1. Brilliant …. a humane solution. Good thinking, Frank!

   • Cecil’s brother Jericho, has now also been killed.
     http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jericho-cecil-the-lions-brother-killed/ar-BBljFpr?item=module_ad_enabled%3Afalse

2. Alternatively we could put all those left wing types on an island, you know the types who demand government pay for everything they want and need, those who ride off the back of society, pay child support late, etc.
   They would of course find it a culture shock when they had to start providing for themselves. We could call it “Social Justice Island” for those who so strongly believe in the collective. Of course it would end up in complete misery as all socialist states and communities have done so in the past.

   • …and to make it even more interesting, lets put some right wing trolls on the island too, and see just how far their spiteful arrogance and their imagined ‘club’ ties fare against a mob of left wing armed people that have been disenfranchised their whole lives. how about some of that culture shock stevey boy.

   • Stephen, you poor sad man.
     You’re way out of your depth on this blog. Keep trying to tread water, one day you may swim.

   • Stephen – we did provide for ourselves. It was called taxation and building up infra-structure for the common good.

     That involved not just education, roading, bridges, rail, airlines, police, justice system, healthcare, hospitals, but also the telecommunications that you used today to post your comments here.

     Because I’ll tell you this for free, my little neo-liberal friend, the services you’ve enjoyed, and are continuing to enjoy, didn’t come from free market pixies.

     They came from our parents and grand-parents who collectively provided for themselves. And which you’re bludging of.

     You just keep indulging in those masterbatory free-market fantasies. It just makes you look nakedly silly in public.

     • …yet the taxes people pay come from jobs provided by the free market, not socialist pixies.

       • Nope, wrong again.

         Those taxes were used by governments to finance the Ministry of Works, Post & Telegraph, etc, to build our infra-structure. Your precious quasi-“free market” never existed until Douglas intervened in the mid-1980s.

         Your understanding of recent history is lamentable.

         • You didn’t read what I wrote. I wasn’t referring to what taxes were used for, but where they came from. They came from people employed by the market, which existed well before the 1980’s, not socialist pixies.

         • I wasn’t referring to what they were used for, but where they came from. Taxes paid by employees of the market. Not socialist pixies.

   • The secret, Stephen, is to keep banging the rocks together…

   • Stephen, as if right wing Capitalism has done the world much good causing mostly sorrow and despair and failure. Wonder why you get so many negative ticks ? Tons of us ” LEFT WINGERS ” are financially independent and free thinkers and not bludgers. Most intelligent left wing people are sick and tired of your old worn out labels meant to sway opinions and brainwash.

     Many corporate right wing types are . . . . . . . . . greedy and dead wrong – thinking mostly for themselves and their narrow view of the world.

     I, for one, am sick of the labels and the us against them mentality and think we need to rise above this nonsense.

   • Stephen – another right wing troll who clings to labels and nonsense as if you know who left wing people are. Label mania, ” us against them ” close minded mentality. No wonder you get so many negative ticks. Right wing corporate greed and capitalism has about destroyed the economy of the world. What we need are more left wing intelligent and compassionate folks who can help with the damage control that the hypocrite right wingers have offered up. Surprise surprise Stephen, most left wing folks are not on the dole and we are independent and have to be strong to deal with the insanity and dirty lying politics that your right wing Natz have dished out.

   • Sort of Stephen Franks view don’t you think?

3. An island is too good for them ! * # @ = * ? + ! & # * % ! +? @ = $
   They need to be hung from a tree with their heavy rifles tightly strapped around their necks – hanging just high enough so that the youngsters of the father and mother animals that they killed can reach up and have a nibble and then devour.

   These psychopathic sick trophy hunters, in denial, create horrific painful and shocking deaths so maybe they deserve a slow painful death. KARMA.
   And while we are at it. lets hang up in the trees – the people who own these greedy trophy hunting businesses that support the terrible killing for pleasure adventures. These are some very sick people without shame and without conscience. They defend murder for profit ! ! !

4. Absolutely well said Frank. Agree 100%.

   Once upon a time our ancestors had to kill to survive. As awful as I find killing animals so violently, it was on a more balanced basis where the hunter risked his life to provide food for his family.

