I am not an “animal rights” person the way you probably thought of when I used that term. I approve of hunting, if the hunter intends to consume the animal (or sell it for such) and takes reasonable care to prevent it suffering unduly. I don’t have a problem with leather. I love my dog, but I would never dream of including him in a professional family portrait. I think if it takes choking off the water supply of tens of millions of people and causing a major agricultural crisis to save a subspecies of snail darter, then the damned fish should die. Getting where I’m coming from?
That said, I have a big problem with straight trophy hunting, and I’m not talking about mounting the head of the ten-point buck you shot when you sent the rest of it to the butcher. I’m talking about rooms full of weapons and taxidermy, where the only point of the entire endeavor was killing the animal and mounting it to prove you did it.
You know, I guess I always knew it was a real pursuit, but one just for assholes like Brad Wesley. Then, this week, I encountered a photograph of someone from my childhood gleefully hoisting the leopard from which he’d just snuffed the life. I saw another one with a dead giraffe sprawled all around him.
Now I don’t know this person anymore. I haven’t seen him in most of 30 years. But I know where and how he grew up, and he’s just regular walkin’-around folks, for the most part. And he’s into it. I’m having trouble processing that.
I don’t think I would ever get all the way over killing a leopard or a giraffe. I absolutely can’t fathom celebrating it. It’s hard for me to imagine anything admirable in the thoughts of one who would.
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Well, based on your description I probably know this person or at least know of them. I think i’d rather not know who it is. Our family went on a safari a couple of years ago and I really don’t get the concept of trophy hunting, either, especially after that trip.
Exactly how I think of it. I grew up in a family where my aunts, uncles and cousins all hunted and consumed what they killed. I’ve eaten a variety of game and have no issue with hunting or fishing. I just don’t get the whole hunting solely for trophies thing either. It just seems like such a waste.
Dave, Mirth, I could have gone a lot further with this post but pulled up.
Y’all know I’m pretty damned far from being a bleeding heart liberal, but that leopard photo especially just turned my stomach. I’m sickened that trophy hunters can tell themselves a story that makes that okay.