Unfortunately, lion hunting is legal in Africa. Kenya is the first country that has banned lion hunt in 1977. But at the same time, the government of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe are the top countries that allowed the people to hunt wild animals. The human doesn’t think before going on a lion hunt that the lion hunts their prey to satisfy its hunger, whereas the human hunts wild animals for fun or to make more money.
In July 2015, a famous lion Cecil of Hwange National Park of Zimbabwe was killed by an American dentist, Walter James Palmer. Palmer lured the lion out of the park and shot him on the foot. Then he shot the lion dead after 10-12 hours later. After that, he not only skinned it, also beheaded the lion. On defense, it was said that he didn’t know the lion was so famous and he had a license to shoot the lion in that area. Zimbabwe court dropped all the charges against the lion hunters after Palmer proved his innocence. Most importantly, when a well famous lion is killed while roaming in the protected area and the hunters were freed, then what about the hunting of a lion for sports or trophy hunts.
Before a century, in Africa had more than 3, 00,000 lions freely roaming. Now less than 30,000 lions are available over here. The loss of habitats, poaching, and hunting is bringing these animals to the door of extinction rapidly.
What is trophy hunting?
Trophy hunting is now a day’s quite popular industry as it makes more money for both the buyer and seller. In this hunting, the person shoots an animal as selected before, under the official government license. In the case of trophy hunting, the person has to choose a lion as per the category of the lion based on the lion’s age, body structure and maturity. The hunting named as “trophy hunting”, because of the skin, head, or the animal is known as “trophy”. The person does hunting for the enjoyment and the body parts of the hunted animal kept as the reminder.
There are three types of trophy hunting. These are African trophy hunting, North American trophy hunting, and Ranch hunting. Well-famous Cecil killing was under the North American trophy hunting. Game auctions provide game farms to hunt.
The critic’s message to the local people not to do the hunting, but allows other country’s people to do because it makes money for the government. While Kenya banned trophy hunting in 1977, some argue that hunting is good for the economy and also raises the population of white rhinos. If the client is from the USA, then the respective country is beneficial as per currency value and Africa is here beneficial by the export as well as business taxes. There is also good news for animal lovers that Botswana banned the trophy hunting and exports of wild animals in its own territory also near its borders.
What is “canned” hunting?
Among the three types of hunting, Ranch hunting is the same as the “canned hunting”. It is basically a trophy hunting that is done in a large private farm also known as “ranch”. In this hunting, the wild animals were kept and bred by the farm’s owner. The young lions also grew and taken care of by the farm’s owner to make more money. Later, the animal hunted by one of the clients of the ranch’s owner. The owner operates the ranch by taking the money from the client for the hunting.
The ranch’s owners follow the policy of “making money by killing”. So, there are no rules and regulations to prohibit this kind of hunting. The saddest part is the animals that were held captive have a kind of imprisonment until death comes.
Does it really force the lions towards extinction?
Well, it may be a process of breeding these animals in ranches, but it affects the population of lions partially. The trophy hunting or canned hunting, happening from the decades, is one of the reasons for the decrease in the population of lions. As per the IUCN report in 2015, there is a decrease in the lion population 42% over the past 21 years. Due to the use of prohibited poisonous pesticides by local farmers, there is also a decrease in the lion’s population. Now, as per the survey, there are less than 20,000 lions in Africa. So an endangered species should not be killed for fun.
Who can afford it & how much it actually costs?
In case of affordability and cost, it depends on the category you choose on the basis of its size, age, aggressiveness, and maturity. Generally, the people who do trophy hunting choose the top category animals as they have a plan to design the body parts of the animal on their wall.
Some organizations of Africa provide trophy hunting as a safari for the rich foreigner people. Before going on a lion hunt, the client or the person choose the category and deposit a price as per the category set by the organization.
For example, as per the category, the people have to pay a minimum of $13, 000 to a maximum of $30,000 according to the category and their valuable body parts.
Is it really legit?
Well harming any species for personal entertainment or fun is not appreciable at any cost. If you see, poachers are also slaughtering a large number of animals every day and making the number come to extinct. So killing the lions in their natural habitats without any reason is completely absurd.
If we look from the survey and the IUCN red list, then the lion hunting is not legit. Now, the lion is a vulnerable species in the IUCN Red List.
Trophy hunting is not totally legal. If we think on the point of view of animals, the lion hunts their prey for food. But the human has no need to hunt the lions for pleasure or just for some stupid wants.
From the point of view of conservationists, it is not logical. The wild animals also have freedom and they should have protected by the government. The wild animals should also not to be held in captivity where there is neither freedom nor getting parental love. For the wild animals, the captivity is like imprisonment.
As the wisest being on the earth, the human should take care of the wild animals. Protection to wild animals is good because it balances the natural life cycles. Disturbing the natural process for our own pleasure and money is like to break down our own fleet. We should welcome the step taken by Botswana and Kenya Government for protection of the wildlife. Lion hunting should not be a play, we should think that they also have their own family and own freedom.
