All-Star Viral Article

[caitlyn_the_camille]

Yes it is legal, but these animals are endangered! I am shocked at how many people are standing up for the idea of hunting amazing endangered animals that are fenced inside game areas. I am going to have to stop reading this thread because I do realize I am biased and I am starting to get very emotional.

I'm going to have to stay away from Facebook. (My town is full of narrow minded people who live hunting season to hunting season, and the article has worked it's way here.) Between that, those lotus pods being photoshopped onto body parts, and other general ignorance, I'm put in a bad mood every time I open it. (And the only reason I even get on Facebook is to see birthdays, but seems like all of them I see are from the day before.)


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

 

[Keep_Believing]

I'm going to have to stay away from Facebook. (My town is full of narrow minded people who live hunting season to hunting season, and the article has worked it's way here.) Between that, those lotus pods being photoshopped onto body parts, and other general ignorance, I'm put in a bad mood every time I open it. (And the only reason I even get on Facebook is to see birthdays, but seems like all of them I see are from the day before.)


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

I realize I can't run and hide from everyone who has a different opinion than me, and I also realize I can be too sensitive at times, but seeing these visuals and then reading what I take as positive support of these actions is literally making my stomach hurt.

 

[ErinS]

I don't really care how people spend their money, but I don't like voluntourism. "Help me fundraise for my trip to Africa to help the poor, impoverished children." Those kids that don't those trips don't have any experience. They don't know how to build a school, or treat sick people. They go and visit an orphanage and they pose for some pictures with some cute African babies and pat themselves on the back for helping out Africa.

Does 'voluntourism' do more harm than good? | CNN Travel

I really have to bite my tongue on that because I totally agree, I hate it a great deal... probably from an entirely different perspective though.

But my point was, visiting a new culture has never given me, personally, the desire to go back a shoot animals...or destroy parts of it. So I really don't understand why she tried to relate that experience to her desire to shoot lions and elephants...

Like if I go to a see a sea turtle laying some eggs on the beach... I'm not like....wow... what a great experience... you know what would be fun? Killing this turtle, posing with a picture and mounting it on my wall

 

[kristenthegreat]

I don't really care how people spend their money, but I don't like voluntourism. "Help me fundraise for my trip to Africa to help the poor, impoverished children." Those kids that don't those trips don't have any experience. They don't know how to build a school, or treat sick people. They go and visit an orphanage and they pose for some pictures with some cute African babies and pat themselves on the back for helping out Africa.

Does 'voluntourism' do more harm than good? | CNN Travel

I read an article similar to the one you posted once. It was about a girl who said most 'voluntourism/savior complex' trips are ill-advised. How it was stupid for them to be there (I think she was in Africa?) building houses and the like- because at nightfall when they were asleep, the company would actually go in with builders and FIX all the errors/mistakes the kids had made during construction. Which is a waste of time, manpower and resources. I can imagine wanting to go in an physically make an impact (versus as the above article says- rattling coins in a jar back home)...but if you're doing more harm than good, then what?

On the hunting thing- my roommate has VERY strong gun views, as she's from Texas. Her family grew up poor, and they often hunted to bring in what might be the only meat they'd have that week. I get hunting for overpopulation (although I wish they could just redirect the population somewhere it might actually be dwindling- it's expensive, I understand). I get hunting for food, safety/self-defense. Just when it comes to endangered species- nope. Sorry.

Oddly enough- there are some species of American deer that are on the threatened list. Quite a number too, as well as alligators and crocodiles.

 

[DaniV]

BUT what really rubs me off the wrong way are the pictures, she's taking of herself and the dead animals. If she has any respect for nature and is truly interested in securing wildlife, she wouldn't pose this arrogantly and disrespectfully with the animals she just killed.

Posing with your hunted game is part of the hunting culture. I don't know how many friends you have that hunt deer or turkeys locally, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of them take a picture posing with their deer, the rack, or whatever animal they just shot. We don't see it as disrespectful of the animal or arrogrant... it's normal. Now, for me at least when I bag my first buck this year, I will be taking a picture because I'm proud of the meat I just gathered to EAT. I'm proud of my ability to provide food and of my ability to hunt. Her's is probably more to build a resume (hence the make-up and glamor look) for her TV show next year.

 

[Keep_Believing]

This is an e mail from Candace who has dedicated her time and energy to try and protect endangered species
"It’s really sad that one has to explain why killing an endangered animal is bad in the first place. Yes, elephant populations are rising in Zimbabwe. Great! They are endangered elsewhere. If it’s becoming a problem, they should collect the money that the poachers received from their ivory sales and transport a few full heards to areas where elephants are scarce. Additionally, it’s sick that people consider canned hunts, “hunting”. That’s the equivalent of hunting your own dog in the backyard. These animals are accustomed to humans, lack fear, and can’t escape from the fences that are holding them in. So, at the end of the day what you get is some sick masochistic human that needs to KILL something big to make themselves feel big and powerful. It’s for the psychologically disturbed. For the proponents on eating the elephant carcass - shame on you. Elephants aren't really for eating - even if they were plentiful. The meat I’ve heard is not at all something you would want to put in your mouth. And how about instead of paying roughly $20,000 to kill big game, you donate those funds to help those villagers create a sustainable farm with goats, vegetables they can cultivate, and hell, I don’t know, build a well so they can have clean drinking water which is extremely hard to come by in most countries in Africa! It’s not rocket science, but you can see, the only thing fueling this sickening “sport” is selfish ego. One last thing, if this person is trying to pass off her murders as giving back to the villagers in some way, she and they may want to consider that elephants play a very vital role in the “landscaping” in Africa and Asia, and there are certain trees and plants that can only reproduce after being passed through the stomach of an elephant. So, while she’s helping to destroy the last of our Africa’s beautiful fauna, she’s also helping to kill flora for many future generations. But let’s not get started on erosion, global warming, and such.

