Push for ban on Australians taking part in 'canned hunts

[NP99]

The Federal Government is planning to ask South Africa to ban Australians from taking part in 'canned' trophy hunting in that country.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt revealed the Government's intentions just days after the importation of rhino body part trophies was outlawed.

Many of the trophies come from so-called 'canned hunts', where animals including lions and zebras are bred and farmed for the sole purpose of being killed in mock enclosed hunts.

Domestic political opposition to the practice has been led by Victorian Liberal backbencher Jason Wood, who has successfully lobbied the Government into cracking down on trophy imports.

The Government is investigating how to extend the import ban to African lion body parts.

Mr Hunt says he is planning to write to the South African government to prevent Australians who travel there from taking part in canned hunts, which he describes as "sick and wrong".

"We can't stop the practice in Africa or elsewhere," Mr Hunt told Radio 2SM.

"But we can shine a spotlight on it, and say Australia is taking steps and we want to be a world leader in protecting these great species."

Mr Hunt vowed to bring up the matter with the South African government and seek their cooperation in refusing licences for Australians wanting to take part in canned hunts.

But James Paterson from the free market Institute of Public Affairs think tank has questioned why Mr Hunt is trying to tell another country what to do.

"The Government appears to be asking South Africa to have special laws for Australians who visit," Mr Paterson said.

"Australians would never tolerate a foreign government dictating what can be done within our borders, and equally it is not the role of the Australian government to interfere with lawful activities in other countries."

[threedogs]

put this in the bow hunting thread early in the week.
There are thousands of lion farms all over Africa.
Pic is from National geographics

[NP99]

I just wouldn't feel good taking one of those majestic creatures...

[macca]

We visited Sth Africa in 2010, one of the lodges had a trophy hunters magazine.
We were a bit shocked only because we were so naïve.
We asked the owner and he explained the system to us, it is business for sure and it is not real hunting. It is killing a selected animal in an enclosed paddock for a fee.
No tracking is involved, quite often shot from or beside the Safari Vehicle.
BUT, the money raised keeps the property viable, goes into conservation and controls numbers to keep it all in balance.
We did not like the sound of it but it employed lots of people where work is scarce.
We were told Kruger has twice the number of elephants it can sustain but the fall out from culling them is stopping the government from trying to manage the park properly.
Look at the crap we cop for culling roos.

[threedogs]

There was another picture of the lion skeletons hanging on a fence.
these they say will be sold to the chinese for medicinal purposes.
Saves shooting a Tiger, I suppose.
Im like most , how on earth could you shoot one, maybe it would be different if we lived there
I know a cancer was affecting a certain region and you paid to cull these sick animals.

[mudski]

I just wouldn't feel good taking one of those majestic creatures...

I would feel good driving a screw driver in the hunters chest though. I would understand if the animals are in plague proportions but they are not.

[NP99]

Culling makes sense....trophies for trophies sake is just poor form!

[paulyg]

Should not even be called hunting, does not resemble any kind of hunting I now.

[macca86]

I wouldn't do it" I only hunt for the table or feral animals on our family farm. I'd like to see canned hunting stopped but there is another side to the story.

These are managed parks often over populated with animals to prevent poachers etc. the money raised by these "hunters" is used for the purchase of feed more land for conservation and injected into the local community plus the meat is normally given to the local tribes etc. yes people eat lion elephant zebra etc it's their native foods.

I'm not defending it but I am open to it if the positives out weigh the negatives.

[macca]

Really don't know what to think, the bush meat to the communities is a good thing. The money as well.
Bit of the old Raj and the great white hunter, to kill an animal for a trophy... I don't know. Some people have too much money.
It wasn't them against the elements that's what really bugs me, some are basically let out of a pen and destroyed by some wealthy gun owner in hunting garb who paid ridiculous money to kill a Rhino or whatever, we were told some animals fetch $50000.00 FFS.
They must be so proud of their trophy rooms.

[Cuppa]

About the only thing this government has done of which I approve. Shame they are less keen to care about what is important here.

[NP99]

About the only thing this government has done of which I approve. Shame they are less keen to care about what is important here.

