Yes, there are plenty of rogues in the hunting world but there are far more ethical hunters out there, says Tony Weaver.
Cape Town - I had never heard of Melissa Bachman until two South African newspapers splashed a picture of her grinning at the camera as she posed with a rather tatty, but very dead, male lion last Sunday (looking at the picture, this was probably an older male that had been driven out of the pride).
Bachman hosts an American TV show called Winchester Deadly Passion.
The outrage that followed the publication of the pictures – which she herself posted on her website – sparked a wave of rage. An online petition has evidently been signed by more than 400 000 people.
According to reports, she posted the following on her Twitter account: “An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60 yards on this beautiful male lion… what a hunt!”, to which comedian Ricky Gervais responded “spot the typo”.
The petition, started by Capetonian Elan Burman, reads “Melissa Bachman has made a career out of hunting wildlife, for pure sport… She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation this country prides itself on. Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country. As tax payers we demand she no longer be granted access to this country and its natural resources.”
It’s all so predictable.
Let me make it clear that I don’t like hunting. I pretty much grew up with a gun in my hand, figuratively speaking. As kids, we were taught about guns. We were taught how to handle and respect them. We used to hunt game birds with shotguns, mostly on our friends’, the Gants, cattle ranch Sydney-on-Vaal, near Barkley West. But I have since developed a distaste for hunting.
That doesn’t mean I am opposed to it.
The statement that “she is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation” is, with all due respect, based on a complete misunderstanding of both hunting and conservation.
Yes, there are plenty of rogues in the hunting world. But there are far more hunters out there, and professional hunters (PHs, as they are known in the trade) who are, within the code of hunting conduct, ethical hunters. And they are conservationists. Makes sense, doesn’t it – if you don’t conserve your wildlife, your livelihood collapses. So the hunting profession depends, by definition, on not just conservation, but on preservation of habitat.
It is interesting to look at the history of one of our prime pieces of habitat, the Kruger National Park, to see how conserving pieces of land can change the face of animal survival.
In 1905, Major James Stevenson Hamilton, first warden of the Sabi Game Reserve, the Kruger’s forerunner, estimated that there were 10 elephants in the reserve. By 1925, when the Kruger National Park was proclaimed, there were estimated to be 100. By 1967, when the first helicopter census was conducted, there were 6 586.
Today there are over 13 000, and park authorities have started closing down man-made water points in an attempt to control their numbers naturally and force them back into a less artificial distribution.
SANParks, the authority in charge of Kruger, has under its control 3.7 million hectares of land dedicated to wildlife conservation. Private owners control 14.7m hectares dedicated to wildlife conservation, 17.9 percent of the total agricultural land in South Africa. Most of that privately owned land is conserved for hunting.
Trophy hunters like Melissa Bachman brought in R1.1 billion in 2010. “This amount only reflects the revenue generated through accommodation and species fees. The true revenue is therefore substantially higher, as this amount does not even include revenue generated through the associated industries as a result of the multiplier effect,” according to Environment Minister Edna Molewa.
In 2011, foreign trophy hunters brought in R901m and in 2012, R811m. But, more importantly, domestic “biltong hunters” contribute up to R6bn a year to the economy, according to a 2011 study by three academics at North West University.
And all of that hunting is done on land that was, in all likelihood, degraded farming land which has been restored and is now being conserved for hunting and game viewing purposes.
So, by all means launch a petition against hunting based on emotional, moral, or personal ethical grounds, but for heaven’s sake, leave unscientific phrases like “she is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation this country prides itself on” out of it – it simply isn’t true.
* Tony Weaver is an assistant editor at the Cape Times.
Cape Times