   Now it’s an uneven game, not even justified for survival purposes, where the bloodthirsty hunter has the advantage of a high powered killing device, guaranteeing the animal will not survive.

   My solution? Put these cruel, heartless and gutless bastards out there in the wildlife’s domain, armed only with a few sticks and a limited number of stones, perhaps a blunt spear maybe, with nowhere to hide or run and let them go for it. With these primitive weapons, they would be at a complete disadvantage to the natural skills of the wild creatures.

   The human brutes would therefore automatically become the prey!

   Good.

   Like Frank I’d pay to see it!

5. It’s pretty hard to be seriously criticise these hunters given the scale of animal suffering in this country.

   • To a point I agree with you Janine. NZ has a dreadful reputation for inflicting the most dreadful suffering on animals.

     However, that doesn’t apply to most Kiwis, who are by nature, generous, kind, caring souls. Well, I find them to be so anyway.

     Any kind of cruelty and abuse, be it towards animals, humans or the environment, I find abhorrent and will speak out loudly against it. One reason I was very outspoken when the previous Labour government entered into a FTA with China, a country which is devoid of human, animal or environmental protection laws and rights! I wrote to Helen Clark, telling her in no uncertain terms why I objected to the trade deal! The response I got was my objection had been noted!!!!

     As for hunters who hunt for “pleasure”, in my mind they are one of the lowest and vilest forms of life using up space on this planet!

   • agreed..this country is built on the back of suffering animals..

     ..i find it beyond ironic..people pausing to wipe the animal-fat from their chins..from animals that lived short/brutal lives of unutterable miseries/suffering..while being fattened up for them..

     ..then they start tutt-tutting about the ‘psychopath’ who killed the lion..?..(!)..

     ..r u f*cken kidding me..?

     ..(would you like some bacon with that dish of (false) self-rightous-finger-pointing..?..)

     (..if abattoirs had glass walls..etc..etc..)

   • And the lethargic rate offered by regulation. x years to quit sow crates and cages for laying hens. So ‘humane’. Not.

     Meanwhile, in the sub-alpine and forested public lands of good ol’ NZ – we have guided hunting. Just like Zimbabwe and South Africa. Some operators have been known to ‘make it easy’ for clients.

     But the thar and red deer aren’t known by name so – who cares?

6. Excellent, Frank, excellent!

   It’s just that Fukasaku Kinji already beat you to the show with his 2000 movie “Battle Royale” (excellent but not for the squeamish).

   Although he used high school students who were about to be unleashed on the workforce to deal with unemployment (pay attention John Key et al)…

   The thing that worries me most about the divine Ms Corgatelli is that she seems to be somewhat preoccupied by gunning down males.

   As for Walter “Wally” Palmer…

   Would you really want a man like that leaning over your open mouth with a drill? What guarantees are there that he will stop as soon as the hole is deep enough?

   Brrrr! I don’t know whether to cross my legs or cover my mouth reading this blog…

7. Are you against hunting or just trophy hunting?

   • Well – if you’re a bloke with a pack of dogs and a decent knife and you want to get into the hills to take on a pig – go for it.

     When you use every chunk of technology available including a rifle set to take down anything kilometres away – what are you?

     If you’re out there hunting bush meat for your family because there’s drought or the budget is in the red – go for it.

     When it’s all about a tick-it-off list – that’s not manly or womanly or skilled. There’s something missing.

     If you bag a trophy AND take home more than the head and back steaks – good on you. Otherwise you deserve to be shunned in every pub, club and Deerstalkers meet around the country. A poseur. Nothing more.

   • Howzabout jus’ agin KILLING?

8. Well written Frank, however it is worth noting that lions attack up to 700 humans each year (Wikipedia) many of those attacked are killed.

   • @ GRANT OF WELLINGTON – for that to happen, humans have entered the territory of lions! It’s a risk humans take, knowing full well there are predatory creatures about.

     After all, lions don’t roam suburbia with the intention of killing people do they?

     Same with shark attacks. People enter the shark’s environment. Sharks, like lions are predators, so the risk is always there.

