78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

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Sprocky
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78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by Sprocky »

2013-11-18 08:24

Cape Town – A group of South Africans have started a petition to have a US trophy hunter banned from the country after she was photographed alongside a lion carcass.

The Independent reports that Melissa Bachman tweeted a photo of herself smiling next to an adult male lion: “An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60 yards on this beautiful male lion... what a hunt!”

Cape Town resident, Elan Burman, has started a petition on change.org addressed to the Department of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, and the Private Office of the President.

In the petition Burman says Bachman “is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation, this country prides itself on. Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country”.

According to Mirror Bachman is the presenter of an American hunting show – Winchester Deadly Passion – for which she “edits and hunts for a living”, her website says.

Her website, which has since been taken down, and her Facebook page show dozens of pictures of her with a variety of slain animals including bear, crocodile, and game.

The petition, which has amassed over 78 000 supporters, has reignited the debate on South Africa’s canned lion industry.

A ‘Stop Melissa Bachman’ Facebook page has also been initiated and has garnered over 57 000 likes.


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Flutterby
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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by Flutterby »

And another petition...
NatGeo Television/National Geographic: Stop the Melissa Bachman show from broadcasting!

In less than 24 hours, more than 13,000 people signed this petition asking NatGeo not to air a show with Melissa Bachman, who is known as the "Hardcore Huntress." National Geographic quickly responded with this statement: "The National Geographic Channel has carefully considered the public discussion of our series on surviving the wilds of Alaska currently in production and premiering sometime next year. Upon further reflection we plan to eliminate one of the survivalists from the ensemble cast, Melissa Bachman. Hunting is not the focus of the show, and we regret the misinformation that has clouded what we hope will be an exciting adventure series set in the incredible Alaskan landscape." Petition starter Tim Martell said, "In one day, almost 13,500 people signed the petition on Change.org. The response was amazing and National Geographic promptly re-evaluated their affiliation with trophy hunter Melissa Bachman. Now, together with National Geographic, we can continue the work of conserving and protecting our natural world, not only for us, but for generations to come."
This is the pic that sparked such outrage. Jeremy Mansfield (local radio DJ & actor) titled this pic: "What a good-looking hunter! What a magnificent body. What a perfect face. Absolutely beautiful. The other is a **** with a telescopic rifle."

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Sprocky
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Thousands sign petition against lion huntress

Post by Sprocky »

2013-11-18 12:07

Cape Town – US television presenter, Melissa Bachman, has sparked international outrage as a photograph of her posing with a magnificent maned lion she had evidently shot and killed has been doing the rounds on social media.

Bachman, presenter of ‘Winchester Deadly Passion’ and self-styled hardcore huntress, posted the image on her Facebook page with the caption “An incredible day hunting in South Africa!! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion...what a hunt!” She even made it her profile picture.

The hunt had taken place at Maroi Conservancy in Limpopo and Bachman mentioned professional hunter, Julious Heyneke in her photo caption, recommending his services. Photos on his Facebook page reveal that he is no stranger to lion hunting.

While her Facebook fans responded with accolades such as “That’s my hero! Congratulations” and “Wow. You get right to the point! Congratulations on a tremendous trophy,” conservation groups and wildlife lovers have reacted with outrage.

Change.org has set up a petition, asking the South African government to deny Bachman future entry into the country. The petition has 86 400 signatures so far and gaining more by the second. A ‘Stop Melissa Bachman’ Facebook page has also been set up and currently has 65 710 ‘Likes.’

Africa Geographic reports that a number of prominent South Africans have also expressed their disgust with Bachman’s actions. Ben Trovato wrote a tongue-in-cheek open letter to the huntress on his blog, while Jeremy Mansfield wrote the following on Facebook: "What a good-looking hunter! What a magnificent body. What a perfect face. Absolutely beautiful. The other is a p**s with a telescopic rifle."

While both Bachman and Maroi Conservancy’s websites have been disabled, their Facebook pages are still accessible. Various people have expressed their confusion over the outraged response to Bachman’s hunt on Maroi Conservancy's page.

“Hey guys I'm from Louisiana in the United States, keep up the good work and don't be discouraged,” one international fan said, while a local opinion read: “It amazes me that you get so much negative reply towards a legal and fair hunt but that there is no commentary or outrage regarding the amount of children being raped and murdered in South Africa and the fact that our law has now allowed hard core porn to show on our channels from 8 o clock at night.”


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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by Flutterby »

An open letter to Melissa Bachman from attorney Martin Hood:

