Trophy Hunting

I think the idea of killing one animal to protect many more is understandable but still revolting. I have grown up believing all animals are as important as humans or any other species on this planet. All species depend on each other for survival and one’s importance should really not be questioned.

Trophy Hunting is a concept I had never really heard of before, and now learning about how animals lives are put up to auction to gain money is repulsive. The justifications given by people is that the money coming out from the auctions are all taken in to help conserve the animals better. I really don’t like the idea of this, one animal being used as bait, this wouldn’t be acceptable if done to humans, then why animals? And the fact that people are using this as a justification to go hunt animals is even worse.

In the very beginning of the podcast, they mentioned Cecil, the Lion, and how a dentist paid a big amount of money to be able to hunt it. Immediately, my reaction was anger mixed with sadness. I don’t understand the concept of how a person can be brought joy by ending somebody/something else’s happiness. I was angry about the fact that such a thing was aloud, why did the government allow such a cruel thing to happen. I was sad, learning about the death of the innocent creature. How could the government have made this legal? The animal was in completely good health and was important for Zimbabwe as a whole, but it was still hunted down. As the podcast went on, there were more examples of trophy hunting, but one stood out.

A highly endangered species, the Black Rhino, was put up for auction. The population of Black Rhinos at the moment is about 5000, yet, it was still auctioned. The explanation they gave for this was that the animal was old and could no longer reproduce, therefore, the hunt would cause no harm to the environment. This angered me further, an animal is being killed because it will be of no more importance to the environment? Why should it have any importance to be able to live? Such treatment would not be accepted for humans, then why for animals.

The bidder for the black rhino said something along the lines of how killing the animal would be beneficial for people, and for the others of the species. He talked about how living close to such an animal could be a nuisance and how that money he gave would help conserve more species. If people were actually bidding high money just to protect the animals and help conserve them, then why is there a need to hunt? Why can’t that money just be donated?

This podcast explained a lot of things about trophy hunting- why it’s done, and the different perspectives of the stakeholders involved in the topic, it was very informational and eye-opening.

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