     Lions killing 700 people a year isn’t a lot in comparison to that of humans, who kill many more of their own kind year in, year out, through wars and domestic violence!

     • Fair comment Mary.

   • Dogs and cattle have a pretty good score rate against humans, too.

     A touch of humility for the ‘superior master species’

     And the second-greatest killer species of all? Us! We! White feathers and yellow down the back.

     Mwahahahaha!

     But the bacteria and viruses win – hands down.

   • Grant – Hmmmm, I wonder how many of those lions used high-powered firearms?

     • None – they have large teeth and can run faster than Dentists

     • None but they have pretty long teeth and can run fast.

   • Hmmm…

     The good old “they’re killing us so we should kill them” logic.

     My mistake. I thought we were civilised sentient beings, not wild animals also.

9. But if they are eating the animals, and also paying large amounts of money for the right to hunt them, money which then goes towards more conservationist efforts, is it really that wrong?

   • Yes, Guy, it is wrong.

     They’re not eating the animals – they’re hunting for trophies.

     As for the bullshit that “large amounts of money for the right to hunt them, money which then goes towards more conservationist efforts” – you might as well use a similar justification to commit any number of foul acts – as long as money crosses hands.

     • Well I see your point, but in some cases culling is actually beneficial to the population, would you be against using this as a way to raise money using trophy hunters?

       • Except, Guy, it is not “culling”. In many instances (such as rhinos, lions, and elephants), numbers are declining.

         And if numbers are to be “culled”, as in Australia with their camels and kangaroos, then trophy-hunting is simply masking psychopathic behaviour with the civilised label of “population control”.

         That won’t wash.

         • Even in declining populations, such as rhinos and elephants culling is still required sometimes though. So in those situation trophy hunters can actually be used for a good purpose. Though of course the majority of cases are probably unnecessary killings.

     • I spent a number of years working in Central Africa and I can tell you the perspective of the locals is a little different from that of the typical liberal, hand-wringing westerner.

       If there is no local revenue generated by the presence of wild animals then they will destroy them. To an African, a lion is a danger and a nuisance and if hunters or photographers don’t come with their money they will destroy them.

       Now personally I can’t figure out trophy hunting. It’s weird in my view but hey, ‘strokes for folks’ and I’m not judging. But one rich American doing a tour and shooting an old lion isn’t going to affect the environment one jot and it will bring in a fortune to the local community which makes them value the wildlife they’ve got.

       Lions aren’t endangered. Here’s the list and they’re not on it.

       https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?direction=desc&page=2&sort=extinction_status

       So I suggest you cut the sentimentality and try to see it from the African’s perspective.

       • Andrew, your attempt to justify trophy hunting with the most specious argument won’t wash.

         The fact is there were an estimated 250,000 lions in Africa forty years ago. Today, the population stands at 25,000 to 30,000. That’s a 80% to 90% decline in numbers. Plus increasing isolation of remaining groups reduces with their gene-pool diversity.

         They may not be on the Endangered List you provided – but they are heading that way.

         Do you want to wait until they’re endangered? Is that your strategy?

         And by the way, when is the last time giraffes were considered a “dangerous nuisance”?

         Your attempt to defend these psychopaths (“hunters”) is risable.

         • I’m just pointing out the realities of African life. I’m not judging either way. I don’t hunt and never have. I don’t even fish.

           Poor, uneducated people do things that make sense to them. If it means shooting a rhino with an AK and cutting off its horn in order to put food on the table, they’ll do it (and I suspect so would we in their position)

           There’s an economic argument that CITES protecting endangered animals has actually hastened their demise.

           The road to hell is paved with such good intentions.

           • Well, Andrew, you could justify the sex-trade business in Eastern Europe, or poor Afghans growing poppies for heroin, or Mexican cartels involved in sending cocaine northwards, using your rationale.

             It’s a highly simplistic way at looking at real problems surrounding poverty and lack of resources. In effect, the means justifies the ends, is what you’re advocating. Is it?

