Arguments Against Trophy Hunting

Hunting is a common controversial issue among people. Determining when killing an animal is necessary and ethical has mixed viewpoints. One type of hunting that generally creates feelings of animosity among people is trophy hunting. There are very few ethical theories and ideas that support trophy hunting. Trophy hunting is a form of hunting in which the hunter kills an animal with the main goal of taking a part or parts of that animal for a trophy. The majority of trophy hunting occurs in Africa, with big game as the most popular trophies, but trophy hunting also applies to non-exotic species as well. In this paper, I will start with introducing a recent incident involving the killing of a popular African lion, then outlining the main ethical issues with trophy hunting. Next I will analyze the trophy hunting from an anthropocentric, biocentric, and ecocentric viewpoint, and finally I will propose a few solutions that would make trophy hunting a more ethical activity. Trophy hunting has been said to provide many benefits to conservation and preservation of species but is ethically lacking; with some stronger laws and regulations trophy hunting has the potential to be both ethically acceptable and beneficial to the environment.

In Heather Wilhelm’s “Cecil the Lion and America’s Broken Outrage Meter,” written in 2015, the killing of Africa’s most beloved lion is discussed and tried. Cecil the Lion is one of Zimbabwe’s most famous animals and is located on his own natural preserve. Dr. Walter James Palmer, dentist from Minnesota, hired a group of “professional guides” to assist him in the hunting of the king of the jungle. Palmer says he did not know of Cecil the lion and only wanted to sportily hunt the animal, not to cruelly murder him. This controversy has been going on for over 3 months now on what really happened and who is responsible for the bloodshed of the famous lion. Celebrities such as Sharon Osbourne, Jimmy Kimmel, and even PETA themselves have suggested

Concussions have plagued NFL ever since football was invented. There have been 29 concussions in 2015 and the number may continue to grow. Munro Cullum, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and his colleagues reported that having a concussion can have long lasting effects. 28 former football players were studied and 8 of those were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment; they had some deficits in memory. While having the best equipments can increase the amount of damage sustained, there will always be a chance of concussion because brain floats in the cerebrospinal fluid in our skull and when there’s an impact, the brain hits the skull causing cell damage. Best way to tackle this is to

Mark Van Doren’s “Hester Prynne” explains how the Scarlet Letter addresses Hawthorne’s opinion and view of Hester. Van Doren’s “Hester Prynne” article explains how Hawthorne praises Hester in his novel. Mark Van Doren goes in depth and provides literary devices to explain his point of Hawthorne’s reference to Hester. The author uses mythological allusion, praising tone, and specific diction.

The death of an endangered species was a very controversial subjects within the world today. One of the most recent was the illegal hunting and killing of Cecil the Lion. Walter Palmer, the hunter, tracked and stole the life of an endangered species. In Matthew Drake’s article, “Cecil the Lion,” Walter Palmer should be fined because he poached an endangered species, he killed an endangered species, and he caused a cascade of deaths within the pride. One of the major arguments was that Palmer took the life of a dwindling species.

The idea that killing an animal without a purpose to eat the meat it provides seems wasteful and unethical to a large amount of the public. In this essay I will be magnifying the actuality of trophy hunting in a lens that will describe the structure of trophy hunting and why it is practiced, but most importantly why it is important for the rest of the world to be aware of it. If we erase the misconceptions and the chaotic bias on both sides, will there be a solution? At this pace, America just like in many other instances of tragedy that have happened throughout world

"Outcry for Cecil the Lion Could Undercut Conservation Efforts." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 Aug. 2015. Web. 26 Sept. 2016. It begins to explain the perspective of Mr. Dorrington. A nonfiction piece of emotion, so not actually true. It portrays a feeling of what he felt as many others when Cecil was killed. After it begins to explain what would have happened if someone were to want to buy game off of National organizations. In Africa’s case; “There’s only two places on the earth where wildlife at a large scale has actually increased in the 20th century, and those are North America and southern Africa,” [said Rosie Cooney, a zoologist who is the chairwoman of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group. “Both of those models of conservation were built around hunting.”] So it’s acceptable as a “sport” but when you think about organizations taking almost extinct animals and using that district as something for fun you decrease the animal species, whereas when you look where there are animal perseverations the large scale has actually increases.

As Rebecca Greig of the International Business Times put it, “to use Joseph Stalin's oft-quoted phrase, that, ‘one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic’” (Greig). As attention intensifies around Cecil, the government wastes tens of thousands of dollars and marginalizes the real problems in Africa. The citizens of America are swept up in a media storm that draws their attention away from those who really matter. The excessive over publication of trophy hunting done by the United States government yields a nation that is blind to the millions of deaths of the people in Africa. In fact, there are more lions killed because the local people are seeking protection than lions killed for sport. A 2014 report from the Unites States Wildlife & Fisheries wrote that “"[w]hen lions cause or are perceived to cause damage to livestock, property, or people, the response is generally to kill them" (Dickman). If public attention was focused on helping the African people into a safer environment, there would in fact be less lions killed each year. As blood boils over Walter Palmer, I rush to remind you that hunters help the people of Africa. When the individuals holding the guns were questioned, “[a] majority of hunters – eighty-six percent! – told the researchers they preferred hunting in an area where they knew that a portion of the proceeds went back into local communities” (Goldman). The money they spend goes to remote places that have no other major ways of income and might be bypassed anyway during simple safari tours. African people can see that American focus is on lions, not the poverty, disease, and death that plagues them every day. The account of Goodwell Zcouaug, a man from Zimbabwe going to school in America sums this concept up perfectly saying that “Zimbabweans are left shaking

