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Campaign Against Canned Hunting (CACH)

Chris Mercer's Address to lion march

4/4/2016

11 Comments

 
Picture
                                                   Address 2016
Let’s talk about hunting as a form of entertainment.

Hunters intrude in to a natural environment in order to inflict suffering and death upon helpless animals – for fun.

1.      They claim to be doing it for conservation.  They lie. They do it for entertainment; because they enjoy stalking and killing. True conservation means protecting animals, not killing them.
2.      They claim that hunting is the only way to save Africa’s wildlife. They lie. That is like arguing that the only way to save whales is by whaling.
3.      They claim that hunting creates jobs.  They lie.  Hunting causes rural unemployment. When land is taken out of agricultural production in order to provide entertainment, jobs are lost. Ten thousand farms now provide entertainment, not food. Partly due to this change in land use, the rural labour force has dropped from 1,6 million to just over 600,000. SA has lost a million jobs in the rural economy.
4.      They claim to bring billions of dollars in to the country.  Again, look at the whole Balance Sheet on land use to see how misleading this claim is. Bring to account the loss of forex caused by the change from agriculture to entertainment. Last year, SA produced 4 million kgs less wool for export, owing to the change in land use.  And that is just wool!
5.      Hunters claim to have increased wildlife numbers from the point where some species (like rhino) were at risk of extinction. They lie. First, it was the hunting fraternity itself that wiped out our wildlife, bringing game numbers to an alarming low point. So now the hunters want credit for saving animals from themselves. A typical extortion racket!
6.      No, this is the true story.  Having all but wiped out our wildlife in the wild, the hunters had to turn to captive breeding on fenced game farms in order to provide a constant supply of living targets for their entertainment. Those animals may look wild but they are not.  They have become livestock, being bred like sheep or cattle for slaughter.  The hunters have taken the ‘wild’ out of our wildlife. 
7.      These animals no longer evolve against other species as they would in a natural functioning eco-system. They are being farmed as alternative livestock. And boasting about the increase in the numbers of fenced-in, captive-bred animals is as silly as boasting about the increased numbers of prisoners in SA prisons; as if that proves that we are a healthier society.
We know from studies published by IUCN that hunting is a wasteful use of land.  Vast tracts of national land – about 20% - are set aside to provide entertainment, mostly for wealthy foreigners.

Is this a necessary – or even desirable - land use?

So who is ignorant enough to swallow hunting propaganda hook, line and sinker?
Why, the SA government, of course. Edna Molewa and SA conservation structures all support hunting as if it were a tool of conservation, and not a major threat to it.

Any intelligent person can see that hunting is to conservation what pornography is to art – a ghastly parody of the real thing.

​And claiming that the only way to save our wildlife heritage is to kill majestic animals is as crazy as arguing that the only way to save art is by destroying the Mona Lisa.
 
11 Comments
Leanne Mullins
4/4/2016 05:09:49 am

The SA government and, even more so, the "hunters", absolutely disgust and sicken me. Do they think the rest of us are stupid enough to believe their lies and their justification for this barbaric "sport". Or are they so disillusioned that they actually believe their own lies?

Reply
Cecilie Davidson
3/6/2018 12:41:30 am

The fraternity of hunters and circus affiliates continue to uphold their archaic views. Nature raises it's young to no longer need parental dictates, but some mankind clings to ancient dictates that Nature was put there for exploitation.

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Betty Hogan
4/4/2016 11:54:23 am

Hunters only think of themselves. They care nothing for the life they are taking. They are the most ignorant group of people I've ever met. They fill their children with the same crap. I can only hope that we can start changing minds. It's an uphill battle, but I got my boots on and I'm ready to fight.

Reply
Cecilie Davidson
3/6/2018 12:45:20 am

If we educate all the little children in cognitive empathy training, using small animals in small guided groups, then at least the next generation could be non-bullying, as well as incapable of murdering animals for fun.

Reply
G.J. Craig link
4/4/2016 05:06:20 pm

People of the world must unite and
demand that canned hunting must be stopped now. The animals need our voices, love, and passion to keep them alive and protected. Your voice matters. Please let it be heard.

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Stephen Wiggins link
4/13/2016 07:57:55 am

As concise and powerful as ever - thank you Chris!

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Chris Mercer
4/13/2016 08:42:41 am

And thanks for your very comprehensive demolition of that nasty piece of hunting propaganda titled 9 Myths about Captive Lion hunting or such.

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Stephen Wiggins link
4/14/2016 09:05:43 am

Chris, ".......demolition of that nasty piece of hunting propaganda" - my honour and pleasure!

Lulu Paxton
3/3/2018 11:09:46 am

Fabulously put!. Its time the world woke up to the barbaric cruelty which has been ignored for so long. By loosing wild life to becoming farm animals we might as well visit a zoo. Africa's true wildlife has diminished so much in the last 50 years, its hardly worth visiting Africa anymore. Photographic tours pay more, but hunters far prefer making their millions through the chase, the hunt and inflicting pain on the innocent. Frankly I wish it were legal to hunt these hunters and get rid of them

Reply
Glenda Pickering
3/4/2018 03:33:17 am

When are we going to march again?

Reply
Chris
3/4/2018 04:00:35 am

Hi Glenda
No plans for another Global March. We found that the law of diminishing returns applied - fewer and fewer people attending.

Reply



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