Originally Posted By: dave123
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
I suspect none because no one understands how trophy hunting works. Nice rifle BTW.
1. Was the lion wasted?
No typically locals are poor and only to happy to take the meat. Nothing is wasted.
2. Why is a trophy hunt so expensive?
I don't know the exact details of this case, I suspect the media is way off as usual. Typically if you want to shoot say an elephant you need a permit. The local game wardens identify X number of animals to be removed each year. Typically they are older males who are blocking younger males from breeding. So the number of permits issued is very limited and as a result they are very expensive. I have heard of people paying $250k for some!
Its called herd and animal management. These poor countries lack resources to fight poachers, also the locals view a lot of the animals like elephants in this example as nuisance animals. By charging in some cases $200k to shoot an old animal they are able to gain resources they wouldn't otherwise have to fight poachers. The locals now also make money off this so they have an incentive to not help the poachers or kill the animals themselves.
Large game trophy hunting is actually doing a ton of good in Africa and is why a lot of animals are still around. FYI the Chinese are paying poachers to kill anything with a horn left and right so without it they would have probably shoot every last one by now. Its so bad that in some areas game warden's shoot and hunt the poachers.
The same limp wristed OMG its nature don't touch it, I don't understand it but save it attitude, is why wild forest fires sweep threw areas all the time. The forest and trees are not properly managed so nature does it. If controlled logging and underbrush removal was done so you had a healthy forest with large healthy trees they would be less common. Fires are natures way of achieving this.
Excellent post someone that gets it and understands the real world.
Well, kind of. Maybe.
Regarding #1, in this case Cecil's
* carcass was left to only provide food for the carrion feeders.
"Mr Stapelkamp said that the team found blood in the sand, and vehicle tracks. The carcass had been eaten by vultures and hyenas."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...-was-anger.html
"Johnny Rodrigues from the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force tells us the headless corpse of Cecil is still out in the sun ... so vultures and other carnivores can eat the flesh in circle of life fashion."
http://www.tmz.com/2015/07/29/cecil-the-lion-memorial-bones-zimbabwe-dentist/#ixzz3hJFjUaII
Regarding #2. These points are true. There is a program (including sanctioned hunts) to benefit the overall wildlife management plans and economy. HOWEVER, in this case the guides acted as poachers. The dentist claims that he believed his hunt to be a legitimate operation provided by the service he hired. It will be interesting if the investigation finds this to be true or not.
* - the stakes are escalated when animals have names.