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January 13, 2015

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Wanton hunting of endangered wildlife in Africa a disgrace

LIONS, cheetahs, elephants, rhinoceroses, antelopes are seen lying motionless on the ground while a smiling young lady or several men pose beside them. These are the big game these hunters killed with their advanced weapons — long-range rifles with scopes or carbon fiber compound bows.

The lady is Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old from Texas, the United States, and the men are all players who joined Jones’ online voting for the hottest hunter 2014. According to the New Zealand Herald, Jones posted on social networks a quest to find the “hottest male hunter” on December 13. Trey Moore, from North Carolina, outshone other nominees to become the winner of the online competition.

Before that, Jones revealed she’d received more than 3,000 submissions from male hunters posing in hunting gear with “big game” trophies. She also suffered wide criticism and hatred.

Fox News reported she had even received death threats for her pro-hunting perspective.

Nothing but a shame

Jones defended herself by claiming that hunters helped control wildlife populations and were the best way to ensure their survival.

“Hunters are the biggest conservationists there are,” she was quoted as saying by the New York Daily News. “We want animal populations to grow and thrive!”

But the Big Five she hunted — African lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard and African rhino — definitely had no chance to survive. They are rare or endangered species.

I doubt whether their population needs to be controlled, especially through hunting. The Earth has lost half its wildlife in the past 40 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The way Jones and her friends have their fun via animals’ suffering is nothing but a shame, and some Chinese billionaires who follow the fashion of hunting overseas are no better.

Some international hunting organizations have set up their China operations.

Meanwhile, some domestic hunting associations have morphed from registered organizations for farmers who hunt to improve their living conditions into country clubs serving privileged officials and rich people (according to thepaper.cn).

Some of us have become richer and are more prone to a Western lifestyle. Like golf, hunting has become some nouveau riches’ newly imported hobby. We should learn the best from the West, not the vanity shows that often come at the expense of animal welfare and even animals’ lives.




 

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