Documentary exposes the inhumane canned lion hunt industry in Africa.

Courtesy of MSNBC: 

The death of a beloved lion named Cecil, at the hands of an American hunter in Zimbabwe, struck a nerve around the globe. The debate about the ethics of that hunt still provokes strong emotions. On Wednesday, October 7th, MSNBC will focus on another side of the industry, the legal side. Blood Lions, a one hour documentary, takes viewers inside the seldom seen world of the “canned hunting” industry in South Africa.

Also known as captive bred lion hunting, canned hunts allow hunters to select their lion ahead of time and complete a hunt in a matter of just three days. Canned hunts provide a cheaper, faster, and a surefire way of hunting predatory animals, compared to wild lion hunts which may last weeks with a much lower probability of success. Americans are largely fueling the industry, with 62% of the trophies being imported into the United States, according to Humane Society International. 

The documentary includes the perspective of both proponents of this practice who say that hunting helps preserve Africa’s lion population and conservationists who are quick to dispute that claim.

So I have been seeing advertisements for this show popping up on MSNBC quite regularly lately, and it never ceases to anger me when I do.

I am not the biggest fan of trophy hunting in the first place, but the idea of raising these magnificent animals in a cage for their entire lives simply to allow some fat asshole to murder them in an enclosure from which they cannot escape, so that he can finally feel like a man, just makes me want to vomit.

I understand the need to hunt for food, but I will NEVER understand the desire to kill something just to kill it. And to kill a tame animal raised by humans is even more revolting.

In my opinion THIS is the only manner in which people and lions should interact.

Nine year old boy shot and killed by his grandfather during canned hunting excursion on family ranch.

Courtesy of Fox 4:  

The Wise County Sheriff's Office says a 9-year-old Wise County boy was accidentally shot and killed by his grandfather Saturday while hunting on the ranch the family runs. 

Investigators say it happened around 10 a.m. during a controlled pheasant release at the 9 Bar Ranch just outside Decatur. 

Nine-year-old Callen Little, his parents and his grandfather were in a hunting stand. 

At some point, Callen left the stand. 

The grandfather accidentally shot the boy in the chest as the birds were released. 

"He'd left the stand for some reason and then the birds were released and when they shot, they shot into the direction where the boy was, and he was struck in the chest,” said Wise County Sheriff David Walker.

I am trying to figure out how you can lose track of your nine year old grandson with people in the area getting ready to fire off their weapons and I just can't do it. His safety would be a constant matter of concern for me. 

Yet another senseless death as the result of the careless handling of firearms.