Hunters can be Conservationists

And they can be blonde, cheerleaders too!  (shocking)

It’s happening again.  Animal rights activists are putting up a stink about a female hunter posting photos of her trophies on social media.  Last year it was Melissa Bachman posting a photo on Twitter and now it’s Kendall Jones and her Facebook page.   Men post photos of themselves with their trophies all the time but, apparently, it’s only worthy of making an uproar and creating ridiculous petitions when an attractive female does it.  As soon as I heard this was happening again, I had to investigate.  What is the real issue here?  That she’s hunting?  That she’s a she?  Or is it that she’s an attractive she who is about to be the host of her own TV show and, therefore, was deemed as an adequate target by some conniving activist to be used as an example for their agenda?

First off, what does the fact that she is a blonde, cheerleader from Texas have to do with anything?  Every article has this description in the headline.  I am offended as a blonde, former-cheerleader conservationist living in Texas that they are using those adjectives in such a negative connotation.  Just because you have any one of these things, does not mean you should or should not be a hunter.   Having any one of these things does not define who you are or should be as a person.

Second, from what I have read scanning anti-, pro- and neutral opinion hunting news sources she isn’t recklessly venturing out into the African wilderness shooting every animal in sight (which, by the way, is what Teddy Roosevelt – the “Father of Conservation” – did … but I digress).  Yes, she has shot animals which are considered to be “in danger” or “threatened” (NOT endangered) but she shot these animals in fenced game ranches where, sometimes, animals need to be culled (and the professional hunter who has to accompany her during every trek knows exactly which animals those are).  And she didn’t shoot to kill all of these animals.  Some of them, including a white rhino, were shot with a tranquilizer dart.  The photos of her with those animals aren’t any different than the photos I took during my trip (but I’m not going to have my own TV show so I guess it doesn’t matter as much).

Here are some important things most “animal lovers” don’t grasp about hunters:

• Hunt all the animals = no hunting at all so it’s the absolute last thing a RESPONSIBLE hunter would do (sure, there are always exceptions…but that goes for everything so don’t let the bad egg sway your opinion of them all)
• Hunters give more money to conservation than animal rights activists.  Hunting is an expensive sport.  Hunting in Africa is a REALLY expensive sport.  To be a hunter from the US in Africa, you have to have lots of disposable income.   And most hunters don’t just spend it on hunting but donate gobs of their excess cash back to conservation efforts to ensure they can still have majestic animals to hunt in Africa.  In fact, my research, which is 100% conservation-based, is funded primarily by hunters and I am eternally grateful for their generosity.
  

From the Kendall Jones Facebook Page - "This rhino was darted and immobilized to draw blood, DNA, microchipped, antibiotic shots and treated for a leg injury. It's not dead and it's not asleep, it's immobilized with medication. It walked away once the procedure was done."

From My Facebook Page - "De-horning rhino to make them less desirable to poachers. This one also had an ear injury we attended to."

So here’s what I have to say to the people who are thinking of signing these petitions:  Leave this poor girl alone.  Hunting may not be something you like and you may not be able to identify with the hunter’s motivation but, like it or not, hunting is an integral part of conservation when it comes to things like wildlife management and funding research.  And by signing that petition, you’re not aiding in conservation, you’re just taking a 19-year-old’s photo off Facebook. #SupportKendall