Over the weekend a photo has been released showing US TV presenter Melissa Bachman posing in front of her kill, a magnificent lion.
I will not post the photo. In all honesty, I can’t look at it without getting filled with rage. There are so many aspects of the pic and it’s caption that I have problems with I’m not even sure where to start!
But let’s start with the picture itself. It is a picture of Melissa, posing with the gun, behind the body of a lion. Her Tweet reads:
An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion… What a hunt!
WHAT??? You find it incredible shooting an unsuspecting animal? You know what I find incredible? The fact you think it’s ok to hunt animals. That you think it’s ok to rock up to his home, and hunt him. If someone had turned up to YOUR home, and shot you, it would be considered murder. How is this any bloody different??
There is a page on Facebook called “Show support for Melissa Bachman and resist anti-hunting abuse”. Yeah, I went there, and was completely floored by the following comment:
I know Melissa personally, and she has always been a hunter. She hunts wild animals. Not pets. She shoots to kill, not just injure and make the animal suffer. Hunting is a SPORT! If you people have nothing nice to say, get off this page. We are supporters of her and always will be. Way to make our small town proud Missy. Keep doing what you do best. And as far as National Geographic . . . Their loss.
Oh joy! Something else to fill me full of rage. The woman who made the above comment is justifying Bachman’s hunting. “ERMAGHERD it’s totes ok to kill animals because they’re like wild ones and like she shoots to kill, so she doesn’t like injure them they’re like totes dead so it makes it ok, ok??” NO LADY. Killing a defenceless animal for fun or as you say, for “sport” is completely unacceptable.
The page is littered with photos of Bachman and her kill. An alligator hanging from a tree, posing with a deer, or buffalo or a zebra. A ZEBRA!! I DON’T GET IT? There is no amount of justifying Bachman or any of her supporters could do that would convince me that what she is doing is acceptable.
What kind of sick rush must these people get? Is it because they get to fire a gun? If that’s the case then go to a freaking rifle range where you aren’t going to hurt anyone. Is it the thrill of killing a predator, the hunter becoming the hunted? I seriously can’t see the logic behind hunting. I don’t get how this is considered sport, and I sure as hell don’t see how slaying something defenceless is ok?
Another way I have seen people justify this is that it’s in a game park, these animals are bred to be hunted. This is also NOT ok. Just because you feel like you are higher on the food chain, doesn’t give you the right to breed animals for hunting. You are still going to the animals natural environment and killing them.
People are also trying to justify this by saying hunting brings in revenue for the countries involved. Still, this doesn’t seem like a valid reason to allow hunting, in fact some African nations are now banning hunting altogether. The wildlife in these countries are a tourist drawcard, so allowing hunting of these animals has been banned.
What happens to the carcass? Does this get used for food? Or is the body bundled and burnt, or buried, or disposed of, while the human hunter moves on to the next trophy kill?
Of course Melissa Bachman isn’t the only one to draw ire for hunting. In 2012, a photo was released of a family who paid around £10,000 for the privilege of slaying a giraffe. To me the most horrifying part of this was the fact that a child was posing up against the carcass. What kind of family brings a child to a hunt?
Elan Burman has set up a petition to stop Melissa Bachman from entering South Africa for hunting. Obviously it’s your choice as whether you sign or not. I have signed. If you would like to as well: Sign the Petition
Back in Australia though, I also have a major issue with killing of animals when they have killed a human. Examples of when stupid drunk idiots have gone into crocodile infested waters, completely ignoring the signs put up advising to stay away, and they get eaten. Surprise surprise! But somehow it’s then ok to go and track down said crocodile and kill them, so that they don’t harm anyone else. How about we try and get the “human’ type animals to stop thinking they are above warning signs, and instead of thinking this is a tragedy, think of it for what it really is, a stupid dumbass doing something they aren’t supposed to be doing, and reaping the consequences.
Clearly this has hit a raw nerve with me. Animals are such beautiful creatures. It breaks my heart that there are those who don’t adore animals like I do.
I just hope that hunting somehow loses it’s appeal. I hope that this will end. Animals are meant to be admired, not hunted for fun.
What are your thoughts on hunting?
