In this week’s file of “Things that make me crazy” is the news that Donald Trump’s sons went on safari and killed weak, majestic animals. Not only did they shoot them down but they boasted of it with a bevy of pictures. Donald Jr. and his brother Eric pose with the lifeless bodies of a beautiful leopard, the tail of an African elephant, a waterbuck, and other creatures.
What is especially sickening to me is that the young men probably think this is manliness at its peak, in an Old World Theodore Roosevelt or Ernest Hemingway sort of style. Well, let’s fast forward to 2012. Joyriding in an open vehicle and using a gun to shoot down the unsuspecting, harmless, helpless, threatened species of our planet is anything but manly. It’s horrendous, callous, cruel, and ignorant. It is Western society at its worst: plundering the riches of a poor nation and bragging about the exploits. Isn’t this just another form of colonialism? “Hey bro, pack up the whisky and rifles and let’s shoot us some of those cool animals they have there in Africa!” What a bunch of trolls.
It is not sporting and fun to kill a wild leopard or any wild animal. At least not in my progressive view, which holds that traveling to a third world country for the sole purpose of senseless slaughter for the “rush” of it is the kind of activity engaged in by Neanderthals. Did the Trumps even know that leopards are listed as “near endangered” according to National Geographic? I would no sooner engage in the celebration of the death of an elephant or a leopard than I would the death of my own dog.
This is the safari outfit they traveled and killed with. On the homepage of this site, you will see that the owners try to justify their business as necessary, traditional and actually humane. It’s easy to believe with exclamatory statements like this one: Yes, we are hunters. Yes, we shoot animals! Yes, we love our sport.
They say hatred against hunters is based on ignorance not facts. If a large animal was hunted because it was a human predator or was causing fear and destruction in a village, then sure maybe someone would have to deal with the situation. I would leave that to the local people to determine. I don’t think that’s the case here. It looks pretty simple to me. A couple of wealthy American punks shot and killed defenseless, beautiful amazing creatures for no good reason other than to fill up their photo albums and cross something off their bucket list. Where is the humanity in that?