Big-game hunting is ethical if executed properly. With the recent death of Cecil the lion, renowned and “beloved” tenant of a local animal reserve in Zimbabwe, a massive uproar of “anti-hunting” protests have risen to the surface. While these oppositions are with good intentions they also squash the opinions and experiences of native Zimbabweans who view creatures like Cecil as objects of terror. While it is true that trophy hunting is indeed unethical, as it is harmful to the ecosystem, the native people of areas where hunters can pay to slay large game think otherwise. As the individuals most greatly impacted by changes in the ecosystem, their voices deserve to be heard over those of sympathetic Americans. In the article “In Zimbabwe, We

In this short essay, I shall attempt to explain what Thrasymachus meant when he said, ‘Justice is in the interest of the stronger’. Next, I will outline the ambiguities this statement creates, which I believe results in the contradictory nature on Thrasymachus’s view of justice. Examples of Socrates’ dialectic-style responses will be used and discussed as evidence to show how his statement is implausible. However, I will be also be looking at how Thyrasmachus’s ideal of a ‘strong ruler’ compares to a ‘Machievellian man’, which provides some validity in his view of justice.

Trophy hunting should be banned because it is cruel and is driving certain animal populations into extinction. The author, Louisa Lombard’s argument is that trophy hunting is not only a cruel act against animals but nature. According to Louisa Lombard “African antelopes are endangered, yet wealthy trophy hunters spend small fortunes massacring these magnificent animals”(2014). The author is stating that most trophy hunters are wealthy therefore they have more money and time to travel to Africa, they can also buy more expensive guns which are more powerful and damaging. She also states that trophy hunting is ruining the peacefulness of Africa, and that more government action is needed to end this. Another animal that has been targeted recently is the lion. One of the most recent killings was of the beloved lion Cecil. “An American dentist’s recent killing of a lion Cecil in Zimbabwe sparked public outrage, but it largely obscured the

In Africa, a village of the name Sankuyo earned $600,000 from the 120 animals that were allowed to be victims of trophy hunting(Onishi). Without trophy hunting, there will not be as much money owned by these African villages and the villages will slowly decline to poverty. To add to this argument, lions have been seen entering the villages, where the ban has been placed, to find food because they would normally eat the elephant carcusses left by trophy hunters. The people of these villages are claiming to be poisoning those animals who trespass in order to save their own crops. Are humans really that much more important than these innocent animals?

Outside of the potential cooperation problems between local and national governments, there is also the cultural issue that many farmers and villagers do not respect elephants. Because elephants are creatures of habit, they follow the same migration paths that their ancestors have for decades. Due to the increased agriculture in African villages, elephants often cross right through small farms or villages, destroying crops and small structures. Many African villagers who have had these encounters with elephants do not understand the Western fascination and obsession with saving an animal they perceive as a large, more destructive cockroach.

From North America, all the way to Africa, and everywhere in between has problems with animals being hunted for recreational use. “In Tanzania, ~26% of the land surface area is set aside for trophy hunting of wildlife; these 250000 [km.sup.2] are protected against land use conversion and represent adequate habitat for large wildlife populations” (Kiffner). African lions are the major source of income for these trophy hunters which is leading to a detrimental decrease of population in the continent. These lions are set up and put in locations where hunters know they will be, and therefore easier to hunt. Not only is trophy killing reducing numbers, but also causing problems in the animal kingdom that humans do not realize. “The detrimental impact of shooting male lions on the entire lion population is mainly a function of infanticide following pride take-over by new male lions” (Kiffner). Male lions are the leaders of the pack and when they are killed, their animal kingdom can also be disrupted adding to additional problems. There are so only so many male lions in a pride, and trophy hunting is all revolved around killing the best beast you can find, and since there are so few, the male dominance becomes out of sync. An extra problem that all stems from trophy killing in the lion pride is when the new male lion does take over a pride he kills the cubs that belonged to the previous leader. "Lions really are becoming more of an

In many families, hunting is a tradition carried on from generation to generation and is a respected sport. However, there are those who do not respect the sport or the animals and have no issues harvesting the animals by any means necessary. Poachers are people that hunt during a non-hunting season or use tools to lure animals such as deer and bear to areas easier for them to get a shot. Essentially, poaching amounts to the theft of public's wildlife. (Wilkes-Barre, 2008) Poaching occurs all over the world and is not limited to a certain species. In Africa, elephants are the target of poachers for their tusks. In the 1970's and the 1980's the population of the elephants in Africa reduced due to poaching from 1.3 million to 600,00 0 in less than a decade. This illegal hunting selectively removed older animals with larger tusks and the results of this are being seen. Poaching not only affects the elephant population but the behavior of the elephants as well. (Archie & Chiyo, 2012) In all reality hunters have absolutely no reason or right to bend the rules, much less steal.