Canned Hunting

In passing new legislation regarding the practice of canned hunting in South Africa,the Minister of Environmental Affairs had the
following to say…

Am I really the only one to think that statement  is a pile of subjective bullsh*t? Hunting should be about a fair chase? Where, in the entirety of history, was hunting supposed to be fair??

When our ancestors (and I mean ALL our ancestors – from the earliest Homo habilis 2.5 million years ago, right up to our grandfathers maybe 100 or so years ago) went hunting, the only objective was putting food on the table – or perhaps killing a an animal that was a danger and a threat to the family. The only acceptable outcome was the death of the prey. Fairness didn’t even enter the equation! Testing of wits…? Come on. I mean really… Back when hunting was a matter of life and death there was never any “testing of wits” and the hunter would use every possible trick and technological advance available to ensure that the odds were stacked in his favor and that the hunt was as unfair as possible in order to ensure a favorable outcome in his favor!

This holds true today. The reasons for hunting may have changed somewhat from the olden days – but no hunt will ever truly be fair as long as humans carry guns or bows. In a genuinely fair hunt, humans would have to track and kill animals with their bare hands and teeth, without the aid of any tools or modern inventions. (Yeah – like that’s ever gong to happen..)

If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the Elvis impersonators would be dead. The whole concept of fairness is a subjective human invention and can therefore be argued to be unnatural! Fairness is unheard of in nature.  Does a lion consider the concept of fairness when hunting? Of course not… lions will target the sick and injured members of a heard that have less chance of escaping than their healthier relatives. Is that fair? When a
stronger lion defeats a weaker one, he will kill all the cubs fathered by the defeated lion so that the mother will come into season earlier and he can mate with her as soon as possible to ensure his genetics are inherited by the next generation. Fair?

When considering laws or legislation that will greatly impact the lives of many people, should such subjective and emotive concepts be considered? Or should scientific fact and logical thinking take precedence? The fact is that lions that are bred to be hunted suffer less than wild lions and their deaths provide an income and living for many people other than the breeders and professional hunters.

Banning or limiting the practice of canned hunting will directly impact the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who rely
on the industry for a living (I’ll make a list of all those I can think of sometime…) farms will be sold, children will go hungry, many
peoples education and medical needs will not be met, millions of dollars per year will not come into the country, small businesses will
go bankrupt and this is fair?

And let’s look at this from the perspective of the lion. He will be torn from a pampered and comfortable existence and forced to fend for himself in the wild for at least 2 years… After an idyllic existence, he will have to endure the stress of  learning to fend for himself for 2 years and then be shot. If he is going to be shot (and he will be shot – that is what he was bred for), would it not be kinder to not make him go through two years of rehabilitration and acclimatize to wiild life?

This article is all about fairness, what is really more fair to the lion? By projectiing our own human perceptions of fairness onto a creature that has no use for the idea, we are in actual fact being grossly unfair!

Firstly, before you start swearing at me, making threats and leaving insulting comments – I would just to point out that I am an animal lover and not some sort of sadistic maniac. I am not a hunter, let alone have I ever been on a hunting trip.

There has been a lot of media coverage regarding the practice of canned hunting lately, all painting the practice in a very poor light and alluding to the belief that canned hunting is outright bad and must be banned immediately. The interviewees are generally well presented and well spoken “eco-warrior” types, who manage to sound convincing until you really analyze what they are saying and examine the facts under the cold light of reality, stripping away that warm, fuzzy bunny hugger blanket that we love to wrap ourselves in. Hunters and wildlife farmers get a few seconds to say their piece but they always (selective editing?) seem to come across as unreasonable and/or stupid people that are intrinsically unfeeling and callously cruel.

Now to fully understand the situation and make a sensible, logical decision based on facts – not fuzzy, illogical emotions – you will need to read this academically with your scientist’s hat on rather than with your hippy tie-dyes! Most articles on this subject are filled with highly subjective, emotive language. Canned hunting has been labeled as scandalous, barbaric, cowardly, a disgrace, a national shame… all very powerful words designed to emotionally punch you in the gut and evoke a very visceral emotional response without critically analysing the facts.

