other African game species thriving. The giraffe is not endangered, it was taken legally following all the rules for harvesting such an animal, and this woman was successful in her endeavor, why would she NOT have a smile on her face?
The ignorance in this is the fact that no one on Facebook knows the real story behind the photo. Because of the black market and the amount of animals killed for such small items as gall bladders, horns and reproductive organs, legally harvested animals are not allowed outside of the country or continent in which they were taken. Usually the meat and bones help to feed the poor and starving people of the region and many of the animal’s items go to local tribes for their lifestyles. The trophy itself will be taken to a taxidermist, mounted and shipped to the hunter. Much of this money will also go to the local government as well.
Trophy hunting is beyond what I care for, ethically; however I support the rights of the trophy hunter as he is doing nothing illegal and is most likely contributing large sums of money to assist in keeping the population of the prey species alive and well. I hunt for food. I enjoy the taste of venison, rabbit, squirrel, duck, elk and moose. It is my right to hunt. It is my right to feed myself and my family as I see fit. I believe many of the giraffe hunters critics would have been shut down if they knew the animal’s carcass was donated to the poor to feed them. Many hunters do that in this country as well. There are many programs where hunters can donate their harvested animals to food banks and soup kitchens and homeless shelters where they are readily accepted for their contributions.
This is an activity losing ground to less outdoor minded people and the more tech savvy; creating “The Great Indoors.” I will be sure to see my grandkids outside as often as possible and learning about nature. I want to see them in the dirt and climbing trees and riding bikes. If they see fit to hunt and fish as youngsters and carry that activity into their adult years, I will be ecstatic. We are losing out on those to take care of our fields, mountains and waterways as well as our fauna. We will also lose out on nature as a living breathing organism that gives us life. The loss of nature as we know it will be the loss of a civilization.
