"Trophy Hunter Seeks to Import Parts of Rare Rhino He Paid $400,000 to Kill"

[Lemur866]

@Dinsdale

So what does this guy plan on doing w/ the rhino-remains? What subset of American society would react anything other than unfavorably to seeing rhino parts displayed?

Yeah, I don’t understand why someone would get a thrill out of this sort of killing.

95% chance he just wants to be able to have a stuffed rhino head hanging in his library, so he can regale his guests with his tales of heroism over brandy and cigars.

[Dinsdale]

Yeah - I guess most social guests I invite into my home tend to be on the same liberal end of the spectrum as my wife and me, so it shouldn’t surprise me that he would socialize with folk who shared his - ahem - values.

Looks like he inherited an excavating firm from his daddy, and his daddy and mommy also like to shoot things. Glad my parents had different hobbies.

[Sunny_Daze]

@kirkrapine

Perhaps “Save the unicorns!” would be an effective message. (It is generally believed that the legendary/heraldic unicorn was based on third-hand accounts of the rhino – medieval Europeans would never actually have seen one, so they rendered the story into a “one-horned horse.”)

The animal usually cited is the Oryx. When seen in profile, their long straight horns may appear as a single horn. They are also much closer in shape to a horse than the rhino is.

[Atamasama]

@mhendo

Firstly, the population is not currently dwindling. The black rhino population is currently about two and a half times the size it was at its low point, in the early 1990s, when there were only about 2,300 left in the wild.

Namibia has the right, under international treaties, to allow five black rhino kills per year. They’re probably going to take advantage of that allocation no matter what, so they might as well do it by charging some American asshole with too much money the price of a decent house to satisfy his blood lust. For the five kills, that’s a total of about $2 million into an economy with a per-capita GDP of less than $6,000, and this sort of hunting helps sustain a tourism industry that’s almost 15% of the country’s economy, and over 18% of its employment.

Hmm, I guess the policy isn’t as bad as I originally thought then. If the population is recovering and sacrificing a small number can generate enough money to help conservation efforts to continue the improvement of their situation, that’s channeling a rich asshole’s weird desires into a positive outlet I guess. I agree with ThelmaLou that this guy is no saint helping animals; if he was then he’d just donate the money directly without killing an animal to make a rhino scrotum hat or whatever.

[ThelmaLou]

@mhendo

…This is stupid.

WHAT exactly is stupid? Unclear antecedent.

No-one is arguing that THIS PARTICULAR GUY is a conservationist. …

I posted about this particular guy. Period. That is what this thread is about. Him. His need to pay an outrageous amount of money to be allowed to kill. This particular man’s need to commit an atrocity for only one reason: the thrill of killing something so he can show off his trophy. That’s MY point.

Everyone else who posted may make whatever points they want to make among themselves.

[mhendo]

@ThelmaLou

WHAT exactly is stupid? Unclear antecedent.

Your whole post.

@ThelmaLou

I posted about this particular guy. Period. That is what this thread is about. Him. His need to pay an outrageous amount of money to be allowed to kill. This particular man’s need to commit an atrocity for only one reason: the thrill of killing something so he can show off his trophy. That’s MY point.

If you’re ONLY talking about this one guy, then why, in the post that I quoted, did you say: " “Good for conservation efforts”? Bullshit." ?

As far as I know, the douchebag in question has never claimed that he was shooting rhino for conservationist reasons, so why did you call “bullshit” on the conservation argument if you’re ONLY talking about him?

[jz78817]

@ThelmaLou

Again, NOT the point! If he gave a rat’s ass about conservation, he could have just donated the money. Yes, the deer population can get out of control, so hunting deer CAN be good for the deer population. (My late husband was a hunter all his life and our freezer was usually full of venison.) The population of an ENDANGERED SPECIES does not need to be culled.

“Good for conservation efforts”? Bullshit.

yeah, this. I’m a deer hunter too (for the meat) and think this crap is unconscionable. Rhino populations are pretty goddamn precarious (and one or more are effectively extinct) and AFAIAC anyone killing one for a “trophy” should be turned into a trophy himself.

[Superdude]

@Robot_Arm

There’s an episode of Futurama that you’d love.

I had that same thought. Human horn

[Inigo_Montoya]

@Dinsdale

So what does this guy plan on doing w/ the rhino-remains? What subset of American society would react anything other than unfavorably to seeing rhino parts displayed?

Up until a couple years ago I might have wondered the same thing about child prostitution, but evidently the answer to your question would be, “rich old white dudes”.

[Odesio]

@ThelmaLou

Again, NOT the point! If he gave a rat’s ass about conservation, he could have just donated the money. Yes, the deer population can get out of control, so hunting deer CAN be good for the deer population. (My late husband was a hunter all his life and our freezer was usually full of venison.) The population of an ENDANGERED SPECIES does not need to be culled.

“Good for conservation efforts”? Bullshit.

I realize this isn’t great debates but do you have a cite for your statement that the population of an endangered species doesn’t need to be culled? I agree that it seems counter intuitive, but I’m not an expert on wildlife management of any kind let alone when it comes to rhinos. And, yes, trophy hunting is good for conservation efforts. I’m pretty sure this isn’t what motivated the dude to hunt but so what?

[Folacin]

@Odesio

I realize this isn’t great debates but do you have a cite for your statement that the population of an endangered species doesn’t need to be culled? I agree that it seems counter intuitive, but I’m not an expert on wildlife management of any kind let alone when it comes to rhinos. And, yes, trophy hunting is good for conservation efforts. I’m pretty sure this isn’t what motivated the dude to hunt but so what?

Yeah, assuming that some level of culling/harvesting/slaughter is either desirable or at least non-damaging, selling a hunt to raise funds for conservation seems like a non-bad idea. Thelma’s point about if the gives a rat-ass is missing that he likely doesn’t give a rats-ass, but nonetheless contributed some portion of $400,000 to the cause anyway.

[JcWoman]

@ThelmaLou

His need to pay an outrageous amount of money to be allowed to kill. This particular man’s need to commit an atrocity for only one reason: the thrill of killing something so he can show off his trophy. That’s MY point.

I suspect that he also loves the “bragging rights” of being able to boast that he spent THAT much money on a hunt. It seems to me that spending it on conservation doesn’t have the same ring to it amongst a certain demographic. Rich white dudes, indeed.