To start with – I am not going to try to defend or condemn the sport of hunting as a whole. It’s a very emotive topic and everybody is entitled to their own opinions, so let us just agree that hunting does exist as a legitimate pastime and, like taxes, it is a reality whether you like it or not and that isn’t going to change any time soon. This article is all about the ethics of canned hunting where animals are raised in captivity for the express purpose of being hunted.

For the most part, there are rules to be adhered to and most hunters aren’t awful people, but I am sure you’ve heard about some of the horror stories and possibly even seen some disturbing video footage of drugged lions being shot at close range by a “hunter” who has paid a small fortune of the “privilege” of massacring one of Gods most magnificent creatures….So let’s examine this worst case scenario from the perspective of the lion.

Let’s compare a lion raised in captivity and killed for fun in a canned hunt with a lion born in the wild and killed by natural causes…

Canned Lion is born in an enclosure with a trained vet near at hand ready to give assistance in case of birthing problems.
Free-range Lion is born in the wild and if there are complications at birth he will simply die.

Canned Lion spends his first few weeks with his mother, safely isolated from other lions.
Free-range Lion spends his first few weeks with his mother, except for the times when she leaves them alone to go hunting. At this stage they are very vulnerable and may be savagely killed and ripped apart by hyenas, leopards or any other carnivores competing for the same prey species.

Canned Lion is kept in a controlled environment where he is unlikely to be hurt by other adult lions. If he is accidentally hurt, veterinary staff are quickly on the scene with pain killing medication and emergency first aid. Injuries inflicted by other lions are very seldom fatal.
Free-range lion faces a very strong possibility of infanticide. If a stronger male comes into the pride, the first thing he will do is murder all the cubs so that he can mate with the females and ensure the continuation of his own genetic line. If a cub is hurt, even accidentally, there is no veterinary attention and so agonizing and painful wounds can easily become septic and life threatening.

Canned Lion is fed fresh meat and given fresh water every day, regardless of conditions. He doesn’t know hunger of thirst
Free-range Lion must hunt regularly in order to eat. If he is unable to hunt due to illness or injury he will die a long slow death of starvation. If prey species become scarce he will starve to death. If there is a drought he will die of thirst.

Canned lion faces no danger on a daily basis.
Free-range Lion faces danger from snake bites, attacks from other predators and many other sources. Prey animals such as giraffe or buffalo can inflict serious, life threatening injuries during the course of an unsuccessful hunt. Many a lion has starved to death after an agonizing encounter with a seemingly harmless porcupine has left him unable to hunt for a prolonged period.

Canned Lion is constantly well looked after and will receive care and rehabilitation in cases of disease or injury.
Free-range Lion is on his own. Even minor illness or injury will result in prolonged suffering and possible death by starvation.

Canned Lion is kept in a regulated group and is selectively bred with suitable mates that are introduced into his environment.
Free-range lion has to fight for his position in a group and has to fight for the right to mate. Fights with other lions often result in serious and painful injuries which may lead to death by starvation if the injuries render him unable to hunt.

Canned Lion ends his idyllic and stress fee life quickly and painlessly.Death is generally instantaneous but even if he is shot by a really bad hunter who needs several shots to finish him off, it will all be over in 30 seconds.
Free-range Lion will die a long and painful death. Predators do not die of old age in the wild. They die when they become unable to hunt due to age, injury or illness and will therefore suffer imensly before finally starving to death. If they are lucky, hyenas may move in and speed up the process attacking and eating them alive when they are too weak to defend themselves.

So which lion gets the worst deal? Which set or circumstances would you prefer for yourself?

In today’s overly sanitized world with our “Dizneyfied” perceptions of nature and the lives of wild animals, it’s easy to forget that animals don’t share our delineations of right and wrong. They have no concept of abstracts like fairness, bravery, honour etc.

A wild animals’ entire existence is concerned with nothing more than survival of the individual for long enough to ensure procreation and the continuation of the speciesand it appears to me, that the horrendous, despicable and cowardly practice of canned hunting allows for exactly that with the added bonus that a canned lion’s life, up until his relatively painless death, is devoid of nearly all of the natural suffering that his born free cousins have to endure.

Please feel free to comment….

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