Fire, Ready, Aim!

A very good painter I follow, over on Threads, posted this picture with the words:

“Just a reminder to spread far and wide, don’t support Jimmy John’s. The owner is a terrible person who kills helpless animals in Africa. 

“I hate these trophy hunters so very much.”

My response;

1.  That’s not Africa.

2.  I don’t hunt big game or know this man, but his African hunts were all legal, bringing huge sums to wildlife conservation.

3. This is a massive American Mule Deer, legally hunted in Utah, in November 2023. Tag price: $500,000 going to state conservation. A similar tag for Arizona was $725,000 which directly funds habitat improvements and wildlife management.

Hunters are vital to American and African conservation efforts. The folks on the ground actually working to conserve wildlife know this. 

Learn more.

▪️For example, Botswana is way over-capacity for elephants.  It can sell shoots for $50,000 an animal to fund conservation, or it can start a dog food factory.  See >> https://theecologist.org/2019/feb/27/killing-elephants-pet-food-condemned

▪️Hunting licenses are a major funder of the CAMPFIRE program in Zimbabwe, which is considered one of the most important and successful wildlife management initiatives in Africa.  See >> https://campfirezimbabwe.org

▪️The wildlife in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe is only there because of bore hole wells and water pans made by hunters in the 1930s.  It’s a fabulous park made by hunters and vital to world conservation.

I am a conservationist, not a big game hunter, but big game hunters create a market, and provide money, for conservation.

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Will my comment change her mind?  

Not a chance.

Will it change yours (in either direction)?  

Probably not.

But did you go to the links and learn at least one or two new facts, ideas, caveats, or considerations?

That’s the best I ever hope for.