This is kind of a long one, but I like to re-share this once in a while. A lot of the trophy hunting blowhards are part of Safari Club International, which presents itself as being conservationists and ethical hunters. Here is the truth about SCI. 1) The organization was founded by a poacher SCI was founded by trophy hunter C.J. McElroy. McElroy hunted in nearly fifty countries, on six continents. He killed nearly 400 trophy animals that appear in SCIs record book, including animals that are now endangered and can no longer be hunted. McElroy was forced to resign in 1988. Bill Quimby, a past President of SCI, writes in his book Safari Club International that there were rumors among hunters that McElroy ignored hunting laws, that McElroy was even accused of killing a Rocky Mountain bighorn ram in a national park, and that his ideas of sportsmanship and ethics simply were different from those of hunters who came along later. How can an organization founded by a poacher be ‘for conservation’? 2) They accept admitted poachers and acknowledge their kills as trophies One of their greatest benefactors is Ken Behring. Ken Behring was a former president of SCI and was at one time its largest donor. He has made multiple safari trips to East Africa, and has shot lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, an elephant, and an endangered bighorn sheep. In 1997, Behring shot an endangered Kara Tau argali sheep in Kazakhstan (only 100 remained in the world at the time). Behring claimed he had permits to shoot the sheep and had Russian scientists in his hunting party; he was issued export permits two days before the enactment of a prior international decision to move Kara Tau argali to the most-endangered status. Per American law, the remains of the endangered animal could not be legally imported into the United States. Behring donated $20 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History six weeks later, offering his private collection of stuffed hunting trophies to the museum, including four rare bighorn sheep, one of which was the Kara Tau argali sheep. The Smithsonian attempted to import the remains by petitioning the Department of the Interior for an Endangered Species Act waiver, but withdrew its request after questioning and negative publicity from Representative George Miller and groups like the Humane Society of the United States. Several top SCI leaders, including SCI member Kenneth Behring and then-president Alfred Donau, went on a wildlife killing spree in Mozambique. They left animals wounded and dying and shot five elephants in clear violation of Mozambique law. The hunting of elephants was strictly forbidden in that country in 1990. Mozambican wildlife officials believed that the group had come to survey investment opportunities in Cabo Delgado province. The group was given a permit by the governor to shoot a lion, a leopard and a buffalo; a local wildlife official also added a note referring to problem elephants, the only exception to the national ban on the killing of elephants. According to Arlito Cuco, head of Mozambiques wildlife service, a federal investigation showed that the hunt was illegal because it did not target problem elephants, and that two of the elephant tusks had gone missing. Local investigators also reported that the group used a helicopter during the hunt, which drove the elephants onto their guns. According to the New York Times, Behrings spokesperson sent a reporter a copy of a $5,000 check, dated six weeks after the hunt and made out to the provincial government with the notation elephant permit. The then-director of the game reserve near where the elephants had been killed was skeptical, telling ABC News PrimeTime They came in there and bankrolled an operation to take out some big elephant, and it is wrong. And nobody, nobody can condone what happened. All of Ken Behring’s 300 SCI trophy records remain on their books, including 109 animals killed on captive hunting ranches (shooting animals raised solely to be shot in an enclosed area which they cannot escape). Another nefarious member of SCI is Dan Duncan; he was investigated by a U.S. federal grand jury in 2007 for violating the Lacy Act when he illegally shot a moose and a wild sheep from a helicopter while hunting in Russia in 2002, then imported the trophies into the U.S. According to the Houston Chronicle, Duncan appeared before a federal grand jury panel and admitted that he had shot the animals from a helicopter. Duncan has more than 400 record book entries, including endangered species and animals killed on captive hunts. The fact all that between these two men they have 700 records that remain in the SCI’s record books shows they are not in the least concerned by poaching and other unethical conduct. 3) They tolerate unethical hunting practices Safari Club International accepts animals killed on captive hunts for inclusion in its record books. Captive or canned hunts are staged on game ranches where animals—sometimes exotic, tame species obtained from zoos and roadside circuses—are shot within fenced enclosures. Captive hunting is opposed by many hunters and hunting organizations. The Pope and Young Club and the Boone and Crockett Club both refuse to accept animals killed on captive hunts for inclusion in their record books. Others, such as the Orion Hunters Institute and the American Hunters and Shooters Association, criticize the practice as unsporting. SCI is so bad the organization is condemned by other hunting organizations. 4) They hunt endangered species In addition to the game taken by Messrs. Behring and Duncan, their leadership ranks (as of 2008) are rife with unethical hunters. President Ralph S. Cunningham has more than 200 entries in SCIs trophy record book, including more than 20 animals killed on captive hunting ranches and several endangered species. Dennis Anderson, SCIs President-Elect, has almost 100 entries in SCIs record book, including animals shot in pens, endangered species, the African Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) and a polar bear. Vice President Lawrence Rudolph has almost 200 entries, including at least 16 animals killed on captive hunting ranches. He also killed the African Big 5 and a polar bear. 5) They endorse safari organizers that engage in unethical hunting practices ‘The last male lion of Bumi is killed by a hunter’ blog.getaway.co.za/wildlife/animal-stories/male-lion-bumi-killed-hunter/ The professional hunter, his trackers, and game scouts from the local authority hung a chunk of hippo meat in a tree that overhangs the Nyamasango River at a point where the gently sloping banks provide a perfect crossing point for all forms of wildlife. This controversial practice of baiting or luring carnivores, especially big cats, to a place where the hunters are waiting in ambush, with the use of meat, has been used in hunting circles for centuries, especially in the rugged terrain of Southern Africa. Mandebvu, tragically, decided on that fateful day that a free meal was too irresistible to pass up, and was shot dead on the very border that our anti-poaching scouts have worked on, tirelessly, for months in an attempt to safeguard it from the threat of subsistence poachers and their wire snares. It is sadly ironic that after all the hard work that has been put in to making this area safe for animals to live in, it is now even less safe, as this professional outfit has recognised how much game has moved back into the area and are conducting much of their hunting there. The safari organization that organized this hunt is the outfitter is registered with Safari Club International (SCI). 6) The do NOT promote conservation SCI members continue to hunt lions, and reward members for hunting lions. However, two studies have identified big game hunting as the leading cause of plummeting lion populations. University of Minnesota www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_120702.html National Geographic npr.org/2011/03/02/133999157/without-intervention-lions-heading-for-extinction
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 17:07:45 +0000