The Facts:
- Hunters have adopted for their own use the term “ethical” and they distinguish between ethical hunters and unethical hunters, damning to the second category those who participate in canned hunting.
- Our approach is completely different. We do not care what hunters themselves think may be good and bad hunting practices. We take issue, on a moral and ethical basis, with hunting as a phenomenon.
- An industry that is based on immoral and unethical practices can never form the basis of any job creation. Hunting is such an industry.
- There is no equality of arms in trophy hunting; the arms carried by the human far outweigh the defence mechanisms of animals. Hunting is immoral because it places the human being in a position of power over an unequal and powerless animal.
- The killing of animals for sport infringes upon their rights as sentient beings. They feel pain. They become tense and anxious. They experience separation from members of their group. The list goes on.
- It is fundamentally wrong to kill animals (who form part of our national heritage and who, as a matter of fact and law, belong to all of us) for pleasure and profit, and to satisfy some primitive form of bloodlust.
- Hunting, or killing for pleasure and profit, always happens under the guise of conservation and of habitat protection.
- Hunters believe that conservation and habitat protection is only possible when wild animals are killed for pleasure and profit, and that they are the best environmentalists, the selfless heroes of conservation.
- What hunters have done successfully is to turn conservation, which aims to protect and save animals, into big business.
- Conservation has become an investment opportunity and is no longer an end in itself.
- Hunters are not natural predators, and killing the strongest, largest and often rarest members of any animal community for trophies does not contribute to conservation.
- In fact, it puts entire animal families at risk and threatens the overall population of the species.
- The long-term damage caused by trophy hunting activities outweighs any possible perceived short-term gain and the negative evolutionary effects of trophy hunting on wild populations will deplete populations and will thus threaten the tourism industry.
How you can help:
- Do not support game farms or recreational facilities that offer hunting packages. A useful resource to determine the ethics of various wildlife tourist attractions is ‘The good, the bad and the ugly’ list on the Volunteers in Africa Beware Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/volunteersbeware/
- The SATSA guidelines for animal interaction: https://www.satsa.com/satsa-animal-interaction-guidelines-holding-statement
- Do not support any business that offers lion or tiger cub petting or walking with predators.
- These activities all feed into the hunting industry.
- Be an advocate for animals an advise your friends and family about the real cruelty the wildlife trade.