Can legalised-hunting help conservation?

[Charan Singh]

(02-08-2019, 06:07 AM)smedz Wrote: I do actually have a story related to this trophy hunting. 

I was on a trip to Forth Worth, Texas with my FFA group. On the way, we made some stops, one of them was Nashville, Tennesee. The group I was with went into a store called "The Boot Barn" where they had many cowboy boots made out of many animals like fish, ostriches, stingrays, antelope, etc. The lady who worked at the store showed us some boots in the collection, now my Ag teacher talked about elephant skin boots being sold there, so to see if that was true, I asked the lady if they had any and sure enough, they did. I held that boot in my hands, and I just thought about the elephants, and then I put the boot down. I just thought to myself, 

"How could you people do this!?" 

I then heard the lady say this 

"They are endangered, but we need to control the population." 

I then thought "They're endangered! They aren't out of control!"  

I saw boots when I first came into the store, after now knowing elephant skin boots were actually real, I asked the lady if those boots were real, and I swear, she said they were actual leopard skin boots. She and I talked about the situation, she said she didn't support what they were doing, I did believe her, but while I was talking with my folks about this, my mom suggested she was probably just saying that to keep me from yelling at her. After my group left the store, I just couldn't stop thinking about the elephants, and I did almost tear up. I'll also say this, killing elephants is like killing people, as these animals are known to mourn this dead, basically they're like humans mentally, only they're herbivores. Those who hunt elephants, I just have one word to describe them: Monsters.

If someone has lived with cows & Buffaloes (horses included), one would say the same - these animals mourn, love and care (I would say all animals do).

I'll just share a small experience of mine, when I was a kid (7-8 years old, around 24 years back), we used to have 2-3 buffaloes for milk in native village (my grandparents stayed there).
Now I used to visit the place only once a year, and would play with buffaloes. One of these buffaloes was very aggressive and wouldn't allow anyone in vicinity if person was unknown or  visited regularly but wasn't a family member, but whenever we (me & my brother) visited the place, her response was same - no sign of aggression at all. I would go and shake her horns, try to milk her and do all sorts of stuff kids would do, sit on her, pull by her ears etc - she won't mind any it, just like others but others were calm but this was known for her fierce nature.  

Certainly Buffaloes knew and remembered us, whether we would be visit the place only for 2-3 weeks a year.   




Now coming to the subject:

How absurd is this statement made by hunter - "Finally, I can think of no other way to stop this beautiful tiny antelope becoming extinct in a country where commercial bushmeat poaching is a way of life."

This is conclusion made in following article.  

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/hu...lope.1955/ Reply