Surely learning Latin at school is a good thing? Not :)

[macca86]

WARNING MAY DISTURB SOME VIEWERS GRAPHIC CONTENT
The canned hunting I've seen normally takes place in pen but these are big pens I'm talking 10-100 acres not a back yard size and are normally older animals on the way out but it's still dangerous as is any hunting a pig will take a leg or arm off if it gets you imagine what a lion who feels trapped will do. Shame this lion didn't get him but it shows the danger involved
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pCLzirV0rYk

[threedogs]

It looks so wrong on many ,many fronts
He needs new underpants after that lol

[jack]

Watched a doco on this some time ago by Louis Theroux, do a search on Louis Theroux's African Hunting. Was quite interesting as it attempted to explain both sides do the story.

Not for me - I support fair stalk.

[Rumcajs]

I'm not sure what to think however I will be against any attempts by any governments to do a lazy way out by banning things. It doesn't work. Creating nanny state society doesn't work and doesn't help anyone.

Why does a man think he can control/regulate nature. If an animal overpopulates it will suffer the consequences. The same will be with humans.
Currently they overpopulate at the expense of animals but eventually they themselves will face the "music" once the planet's resources are exhausted.

This whole notion stinks, I'm sick of this Australian way of thinking that one can regulate/ban behaviour or actions of others. It is a bit rich of tosser Australian politician to lecture others about proper way.

I hope South Africans will tell these tosser to piss off and look at themselves and their behaviour before attempting to lecture them.

Clean up your backyard first!

I don't condone this "hunting" if it can be called that but we have more important issues to deal with then bother what is going on in South Africa and some Australian looser paying for his trophy!

I hear the word ban and I'm reaching for my proverbial gun if I had one!

Cheers

[Family4x4]

I agree with the post above. Kangaroos are a prime example, where I live there is a huge over population of roos mainly caused by the availability of feed on farms.

For years there has been huge opposition from people in regards to culling these roos. Unfortunately the same people opposing the culling don't see the full picture. This years we had good rain fall over summer but just a few years ago we were in drought and if the feed is not there a large proportion of the roos die from starvation.

One thing that bugs me and it may be a poor view on my behalf. I was in Melbourne a few months back and on Flemington rd there was a huge billboard for the Greens. The irony was not lost on me as I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Are alot of greens supporters living in the inner city, man's furtherest thing from nature. The greens are the people opposing the culling of these roos, perhaps they should come to my place and watch roos slowly starve to death, but then they would probably blame global warming.....

I also trophy hunt deer, and I will do it again.

In relation to canned hunts I'm not sure I could make a call as I am lacking the right information. I.e. How much does it cost? Where does the money go? Does the money help the species?

At this stage of my life I would not part take in a canned hunt as its not how I would like to go about my hunting.

As a hunter what I find more disturbing is that some people take part in hunting species knowing they are about to be put on the endangered species list.

[macca]

As a hunter what I find more disturbing is that some people take part in hunting species just before they are put on the endangered species list.

We are a strange species.

The young woman all this started with has a rhino in her trophy cabinet, we thought they are protected, possibly an old and or sick one so can be killed by a paying customer. Still not right, finances might overcome moral concerns.

[Cuppa]

I have no problem with hunting to eat or to survive, nor for necessary culling & vermin control.

I have to say however that I find the idea of trophy hunting, killing a beast just to hang a part of it on the wall as decoration & for bragging rights to be really quite unsavoury.

Worse still is the view that the bigger or rarer the beast the greater the trophy.

I grew up with my father a gamekeeper & me earning pocket money by helping out with pheasant shoots for the rich & wealthy. All the pheasants shot were reared for the 'sport', but all shot became food. Many sold to butchers, but pheasant was a staple in our family.

I have had firearms since childhood, but have never shot anything wild, bigger than a fox. I've had to shoot injured & sick stock, as well as stock for our freezer.

I'm not some 'townie' who fails to understand the thrill & adventure of the stalk, or of the skill required to be a successful hunter. I'm not averse to accepting an offered gift of some fresh wild venison, but what really sickened me was finding a large full grown buck deer laying in the bush close to our property in Gippsland. The whole bloody carcass just left to rot in the undergrowth. I hope the bastard who severed the head of what had clearly been a magnificent creature just because it had a beautiful set of antlers can live with themself. What were they thinking when they pulled the trigger. More likely they were thinking of themselves with no sense of respect for the animal.

Unless the target is genuinely for eating &/or there are genuine ecological or protective reasons then why kill at all. Use the skills, do the stalking & shoot the animal with a paintball or similar & put the photo of the success on the wall.