             However, the people doing the killings are not poor Africans. They are well-heeled Americans spending thousands on air travel just to get to their beloved “kill zones”. If they were hungry, they could’ve bought a meal in their own home towns. They could also have invested the money they wasted on these obscene hunts on creating real industries to improve their lives.

             Eg; funding tourism to shoot those animals with cameras, not high-powered weapons. There could be huge numbers of real jobs created in that kind of industry.

             There are other, less destructive ways, to enhance peoples’ lives.

             I’m sure you could come up with any number of ways, rather than wasting your time defending the indefensible.

             • Yep, as I said I don’t ‘get’ trophy hunting either but by the same token I don’t get golf either. But that’s just me.

               The trouble with you Far Left types is that you’re so intolerant and moralising and the reason normal people don’t want you in a position of power is that you’d be writing arbitrary legislation based on your personal likes & dislikes.

               Back to the trophy hunting: If that American hunter comes to shoot the (un-endangered) lion and spends a whole lot of money in the region whilst doing it then there will be less tendency for desperately poor locals to shoot the (endangered) rhino which lives with the lion.

               So it works for both parties, regardless of your personal likes and dislikes.

   • Yes it is really that wrong.

     Are you not familiar with the buddhist precept “Right Livelihood”?

     HOW you earn money is just as important as HOW MUCH and WHAT YOU USE IT FOR.

     Cause and effect – that’s all there is.

   • “They” are not hunting anything at all, look at some of them, wouldn’t last 10 minutes in the bush or on the veldt themselves, they need “guides” lead them, back them up with auxiliary fire power and get them as close as possible to a selected animal. All these so called hunters seek is killing, they aren’t interested in eating any of what they hunt, eww who would want to eat the flesh of a carnivore anyway. They come on all patronizing, “the villagers are grateful for the meat” blah-de-blah.
     Was listening to a guy the other day on Duncan Garner’s show, years ago he worked with a trophy hunter who took a trip to Africa with a shopping list of animals he wanted to kill. When he’d done that, his guide asked him if he’d like to “wop and floppy”. Turns out a floppy was a black ANC member (these were still apartheid days). He didn’t get one, he was pissed off about it, but only because they couldn’t find one.
     These trophy “hunters” you see these days are cut from that very same cloth, and I’d say if they were living in another time they would happily “wop a floppy” themselves.
     NZ is a bit fortunate, if you want to look at it that way, in that we have a number of introduced species that require us to either eradicate or keep control of the numbers, there being no other predator species here to do that.
     The people who get out in our bush to fill their freezer are light years apart from these vain, psychopaths that we see littered through social media posing with large animals they have killed just for the pleasure of ending their lives. Nothing more, nothing less.
     Genuine hunters in this country stay home with their feet in front of the fire when the trophy hunters are out during the roar.

10. Great idea! May I make a suggestion to your proposed show? Instead of just giving the contestants weapons, give then a part of a weapon. They then have to find the rest of it, in order to have a working weapon. Too bad each one will have a different weapon with no inter-changable parts . . .

11. We can all help by speaking out against this killing of lions, and all animals. Please sign petition:

    https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_lion_slaughter_for_sex_aides_rb_en_to_nm/?bdUCFjb&v=3895https

    • Cecil’s brother, Jericho. has now also been killed.
      http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/jericho-cecil-the-lions-brother-killed/ar-BBljFpr?item=module_ad_enabled%3Afalse

    • His brother, Jericho, has now been shot by “hunters”. Please sign the petition.

      • Many thanks Helena for sharing this opportunity to sign the petition 🙂

      • What?! Its like they are all after the one family.

    • Done!

12. I can’t shoot rabbits (or fascists) but if your not going to eat it; when I say eat it I mean almost all of it. its probably best leave the guts. don’t bother its not that impressive to shoot a deer with multiple aides such as scopes, high powered rifles gps trackers ect.

    • I worked in central Africa to and saw wild species but never got attacked by a leopard, baboon, Elephant,Gazelle,snake,Kudu, or Rhino.

      So why did I feel compelled to shoot?

      As it was best to enjoy the experience and not kill those beasts in the wild?

      It is part of the African experience that once experienced you want to leave for others to enjoy.

13. […] blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 8 August […]

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