Best
Candace"

 

[youbetterwork]

I feel nauseous watching her pictures.

 

[kristenthegreat]

According to wikipedia:
Poaching has traditionally been defined as the illegal hunting, killing or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. In 1998, environmental scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst proposed the concept of poaching as an environmental crime, defining any activity as illegal that contravenes the laws and regulations established to protect renewable natural resources including the illegal harvest of wildlife with the intention of possessing, transporting, consuming or selling it and using its body parts. They considered poaching as one of the most serious threats to the survival of plant and animal populations.

So wait- although her killing that elephant is legal, her giving that meat to others to consume is illegal? Or is it ok because she killed it 'legally.'
Also fun-
Emergence of zoonotic diseases caused by transmission of highly variable retrovirus chains:

• Outbreaks of the Ebola virus in the Congo Basin and in Gabon in the 1990s have been associated with the butchering of apes and consumption of their meat.[22]
• The outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong is attributed to contact with and consumption of meat from masked palm civets, raccoon dogs, Chinese ferret-badgers and other small carnivores that are available in southern Chinese wildlife markets.[23]
• Bushmeat hunters in Central Africa infected with the human T-lymphotropic virus were closely exposed to wild primates.[24]
• Results of research on wild chimpanzees in Cameroon indicate that they are naturally infected with the simian foamy virus and constitute a reservoir of HIV-1, a precursor of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in humans.

In Southern Africa
The commercial poaching of white and black rhinoceros escalated in South Africa from 12 rhinos killed in 2004 to 946 rhinos killed in 2013.[46][47] Rhino horns have increasingly been acquired by Vietnamese people.[19] African elephants, lions, greater kudus, elands, impala, duiker, reedbuck, bushbuck, bushpig, common warthog, chacma baboon and greater cane rat are illegally hunted for the bushmeat trade in Mozambique.[48]

In October 2013 poachers poisoned more than 300 African elephants in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Conservationists have claimed the incident to be the highest massacre of animals in South Africa in 25 years.[49] African elephants continue to remain a high target for poachers and some researchers have estimated that African elephants may be extinct in 25–50 years in the wild.[50] Estimates of over 25,000 to 35,000 African elephants were killed for their tusks in 2012.

But yeah. I'll let her continue to justify it to herself.

 

[Jule]

Yes it is legal, but these animals are endangered! I am shocked at how many people are standing up for the idea of hunting amazing endangered animals that are fenced inside game areas. I am going to have to stop reading this thread because I do realize I am biased and I am starting to get very emotional.

I dont know if you're thinking that I was "standing up for the idea of hunting amazing endangered animals that are fenced inside game areas" because I surely am not. I don't nearly know enough about the species in question as there seem to certain types of a species that are highly endangered and others - that look alike to the outsider - that aren't. But again, I got all this off of skimming through some of the comments and google.

Posing with your hunted game is part of the hunting culture. I don't know how many friends you have that hunt deer or turkeys locally, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of them take a picture posing with their deer, the rack, or whatever animal they just shot. We don't see it as disrespectful of the animal or arrogrant... it's normal. Now, for me at least when I bag my first buck this year, I will be taking a picture because I'm proud of the meat I just gathered to EAT. I'm proud of my ability to provide food and of my ability to hunt. Her's is probably more to build a resume (hence the make-up and glamor look) for her TV show next year.

I know practically none anymore, having lived in a big city all my life. I come from the countryside where some people where into hunting but I've never an excessive amount of posing pics as this girl has on her page.


Anyways, I'm not trying to make a point, I guess, just trying to think aloud. I think, I'll be doing some research tonight. Any good (neutral/scientific) sources to recommend?

 

[Keep_Believing]

I am not replying to anyone specific. The whole thing just makes me really sad.


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

 

[cheerKT]

I've never been hunting, but I have tons of friends than go regularly. I'm pretty sure none of them go in full makeup with perfectly straightened hair pinned up to the side.

 

[getsum]

i never pose with anything that ive killed; i just dont get it. posing with dead animals, even if its a kill for food, makes as much sense as posing with a carton of milk or shopping basket full of food outside of costco.

posing with it as a "trophy" is beyond reasoning. seriously... w.t.fuuuuuu?

in case anyone is wondering what a man sounds like when he comes face to face with a charging lion after attempting to shoot the lion and fails...

a lion attacked hunters - YouTube

im surprised "mommy!!" didn't come out with that shriek.

 

[ilylauren]

Reminder: Why Killing A Lion Is The Most Cowardly Thing You Can Do Reminder: Why Killing A Lion Is The Most Cowardly Thing You Can Do

The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

 

[Keep_Believing]

Reminder: Why Killing A Lion Is The Most Cowardly Thing You Can Do Reminder: Why Killing A Lion Is The Most Cowardly Thing You Can Do

The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android

That article made me cry. I just don't understand it.

 

[laughAlittle]

I cannot ethically comprehend who could feel good and take pride in this.