MELISSA BACHMAN
For those of you who believe there is merit in what I have to say please pass this on as widely as you can.
On some considerable reflection I decided to address the issue of Melissa Bachman because I see that the hysteria surrounding her lion hunt, by people and organisations that are anti-hunting, has close parallels with the anti-firearm debate.
Fortunately there are enough rational people in this world, who even if they are pro- or anti-hunting have the necessary common sense, logic and where necessary legal training to separate fact from fantasy and hysteria.
Our Constitution entrenches the right to freedom of speech, thought and expression and I respect, uphold, promote and will fight for that right. This means to the anti-hunters that you are entitled to your opinion and I will apply those principles to your right of freedom of speech and expression, and I will respect your rights even if I don’t agree with your opinions.
Where we digress however is like the anti-gunners, you have no right to impose your will upon me and others and if you are factually or legally incorrect, or if I don’t agree with you and I have the right to say so.
Ironically I believe that the furore around Ms Bachman has in fact had a positive spin off for hunting. An intelligent analysis of the broad spectrum of comments made by anti-hunters shows a complete lack of proper understanding and logic and smacks of a sense of hysteria for good measure.
Let us look the facts.
The hunt was legal in terms of the applicable provincial nature conservation ordinance for the North West Province. The necessary permits were in place and she was accompanied by a qualified professional hunter as the legislation requires.
The farm that she hunted on far exceeded the minimum requirements that the provincial nature conservation ordnance stipulates. So this hunt cannot have been a canned hunt. (Most antis don’t even know what a canned hunt is, but recklessly use the term anyway)
Melissa is an extremely accomplished hunter and due to her high profile I have no doubt that the hunt was conducted in an ethical manner. I have seen no reports that suggests otherwise.
In the hysteria surrounding the publication of her pictures various allegations have been made against Melissa that she is a criminal and a murderer.
I am not aware (and I have made enquiries) of any criminal charges that are being investigated against Melissa or her professional hunter.In any event we must not forget that basic prescript of our criminal justice system that one is presumed innocent of committing an offence until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
I have news for the people that have made such allegations and that is that such allegations are completely without any legal basis and show an absolute ignorance of the proper meaning of words that have been so recklessly thrown around by anti-hunters.
You cannot, in terms of South African Law (and most other western legal systems for that matter), murder an animal.
The definition of murder is the unlawful intentional killing of a human being by another human being.
The response to Melissa’s hunt has been purely an emotional response by people and organisations opposed to hunting, using terminologythat they do not understand, or even worse, do not want to understand.
A reading of the majority of comments show that people have responded emotionally, aggressively and in an insulting mannerin words that would, in terms of South African law, expose them to not only civil claims for defamation but criminal injuria, i.e. criminal defamation. Such base comments have lowered the debate to a simple barrage of insults.
The vast majority of comments that are opposed to Melissa’s hunt fall into the category of criminal insults, and donotconsitute fair or good comment. This is a pity because it would have been constructive to be able to debate the pros and cons of hunting on a level where logic and fact are considered, analysed and then properly considered conclusions can be drawn out of such a debate, even if the participants agreed to disagree. There is no possibility of this happening in this particular debate.
If you strip the comments against Melissa’s hunt of their abuse and emotion there is little substance left. That is the ultimate benefit that this debate has given to the pro-hunting group, who are more than ready and prepared to argue the benefits of hunting.
For the minority of anti-hunters who may have good sound arguments against hunting, you have been let down by the majority of your supporters, and they have weakened your cause.
There is a reason why almost all countries have laws isbecause those laws are there to prevent mob justice and mob rule and to protect the innocent from mass hysteria.
Laws exist because good people understand that just because a large group of people subjectively feel aggrieved by any given situation it does not allow them to take the law into their own hands, to disregard all other laws, do what they want and in the process sacrifice other people’s rights on the altar of their emotions.
To Melissa Bachman, thank you for visiting our country and thank you for hunting in this country. I hope, notwithstanding the furore that you will go home and tell fellow hunters that South Africa is still a destination that welcomes hunters and that through your and other hunter contributions the success of South Africa’s game ranching, sustainable conservation and hunting projects will continue.

MARTIN HOOD


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Sprocky
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Revenue from controversial hunting tourism decreases

Post by Sprocky »

2013-11-22 08:57

Johannesburg - South Africa made R90 million less in 2012 than the previous year from tourists who came to the country to hunt, the Professional Hunters' Association of SA (Phasa) said on Wednesday.

This was contained in the preliminary findings of the environmental affairs department's statistics for 2012, Phasa CEO Adri Kitshoff said in a statement.

The findings showed that tourists who visited for hunting purposes contributed R811m to the economy in 2012, compared to R901m in 2011, Kitshoff said.

Rhino hunting showed the biggest decrease, with 85 fewer harvests in 2012 than in 2011.

This meant only R36m was contributed by rhino hunting in 2012, compared to R84m in 2011, Kitshoff said.

Lion hunting showed the biggest increase, with 151 more harvests in 2012 raising R122m, as opposed to the R77m made in 2011.

There was a public outcry this week when US television personality and game hunter Melissa Bachman was pictured on Twitter alongside a lion she killed while in South Africa, with the comment: "An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60 yards on this beautiful male lion... what a hunt!"

Activists petitioned the South African government to "deny future entry" to Bachman, accusing her of being "an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation". They obtained more than 150,000 signatures.

The environmental affairs department could not be reached to confirm the findings.

- Sapa


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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by Flutterby »

Wonder if this will get the same response as Bachman's pic?

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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by okie »

Hmmmm.. Somewhat of a difference there , or what :O^
The lion was shot from 50 meters ( a good distance for a pellet-gun 0*\ . Gee-whizz 0*\
And then , using a high-powered rifle , mounted on a tripod , and fitted with telescope 0*\ .


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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by Richprins »

Nothing illegal? -O-


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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by okie »

Uh-uh , nothing illegal ,....... but , to call it hunting 0*\
Like using dynamite in a fishpond then call it fishing -O-


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Re: 78 000 want US lion hunter banned from SA

Post by Flutterby »

RP, there was also nothing illegal about Melissa Bachman's hunt but that created such an uproar, why not the same uproar for this one?

I suppose one could say that lions are endangered while zebras are not. -O-


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