African Hunting Holiday - I'll pass......

verhp11 (67)in #life • 7 years ago

Sometimes things run like they run. Last sunday when we came back from the soccer camp we had a birthday party at a friends house. When we arrived there was this cute young dog lying on a matras, not moving a bit, even not when there were a lot of people passing by. After some minutes I discovered it was the dog from an old acquaintance also at the party. I haven't seen him for a while, but when I found out the dog was his I started a chat about the dog. It turned out to be a hunting dog in training :) He was 8 months old but already listened better than the dog's we had, have ever done :).

I know the guy being extreme when it comes to hobbies, and with extreme I mean there is no middle way to practice a hobby. With him it is always to the fullest with his hobby. When I asked him if he is going to practice hunting together with his dog he told me he already s following a training to become a hunter. In Holland there are strict rules for hunting (rules he told me which I have never heard of). A lot of people have their own opinions about hunting, and of course I do too but I wisely holded it for some time...

Soon we were talking some other guests where mixing into the conversation and the subject turned into the organised hunting trips to countries with many wildlife like Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and so on. My acquaintance told me that there is a lot of money involved in this business, which I heard sometime before already. He told me, with some kind of excitement, that you pay to shoot an animal and that you have to pay even more if you only wound the animal because people have to go and search for it... He thought it was a good way of hunting. I (I have totally nothing what so ever with hunting) asked him what is so good about it, he said:

They are hunting old animals
It is big business for the local population
Animals causing troubles in the neighbourhood, so the local people are supported with fighting these animals..

Perhaps I am to naieve , but I heard his reasons and couldn't agree of this being good reasons.

How do you know for certain if a animal is old, and why should an old animal who survided a lot in wildlife end his life as a 'trophy' because someone get's a kick out of hunting.
It's indeed big business but artificial, generated because hunters abuse (in my opinion) the poverty to hunt for fun.
Those troubles can be mitigated with the right tools...

I soon found out we weren't on the same level and would'n get there, so I left it for what it was...

Then Yesterday evening I was zapping the TV and came to documentary of 'Louis Theroux' , he is one of my favorite documentary makers because his subject's are often controversial or sensitive.. And that I like a lot because he show's things people really don't want to aknowledge...

The documentary was about 'African Hunting Holiday's', just the subject I talked about earlier with my friend....what a coincidence. In this documentary he visited and followed different people who were on a huntingtrip and the people organizing them. So i've learned (yes sorry, i am sometime naive) that businessmen created complete wilderness environment and breed wild animals just for the sake of hunting. The first few minutes I was stunned because I could't believe what I was seeing. Their guests where mostly Americans who paid a lot of money to shoot a certain animal, it was almost like choosing from a menu...

Louis Theroux does always show his subjects from different perspectives, so from the anti-hunting, pro-hunting and from the perspective of the people organising these trips.

He joined a land-owner in a car while they were driving around his land (filled with wild animals). The land-owner was also a veterinarian. Louis asked him how he could combine his work as a veterinarian (where he try to safe the lives of animals) with the organiser of hunting trips (where the goal is to kill people). He answered that the way he (and many with him) kept the animals is good for the welfare of the animals because the hunting is controlled and there is enough time for the anmimals to breed. This controlled manner stops the maraud.. One aspect I thought was kind of double, the veterinarian also had giraffes in his wilderness and he told that people aren't supposed to hunt them. He was attached to them because he already knows them all of their life...He also said that after some years the need for hunting is disappearing, he don't have any fun no more hunting... I thought it was a bit odd..

Thinking of that I thought there is something to it, because they indeed keep the species in tact and avoid them becoming extinct. Nevertheless I still can't agree upon the killing from fun-perspective.

Some minutes later he was on the road with a other farmer, this farmer breeded lions for hunting. He told Louis that his lions were the best because the don't had any scars, and lions in (for instance) zimbabwe do have them, so the trophy with his lions were better. He avoided the sharp questions of Louis and even got a bit angry when Louis told him that he didn't felt well with the killing of animals pure for fun..

Later on Louis had to try and hunt a animal himself , his argument was that he couldn't convict or defend something if he didn't try it himself. So he went with a hunting expert practicing crossbow, but finally when the moment was there he just couldn't do it..... I know for sure that I couldn't do it myself. It feels wrong, killing for the entertaining of people...

In one of the shots some guy said that we humans are the biggest predators on the earth.. I disagree because of the simple fact , we rule because we are smart, we have weapons and are (sometimes) ruthless... When we got face to face with an elephant for instance, without any tools, we were crushed...so simple is that.

I discussed the documentary with my wife afterwards, she said that is was a difficult subject because we also kill cow's for food... And in one way I can understand that, but at the other. Killing and breeding for food is also a supreme thing of human beings, but it still does serve a purpose... The killing of animals just because you can and for the fun and satisfaction of some killer instinct, for me is unacceptable.... Regardless of the reasons given.... And yes I do eat meat so call me hypocritical :)

Im currious about your thoughts about this subject, is it done or not done to hunt for pleasure?

There was a blog written by the organisation 'cannedlion.org' about the documentary, I think a great deal of my problems with 'game hunting' are wel explained in this post. The give critisism on the documentary of which I think they have some good points.: http://www.cannedlion.org/blog/louis-therouxs-hunting-piece-critique

Have a great day and!

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