[kevin07]

how pissweak is it to put one of these majestic animals in an area of no escape then shoot the poor thing for a photo I know what I would shoot. and that dog on facebook that killed the elephant among other great animals I would stake her into the middle of a termites nest. jeez I kept that cleen

[Family4x4]

For the purpose of debate and not necessarily my views or opinions.

Is the Japanese whaling ok because they eat it?

Is the farming of cattle for leather products like a jacket or seats ok, as these items are much like a head on the wall not necessary but some people may consider them nice?

Are the animals in these "canned hunts" farmed or captured wild animals?

[macca]

Is the Japanese whaling ok because they eat it?
:offtopic:
From media reports the Japs don't eat whale meat as a population, we are told of stockpiles in freezers and recently some was sold to the US as pet food FFS.
But it is tradition in their traditional diesel powered pursuit boats and traditional factory ships in their traditional hunting grounds. What a lot of crap.
If they did hunt in their own waters the way it was done before the industrial revolution I could accept that, the arrogance of what they do now pisses me.
I had mates who were members of Project Jonah in NZ when I dived in the 70's, we wore silver whale tails round our necks to show our support.
Guess I've been a bit passionate about the Whales (and Dolphin's) for a long time.

Isn't leather a by product of the meat industry?
I am aware of specific breeds are raised for their skins principally. Roll Royce leather is one I think.
Crocodiles and snakes for their leather products too I guess.
I suppose we get all wound up if the animal is a protected or rare species and public perception about how cute or amazing an animal might be.

From what we were told the "canned" animals were both farmed and captured, some places had "traps" where an animal could get through / over a fence but not return.

[Cuppa]

For the purpose of debate and not necessarily my views or opinions.

Is the Japanese whaling ok because they eat it?

Is the farming of cattle for leather products like a jacket or seats ok, as these items are much like a head on the wall not necessary but some people may consider them nice?

Are the animals in these "canned hunts" farmed or captured wild animals?

You raise some difficult but valid points.
Somewhere in the mix is the issue of killing for fun vs killing for necessity.

My view is that killing whales is not a necessity.

Killing ‘canned’ African big game is for ‘fun’ only.

Farming cattle or other stock for food is a debatable practice & certainly some would suggest that we either eat too much meat or have no need to eat meat at all. However the farming of species like cattle for human consumption is a long established & widely accepted practice. Man has always eaten meat, but part of the debate centres around how much meat has historically been part of human protein intake
Adding more species to the list of farm animals is not really needed. If farm animals are to be killed then we should make full use of the so called ‘by products like leather. I cannot see a reasonable comparison between a useful material I wear to a dead head hung on a wall. Others presumably see things differently.

In part I struggle with the notion that killing anything can reasonably be seen as a ’sport’ regardless of whether it is ‘canned' or not. I’m sure this will be a contentious statement for some who are here, but that is MY view. Stalking can be a sport. Killing is not.

sport

noun.


an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

[threedogs]

kill the sick if the monies go into research.
Whaling because of their slow reproduction rate might have something to do with it
Shark fin grinds my gears
I use a lot of by product in my hobby of knife making , Buffalo horn, camel bone,
cow bone as well.
But to kill a lion or tiger just to hang it on the wall that went out in the 1920s with the big game hunters
Has anyone found the Dallas cheerleader Utube yet, she claims by killing the big 5 she is preserving the species Go figure

[NP99]

A Dallas cheerleader in a movie I haven't seen in many years!!! :) somehow, I think we are not talking the same vid... :)

[threedogs]

nah her name is not Debra, but she goes shooting with that Pallin chick .
they hunt critters together quite often.
From memory Debra did nothing wrong it was her friends lol
was only on VHS I think not DVD lol

[Clunk]

It's our given right as human beings and therefore masters of all land and sea, to kill whatever we like for whatever reason we choose.

[my third 256]

and what about the big stink when they culled the koala on kangaroo island
because they were dieing from lack of food and eating out all the tree leaves that is their food

[NP99]

and what about the big stink when they culled the koala on kangaroo island
because they were dieing from lack of food and eating out all the tree leaves that is their food

Probably our best koalas living there. The qld ones are having a lot of grief with dogs and disease.

[Robo]

Join the army, only prob someone may shoot back!!