Death of Zimbabwe’s Best-Loved Lion Ignites Debate on Sport Hunting

In defense of the money going to the Oxford researchers-I think they are a credible group. This link is to an excellent article and video on how lion hunting conserves wildlife and habitat in the Bubye Conservancy. The Oxford Group apparently runs a satellite research unit at Bubye. A researcher from there speaks for several minutes on the 30-minute video and highlights how valuable this type of research is because it more approximates the actual conditions that lions face across the continent as compared to research in the high-profile national parks.

http://theconservationimperative.com/?p=112
 
An opinion article that showed up in a local paper in Canada.
I am getting warnings to not hunt protected Lions while I am here from acquaintances and neighbours.

This is amazing me how people just take what is presented in the media and swallow it.

At least some are speaking out on the subject.



Cecil the lion and some inconvenient truths for North Americans raised on a Disney diet

Ian Robinson
Friday, July 31, 2015, 3:04 PM



Cecil the lion and the outrage
BLOOMINGTON, MN - JULY 29: Protesters of all ages condemn the alleged poaching of Cecil the lion, in the parking lot of hunter Dr. Walter Palmer's River Bluff Dental Clinic on July 29, 2015 in Bloomington, Minnesota. According to reports, the 13-year-old lion was lured out of a national park in Zimbabwe and killed by Dr. Palmer, who had paid at least $50,000 for the hunt.

Walt Disney’s got a lot to answer for.

I blame !#$&ing Bambi and all the anthropomorphic drivel that followed, like the Lion King.

That unfortunate part of the culture, more than anything else, seems to “inform” the view of nature held by effete urbanites who rarely venture out of doors.

So, let me weigh in on the Cecil the Lion controversy.

It was just another animal — and the outrage generated by its death is unreasoned, sentimental nonsense.

People who claim to “love” animals more than people are emotionally damaged individuals incapable of weathering the difficulty required in a real relationship with something that can talk back.

You think your widdle puddy-tat loves you?

Is that why if you leave the door open your widdle snookums heads for the hills and you spend the next month teary eyed, putting up posters begging your neighbours to assist in its return?

(Helpful household hint for Calgarians who have lost a cat: Save yourself the printing costs. A coyote already ate it.)

The guide who took Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer hunting told the British newspaper The Telegraph that they set up on a farm next to Hwange National Park. There is no evidence that Palmer — an experienced big-game hunter — knew anything was amiss. He paid his guide $50,000. It’s reasonable for Palmer to conclude it was just another legal hunt, conducted by a guide who has been in the business since 1992.

Reuters interviewed a guy selling used clothing on the streets of the capital, Harare. Tryphina Kaseke told the news agency: “Are you saying all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country. What is so special about this one?”

I dunno.

Cause this one made Jimmy Kimmel tear up on TV? (I guess it has been a long time since The Man Show.)

You know what didn’t make Jimmy Kimmel tear up on TV?

The estimated 1,200 Africans who are killed by wild animals, including lions, every year.

Or the fact that 10 times as many babies die at birth in Zimbabwe as do in Canada. Or that only 30% of the population has a job. Or that the average wage for those lucky enough to be working is $253 a month. Or that the country recently suffered hyperinflation, that in one month, was estimated at 231,000,000%

And no, that’s not a typo.

Some sources put the cash injection into Africa by hunters at $200 million a year … not including economic multipliers.

That’s big money for those folks. And it’s a lot of protein on the table when the hunt is done.

Lions attack humans when they get old and their teeth decay and need easy prey. Before they starve to death.

And speaking of elderly lions, how old was Cecil?

He was 13. Average life span of a lion in the wild? Around 12-15. That lion was already on borrowed time.

A trophy animal is, by definition, near the end of its life span.

Finally — and here come some of those pesky and annoying things called “facts” — here are a couple from a renowned conservationist and expert in endangered wildlife management.

Guy works out of Cambridge University and his name is Nigel Leader-Williams.

