Watch out you're now the hunted

Cal Sportsman ^ | 7/14/2016 | M Alpert

[advertising guy]

Bttt

[advertising guy]

well, at least this will never happen at Blue Buffalo,

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Of course lions are not as prolific as wildebeest. But they do need to be culled. And they are not declining except in places where there is not sport hunting.

The trophy animals that they are allowed to hunt are older male lions who will be dead in a few years in any case.

They are slowing down and won't be able to fend off challengers to their pride for much longer. If you take him out now the area gets a nice income boost and the pride gets taken over by a younger lion. This keeps the pride healthy.

If you don't have the hunt you have an increase of young male lions coming into the area to challenge him which is a problem for the people who live in the area. If the older lion is driven out but not killed he will then become a major problem and possibly a man killer.

The lion is going to die. You can either harvest while there is some gain or not. The outcome for the animal is the same. The outcome for the people in the area is not.

[SgtHooper]

As commonly happens, the number of people in the given area increases (never decreases) unabated, thereby making the demands for money greater over time.

While I agree with your post that conservation is important, perhaps a last stand against annihilation of the big game animals, so many photos from trophy hunters do not appear to be animals that need culling (e.g., sick, wounded, etc.), but simply selected based on criteria as you mentioned (e.g., forced out, getting up in years, etc.).

I guess my biggest peeve is with hunters who need to mount/stuff important and beautiful top predators as a testament to who-knows-what, when said animal could still be alive and die naturally.