Killing a Lion is the MOST COWARDLY THING you can do

[Breaker Morant]

75. Nuances of African Hunting

I realize there is little interest here in people looking at the nuances of hunting in Africa and its place in saving wildlife in Africa, but I will throw my experience and thoughts out there for those who may be interested in taking a further look.

1) Fundamental to any discussion of African wildlife and hunting is the understanding that wildlife has to "Pay its own way" in Africa. This is unfortunate, but it a simple fact of life.

2)I recommend the book "Game Changer: Animal Rights and the Fate of Africa's Wildlife." by Glen Martin. This book looks at the case for hunting and its role in saving Africa's wildlife. It also takes a critical look at the animal rights movement and ecotourism and the damage they are doing to wildlife.

I doubt few here have ever read anything like it, but as "Open-minded" liberals I would expect everyone to read the book to be able to discuss the subject rationally.

3)The original photo essay is misleading. Lions in tourism areas as documented in the essay which are acclimated to vehicle presence are essentially different animals than lions in wild hunting areas.

4) It is easy for western Liberals to advocate photo tourism without considering deeper issues. As discussed in "Game Changer" and witnessed by myself, there are areas that are not suitable for photographic tourism. How is game supposed to be saved in those areas, other than through the dollars brought in by hunting?

5) (Expansion of #4) I went hunting in Zimbabwe this summer and part of my hunt took place on a property called "Breakfast Farm." Breakfast Farm is not suitable for photographic safaris. For various reasons, you could tell that Breakfast Farm is doing a good job of preserving wildlife habitat and populations.

The meat from the game that I shot went to the villages and they were very happy to get it. They also received a fair amount of money for the 2 animals that I shot on their property.

The fact that I hunted there and provided meat and money to Breakfast Farm helped give them an incentive to maintain wildlife habitat and populations. Without hunting to provide income, Breakfast Farm would have little incentive to maintain habitat and populations and the game would be poached out and the land developed for grazing and crop land.

Furthermore, Breakfast Farm is an inherent part of a much larger, intact ecosystem. The loss of Breakfast Farm as a buffer to these other areas (including national parks) would harm the whole ecosystem.