He’s the farthest thing from a trophy hunter. And yet the University of Washington’s Conservation magazine points out that in The Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, Leader-Williams noted that legalizing the hunting of white rhino in South Africa resulted in a jump from fewer than 100 to more than 11,000.

Why?

Because when the animal was monetized, private landowners reintroduced the animals onto their lands.

Leader-Williams also, according the the university publication, noted that allowing hunting of Zimbabwe’s elephants doubled the amount of habitat under wildlife management. Again, because privately owned lands were made available, thus “reversing the problem of habitat loss and helping to maintain a sustained population increase in Zimbabwe’s already large elephant population.”

Gee. Is there anything capitalism can’t do?

Name the countries that have banned hunting — Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia — and you’ll see an accelerated loss of wildlife and habitat not seen in jurisdictions that allow hunting.

That’s known as an inconvenient truth … but it oughta take precedence over the feelings of pampered North Americans raised on a diet of Disney flicks.
 
The thing is the bunny huggers don't want to hear hunting is beneficial, they want links to it being BAD and any time they can spin a story to paint hunters as bad people they run full throttle with the story. Their utopia of no hunters, will clear their misguided conscious.
 
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PRICELESS!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!
 
Let’s put the lid on wild tales of canned hunting in South Africa says Molewa, the minister of environmental affairs in South Africa - http://bit.ly/1IGjjRZ

Let’s put the lid on wild tales of canned hunting
SUNDAY TIMES 31 MAY 2015

The legal, sustainable use of wildlife should not be equated with illegality such as canned lion hunting, writes Edna Molewa.

SOCIAL media and local and international publications have been abuzz recently with claims that canned hunting of lions is taking place in South Africa in full view of authorities. The circulation of images of lions in cages or behind fences whips up emotions, effectively scuppering any reasoned discussion on the substantive issues around lion conservation.

At a time when the country is fighting international criminal syndicates involved in the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, including rhino horn, such stories serve to reinforce a perception, no matter how misguided, that the African lion is facing extinction in South Africa because of hunting.

I am regularly pressured on social media to “do something” to stop these allegedly wide-spread instances of canned lion hunting. But when asked to substantiate the claim, or provide evidence enabling the department to investigate, the tweets go silent.

There appears to be a deliberate strategy to conflate canned lion hunting with captive breeding of lions. The former is strictly proscribed; the latter is allowed, but strictly regulated and monitored.

The legal, sustainable use of wildlife cannot and should not be equated with illegality such as canned lion hunting.

Canned hunting is outlawed in terms of the Threatened or Protected Species Regulations promulgated in 2007, which form part of the National Environ-mental Management: Biodiversity Act. In addition to this, there are the National Norms and Standards for the Sustainable Use of Large Predators.

The legal hunting industry in South Africa is valued at about R6.2-billion a year. It is also a source of foreign exchange, job creation, community development and social upliftment. Sustainable use, including hunting, has played a significant role in the growth of populations of species, including lion, elephant and rhino.

A 2012 study, “The Significance of African Lions for the Financial Viability of Trophy Hunting and the Maintenance of Wild Land”, notes: “Restrictions on lion hunting may also reduce tolerance for the species among communities where local people benefit from trophy hunting, and may reduce funds available for anti-poaching.” The government will continue to support the legal hunting industry, as well as the legal trade in legally acquired specimens such as hunting trophies.

Prior to the drawing up of the threatened species regulations, there was evidence to suggest there was canned lion hunting in South Africa. Although some define canned hunting as “a trophy hunt in which an animal is kept in a confined area, such as a fenced-in area, increasing the likelihood of the hunter obtaining a kill”, it is more accurate to talk of “any form of hunting where a large predator is tranquillised, artificially lured by sound, scent, visual stimuli, feeding, bait, other animals of its own species or another species, or any other method, for the purpose of hunting that predator”. Some objectors cite the principle of “fair chase” — the notion that an animal has a chance to escape its hunter.

