Lions Hunted For Fun

Big game hunting is a dangerous and risky activity, but people still flock to places like South Africa and pay huge sums of money for their chance at slaying a wild lion. Unfortunately, there has been an increase in popularity of this type of hunt and now wealthy tourists pay extra for a safer way to hunt these creatures. Lions are now raised in captivity only to be released for one purpose: to be killed as a trophy. In a fenced off area, these tourists raise their weapons and murder the lion who has never known freedom in the wild. Disgustingly, this practice is legal and referred to as "canned hunting." There are 160 farms in South Africa that raises cubs from childhood to grow up and die in this manner. These farms make money by allowing tourists to pet and play with baby cubs (even though these animals are stolen from their mothers) and then they will sell to buyers looking for lions. There are more lions involved in canned hunting than there are lions in the wild. This ties into what we talked about in class regarding Descartes's view of animals. These hunters do not see lions as the same as us: they contain no thoughts. This is a tragedy and an example of humans behaving like tyrants and deciding whether an animal lives or dies for sport. This attitude needs to change and this "sport" needs to disappear before the lions do. Here is a link to a video documenting the sport that is known as "canned hunting."