It’d be nice to be extremely wealthy, don’t you think? Instead of worrying about student loans or working your butt off for minimum wage, you could kill some wild animals. Yup – the rich have gotten bored of their mega-mansions and tennis lessons. To entertain themselves, they’re traveling to South Africa and killing animals for sport. Except it can’t even be called a “sport” – by paying top dollar, these people are participating in “driven hunts.”
According to The Dodo, wealthy European tourists are participating in these killings that are simply for their amusement. “Unlike traditional hunting, in which target animals have a reasonable chance of escape, all the group had to do was aim and shoot at the terrified targets who were forced into their line of sight,” they report.
For driven hunts, these “hunters” stand on wooden platforms built along corridors in the bushland. It’s the job of over 80 “chasers” dressed in bright orange to sweep the area and force animals into the middle of the corridors, where they’re as good as sitting ducks for the hunters who are willing to shoot anything for the story.
“Any animals in the middle get shot dead,” said Paul Oxton, founder of the Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation. “They literally just stand there and take pot shots. There is no fair chase whatsoever. It’s a completely different way of killing animals. It’s highly unethical. ”
Around 100 animals such as baboons, antelope, and warthogs have been killed using this heinous practice.
Note how these hunters, reportedly from Belgium, Holland and possibly Denmark, hide their faces from the camera.
Disturbingly, these driven hunts are legal. The Environmental Affairs Department says there is nothing prohibiting the act, although the director of the National Council of SPCAs in South Africa has urged for “driven hunts” to be banned on account of being cruel to animals.
Some people have to hunt to food or clothing. Fine. However, this killing for sport (when it’s not even sport) is sickening.
To learn how you can help push for “driven hunts” to be banned, visit the Wild Heart Wildlife Foundation and the NSCPA.
[Story and images via The Dodo]
