Pictures of Crusaders rugby players on a hunting trip in South Africa are being used by an environmental organisation in its fight against what it calls canned, or joy ride, hunting.
George Whitelock, Tyler Bleyendaal, Sam Whitelock, Tom Taylor and Ben Funnell with guides on a hunt in South Africa.
It is reported that the players shown in the four pictures posted by the Landmark Foundation on its Facebook page were Tom Taylor, George and Sam Whitelock, Ben Funnell and Tyler Bleyendaal. In each picture, one or more of the players was posing beside a dead animal. The animals were a zebra, a blesbok, a gemsbok and an eland.
Stuff.co.nz
Foundation director Dr Bool Smuts said none of the animals involved were endangered and he expected the hunting was legal.
But his foundation was “against the whole concept of trophy hunting”.
“If it was a biological intervention on a professional basis… for management of species and biodiversity we can understand that,” Smuts said.
“When these people (hunters) come out they want to hunt the thing with the biggest horns, the most dominant males usually because they are the good trophies, so the natural selection is not natural at all.”
The foundation had also posted pictures of South African rugby players as part of its campaign against the trophy hunting industry, which the foundation considered to be a mechanism for stripping biological assets, Smuts said.
Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said some players had gone on a hunting trip in April when the team was in South Africa, playing in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein.
The players had been “performing a perfectly legal activity in their own time”.
Endangered species or not, I think this sucks.
1 @ BrumbiesBoy:
Unfortunately, South African society is far too immature to have constructive discussions around things like the merits (or not) of hunting and religious bigotry.
Personally, I’m against hunting of any type of wild animal as performed by the majority of “hunters” in SA.
As I tell anyone who’ll listen, my 12 year old daughter can kill a gazelle at 200m with a high powered rifle and a telescopic sight. Fukc all skill involved IMO.
Maarnouja. That discussion normally ends in something more than a heated arguement.
Oh, and NO, I don’t eat any form of game meat before anyone asks.
As Scrumdown says, this is as debate that will have no winner, as emotions will run extremely high. I realise that hunting has its place, but it must be properly regulated and strictly policed. Personally I would not shoot animal with a rifle, but definitely with my camera.
All four of the animals mentioned are in abundance in SA. They are kept in game reserves without the natural predators to keep their numbers down. To keep them healthy and in good condition in the allocated reserves some way or the other their numbers have to be reduced!
You prefer factory farmed meat like chicken and whatnot?
@ Labuschagne:
hehe without factory farmed meat there will be enough FOOD for everyone in the world.
@ dWeePer:
@4
True.. but to use hunters whose sole purpose it is to kill animals for a trophy is not the only way to control populations. There are more humane ways to do it if people are prepared to go that route. Nature sometimes also find a way (like disease) to deal with overpopulation when it is caused by unusual natural occurrences ( no predators).
But I agree with Scrumdown and Lion4ever… there will be no winner in this debate, it’s not really worthwhile to even start it.
Storm in a teacup by a bunch of libtards if you ask me.
The hunting industry in SA is huge, and to each his own.
Even though I’ve never hunted myself, it’s got nothing to do with me if others do it.
Niks soos n lekker stukkie biltong nie.
@ MacroBull:
yeah, its pretty sick..
Where is the photo of the Bokke carcass?
I don’t know why Veryonenis so upset.
The lions have been victims of canned hunting for years in Super Rugby at the Coke Tin.
As far as species go they don’t come any more nedangered than that.
Sheepsnuts my spelling is worse than Hondkaks.
Apologies.
@ gunther:
That Avatar of yours cunther.
That boy needs some discipline/guideance.
He does not look like a young man raised to be sympathetic with the misfortune of others.
🙂
@ cane:
Indeed.
His middle name is schadenfreude.
In the best German tradition.
He looks like he’s just witnessed one of Bryce Lawrence’s better efforts.
@ gunther:
I do miss the bad old days Gunther. LOL.
Please pass on my regards to Katman , Dawn and The Gang should you ever pass them bye.
😉
these guys are taking promoting their sponsor’s logo to extremes… 😉
i have nothing against hunting per se… every wild animal in africa… zebras, eland, lions, leopards, elephants, whatever… dies a nasty death… either being killed by something else… dying of unpleasant illness… or starving to death like elephants…
so a controlled hunt and a quick one-shot kill is a better and quicker death than most animals get to experience… and not necessarily ‘cruel’…
but dr bool smuts in the article has hit the nail on the head… most big white egos want to kill the biggest specimens and thus rob the population of their most dominant genes… this can have devastating effects on species…
and is the reason why there are so few big tuskers left in africa… too many big brave ous killed too many ellies with big teeth…
300 years ago there were tens of thousands of big tuskers spread across the continent…
100 years ago maybe several thousands…
today they estimate around 40 large tuskers across the whole continent…
and now we have the elephants being poached with automatic weapons for the far east ivory trade… 👿
elephants are just one example… but the same thing has happened to many species… many ‘old salts’ and hunters-turned-conservationists would talk about the shrinking size of animals and/or their horns/tusks etc in their (the hunters’) lifetimes…
if human egos who hunt are forced to kill the sick, weak, injured or smaller specimens… with one shot… then we may as well make and take the money for conservation…
i just question the sanity/psychology of big brave… allegedly intelligent people… having to kill other living creatures to feel good about themselves… 🙄
this year two more died… ‘isalo’ in tembe (they say from natural causes… but i’m sceptical…) and ‘satao’ in tsavo, kenya… apparently the biggest… until killed by poachers with poisoned spears…
One of the funniest hunting stories I have ever heard was posted on Keo by Katman.
It was about the Great White Shark hunter from Vishoek called Skopskiet.
According to Katman he saw Skoppie paddling out from Fishoek beach on an old tractor tube with a goat head attached to a rope as bait and an old Duncan Fearnley cricket bat as weapon.
Apparently the navy rescued him 200 meters offshore after he fell off the tube and could not get back on as he got stuck in his own baitline.
Skopskiet never denied the story so it could be the truth
@ robzim:
He never denied it because it took about three days to claw him down from the ceiling.
😆
@ robzim:
Speaking of which, I got a good giggle a short while ago when I saw some posts by a certain Skop de Jager on SARugbymag.
Not much has changed with his alliterations.
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