Rhinos

Cory Knowlton and a secret partner's bid of $350,000 wins the auction held by the Dallas Safari Club to kill a black Rhino in Namibia. The Rhino is said to be old, non-reproducing and showing signs of aggressiveness, which could be a danger to young Rhinos.

Allegedly, the money will be used to help in the conservation of black Rhinos. In short, they want to kill a Rhino in order to save Rhinos.

I don't understand why the animal can't be moved to another area where it's no longer a danger to young Rhinos so it could live out its life, and perhaps, even allowed to be a tourist attraction.

The inborn urge to kill something is a trait that I have never understood. Killing animals just for the 'experience' is repugnant to me.

I hope those in charge of the shooting, will have second thoughts and just make a gift of the $350,000 to the conservation efforts to save black Rhinos.

Afterword

The National Geographic (Dallas Black Rhino Hunt Auction) has a good article expounding on the why this particular hunting permit is available in the US where trade in rhino products are illegal.

The countries where rhinos still exist do have limited permitted hunting of them and normally those permits are not seen by outsiders to the Big Game Hunting industry. The money obtained from these permits does help conservation. In this case, Namibia decided that they could obtain more money from selling the permit directly to a wealthy individual than from selling the same permit to one of the Big Game Hunting safari companies.

The value of an animal whether legally shot or poached, reduces the overall economic value of the eco-tourism safari industry, because that animal is no longer there to be "seen". If it's poached the carcass is left to rot while the "important parts" become a by-product, and if it's a "trophy" it's still dead; with the head stuffed and mounted on a plaque nailed to a wall in the home of it's killer, collecting dust.

[Editor's note: The Afterword was written by KimB.]


Black Rhino