Again, the suggestion that this principle does not exist in South African law shows a lack of awareness of the threatened species regulations, which focus on the conditions of the hunt, as well as on prohibited methods of hunting. Furthermore, provincial conservation authorities have to be present on any African lion hunt.

Peddling half-truths and un-substantiated claims of “wide-spread” canned lion hunting is damaging our reputation for species conservation. Undeniably, unscrupulous operators exist on the margins of the legal, well-regulated hunting industry, as they do in virtually any sector globally.

It is unfortunate, however, that some want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, penalising legal operators because of the illegal actions of the few.

Would anyone, for instance, call for the entire diamond trade to be abolished globally because of marginal groups trafficking in “blood diamonds”?

The management of captive-bred lions is also regulated. There are more than 6 000 captive-bred lions in South Africa, and about 2 700 African lions in the wild. Of these, some 67% are well protected within national parks where no hunting is allowed.

All captive breeding facilities are registered by law. The animals are maintained in terms of well-regulated conditions and are a potential source for new lion populations. Some, including cubs, are sold to start new conservation areas of free-roaming lions, while others are sold or donated to countries — many in the developed world — whose own lions have long become extinct, and to zoos and private game ranches. Others are bred for hunting.

Hunting is allowed in South Africa, and forms an integral part of the government’s sustainable utilisation policies, as enshrined in the constitution. It is a concept supported by a regulatory system provided for in terms of national legislation as well as multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Although some conservationists and animal rights activists would challenge this, lions do in fact form part of South Africa’s indigenous natural resources, and play an important role as an income-generating species. It is also worth considering that allowing the hunting of captive-bred lions takes pressure off the hunting of the wild lion population.

Contrary to perceptions, the African lion is not endangered. The species is well-managed. However, it should be noted that it is an indigenous species listed as threatened or protected in terms of the biodiversity act. Therefore, all activities involving the African Lion, including hunting, possession and trade, are regulated through a permit system. This is to ensure this is done in a manner not detrimental to the survival of the species.

As the government we engage regularly with all South Africa’s main hunting organisations and have found no instances of so-called canned lion hunting. This is based on our own continuous compliance monitoring – and not on the basis of viewing YouTube videos.

Those who alleged the abhorrent practice of shooting drugged lions in pent-up facilities are called on to provide the Department of Environmental Affairs with evidence to enable us to investigate.

South Africa’s management of the African lion has been exemplary. The measures we have in place are designed to ensure sustainability and provide incentives for the conservation of lions. As a result, curbing illegal practices in the sector is our obligation as the government and the penalties for non-compliance are server.

We encourage all concerned with the welfare and conservation of this species to work with us in rooting out illegal practices such as canned hunting, if and when they occur.
 
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If you really think that this about some Lion, think again.

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You are correct, this is not about the death of a lion, or any other animal.

First, I would ask these a-holes if they ever served in the military, then I would tell them a couple of very selective four letter words.
 
Cecil's other brother Donald.

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I just received this in my mailbox:

For Attn: Adriaan Wepener

I noticed that you posted the article written by the Minister of Dept Environmental Affairs about 'canned lion' hunting on the Africa-Hunting website.

In her article she does not mention anything about the ethics or the morality of trophy hunting. The Bible regards trophy hunting as a sin. This is because killing wildlife merely as a 'sport' for trophies shows disrespect of Gods creation.

( check-up Proverbs 12 v10 and 27 ). For my own opinion

I regard venison hunting as the only type of hunting which can be justified.

This means that just because this government allows it and says that its 'sustainable' does not make it right. I can use an example as a comparison, such as casino gambling (eg: Sun City) which is legal in this country, but the Bible also forbids its practice. So I urge you to seriously reconsider your involvement with trophy hunting.


Graeme Siebert
 
For Graeme, I understand his quote of the Bible, but the Bible also says if the calf is in the pit, don't be ignorant. We can sit here for years debating the Bible, I would say 90% of the hunters/trophy hunters I know are Christian.
 

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