Zimbabwe park warns it may shoot 200 ‘surplus’ lions now that big game hunters are staying home

[Royal27]

I would definitely hunt a lion at a cheaper price even if I could not import it, legally.

I would just give it to one of the many people coming across the rio grande to bring with them. No one would check them.

Legal hunt without importing? Absolutely. I've been a vocal proponent of it on this site.

Have someone smuggle a trophy into the country illegally and on my behalf just because I don't agree with the current rules? Absolutely not. I couldn't disagree more wholeheartedly.

 

[Lrntolive]

@Royal27 I think he was being sarcastic. We have so many illegals that cross our border from Mexico that he was taking a jab at it.

 

[Royal27]

@Royal27 I think he was being sarcastic. We have so many illegals that cross our border from Mexico that he was taking a jab at it.

Hope you're right and I missed the sarcasm!

 

[Hank2211]

Well, back to BVC and their problem with surplus lions. I had said I was looking into lion hunts there, and would report back. Got the info today.

The trophy fee for a lion in Bubye is (all dollars are US) $42,000. In order to hunt one, you are required to book a minimum of 18 days at a daily rate of $3,000/day. That makes a total of $96,000 before you've hunted anything else.

I have to seriously question the veracity of what these people are saying. If you truly have a problem with lions, and they are going to have to cull them, it might be because they have some of the highest (if not the highest) prices in all of Africa.

So while I have little doubt that BVC is trying to "do good", I seriously doubt they have a real lion problem Or if they do, I seriously doubt they care to really do anything about it. Perhaps it's better to simply complain. But I suggest that they'd have the same problem even if the lion was importable into the US. How many lion hunts will you realistically sell at $96,000 a pop? Not 200, that's for sure.

Be reasonable, drop your prices to something a bit less insulting, and you might find you solve a problem and make more money. Or keep complaining. Up to you, BVC.

 

[sierraone]

Ok, I'll let my ignorance show once again. Who in the hell would pay $96,000 to hunt a lion? Hank I think you nailed it, something stinks here!

 

[thriller]

wow I had no idea that they cost that much there. Talk about outpricing the market. shame they would consider culling a better option than controlled hunting for profit for the park.

 

[vette447]

Well, back to BVC and their problem with surplus lions. I had said I was looking into lion hunts there, and would report back. Got the info today.

The trophy fee for a lion in Bubye is (all dollars are US) $42,000. In order to hunt one, you are required to book a minimum of 18 days at a daily rate of $3,000/day. That makes a total of $96,000 before you've hunted anything else.

I have to seriously question the veracity of what these people are saying. If you truly have a problem with lions, and they are going to have to cull them, it might be because they have some of the highest (if not the highest) prices in all of Africa.

So while I have little doubt that BVC is trying to "do good", I seriously doubt they have a real lion problem Or if they do, I seriously doubt they care to really do anything about it. Perhaps it's better to simply complain. But I suggest that they'd have the same problem even if the lion was importable into the US. How many lion hunts will you realistically sell at $96,000 a pop? Not 200, that's for sure.

Be reasonable, drop your prices to something a bit less insulting, and you might find you solve a problem and make more money. Or keep complaining. Up to you, BVC.

Maybe they think that if they complain to all of the bleeding hearts in the international community about their lion overpopulation and how, regrettably, they have to shoot a some large number of them there will be an outpouring of donations and support to "fix" the problem. Possibly they have calculated that if the get enough traction in the international press, they could get a large pile of donations headed their way for doing nothing.

 

[Hank2211]

Maybe they think that if they complain to all of the bleeding hearts in the international community about their lion overpopulation and how, regrettably, they have to shoot a some large number of them there will be an outpouring of donations and support to "fix" the problem. Possibly they have calculated that if the get enough traction in the international press, they could get a large pile of donations headed their way for doing nothing.

I have always held the BVC people in high esteem, based on the public information about what they are doing for wildlife, which is one (major) reason why I am a bit flummoxed by this whole thing. Without any other explanation though, it looks like @vette447 might be on to something. If you announce to the whole world that you have 200 surplus lions, which will have to be killed if nothing else is done, and yet you are (reasonably actively) discouraging hunting, could it be about the money? It can't be about the hunting - apart from the enormous cost, they will only hunt males. Seems to me that it might make at least as much, if not more, sense to hunt more lionesses than lions in a situation like this.

The request for someone knowledgable to explain this has been out there for some time now, and no explanations have been forthcoming. Seems odd.

 

[LivingTheDream]

If all else fails follow the money! I think you guys nailed it!

 

[Royal27]

I have always held the BVC people in high esteem, based on the public information about what they are doing for wildlife, which is one (major) reason why I am a bit flummoxed by this whole thing. Without any other explanation though, it looks like @vette447 might be on to something. If you announce to the whole world that you have 200 surplus lions, which will have to be killed if nothing else is done, and yet you are (reasonably actively) discouraging hunting, could it be about the money? It can't be about the hunting - apart from the enormous cost, they will only hunt males. Seems to me that it might make at least as much, if not more, sense to hunt more lionesses than lions in a situation like this.

The request for someone knowledgable to explain this has been out there for some time now, and no explanations have been forthcoming. Seems odd.

I've rolled my eyes at the "Cecil effect" from the first time I saw this article months ago. I don't like the inference.

Trophy hunting of older male lions not without a pride is NOT population control. So.... Tell me how that hunting would have helped with the excess? Uhm... hunting has helped to provide an excess.

It's as if BVC just suddenly realized they had 200 too many lions. Huh??? It's a fantastic success story, but it sure seems that the price is keeping hunters dollars away as much as anything. Something else definitely seems to be going on.

 

[tigris115]

Personally, I think they should just make some corridors to connect other reserves. Simple as that. Maybe there's something else going on.