John Varty & Tiger Canyon

[sanjay]

Below is the recent content of newsletter by Famous John Varty- Read it till the end , very disturbing
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Quote:Hello Friends

Whenever a hunter posts a picture of his or herself on Facebook, all the conservationists rise up in arms, calling the hunter every name under the sun.

Recently Melissa Bachman, who shot a male lion in a canned hunt in South Africa, was crucified by the social media.

The Australian cricketer Glen McGrath made the same mistake by posing with an elephant he had shot in a hunting safari in Zimbabwe.

After his wife died of breast cancer, McGrath formed the McGrath Foundation which raises money for breast cancer.

Somebody on Facebook asked McGrath what the difference was between people dying of cancer and an elephant dying from a bullet from his gun? McGrath has said he now regrets the hunting safari!

However, a study in Cornell University in the USA, has found that hunters are more likely to invest in wild land or restoration projects than any other group of people.

Clearly the desire to hunt and kill animals for trophies burns strongly in many people, especially those who live in big cities detached from nature.

Safari Club International, the biggest hunting organization in the USA, has no less than 180 chapters and over 50 000 members.

When I tried to encourage investors to invest in an expanded Tiger Canyons, I received no interest from the conservation or photographic communities, none whatsoever!

However I did receive interest from the hunters. If they invested in the land, could they hunt the surplus male tigers, was the first question they asked? (Tigers are an Appendix I animal listed in the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species i.e. CITES)

It would be illegal to hunt a tiger in South Africa because South Africa has signed the CITES Convention.

However, tigers are hunted in South Africa illegally and this industry is growing rapidly. (It is legal to hunt a male lion in a canned hunt in South Africa)

Together with lions, tigers are hunted in the canned lion and tiger industry. (This involves hunting a male lion or male tiger with a gun or a crossbow in a confined area. The hunter stands on the back of a truck and shoots the lion or tiger from close range. There is no risk to the hunter and no fair chase involved).

With Botswana and Zambia banning the hunting of lions and leopards, I expect the canned industry to start offering lion, leopard, tiger and even cheetah.

Canned big cat hunting, coupled with the body parts trade, is already a million rand industry. I expect it to grow exponentially to a billion rand industry in the future.

I have lived in the Karoo of South Africa for 15 years. The Karoo once supported the greatest volume of wild animals this planet has ever experienced (the minimum figure given for springbuck is 100 million). The majority of the Karoo is under sheep and goats. It is an industry in decline, for the simple reason, it is not sustainable environmentally.

Some of the greatest hunters lived in the Karoo, the lion, the leopard, the cheetah and the bushman.

The South African Government doesn’t have the vision to restore the Karoo to its former glory.

The conservationists don’t have the means and the photographers don’t have the inclination.

The Cornell study showed that the hunters are high net worth individuals, therefore they have the means and they have the inclination.

The South African Government intends introducing a law that foreigners cannot own large tracts of land in South Africa. Therefore the scenario of overseas hunting groups restoring large areas of land in the Karoo, looks to be closing.

However the dilemma remains. If a hunting group is prepared to buy up 100 000 hectares of land in the Karoo of South Africa to extend Tiger Canyons, can I guarantee them to hunt 5 male tigers per annum for 15 years?

This is their question to which they are awaiting an answer.

Tread Lightly on the Earth
JV

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