Tiana Cortada
Ms. Peters
Adv. English Period 3 October 12, 2015
Is Trophy Hunting Worth the Hype?
Walter Palmer paid around 55,000 dollars this year to hunt a famous lion in Zimbabwe (Mosbergen 1). The money that Palmer spent is equivalent to an average person’s yearly income. There has been much controversy about Cecil the lion’s death recently. Both hunters and animal conservationists both have strong opinions about the case. To hunters, hunting is a hobby, an activity done for fun. They see no reason for the controversy on their actions. However, animal advocates feel that trophy hunting is cruel and needs to be illegalized. The fine line between what needs to be outlawed and what is not causing enough harm to society becomes blurry. …show more content…
Eventually, the animals being hunted will physically and mentally degrade from their original states resulting in reverse evolution. “…biologist Marco Festa- Bianchet of the University of Sherbrook in Quebec found a roughly 25 percent decline in the size of these horns, and both male and female sheep getting smaller” Newsweek states in an article explaining reverse evolution (Huang 1). The size of these bighorn sheep’s features are dramatically declining due to trophy hunting. Hunters obviously would want to hunt the animals with better characteristics to show that the hunter is more skillful and powerful. The hunter’s desires are ruining these animals’ intentional functions. These big horned sheep had larger “Princess Leia [like]” horns in order to be more attractive during mating season, and to defend themselves against other rams who choose to compete with them (Huang 1). However, now that trophy hunting is causing their horns to decrease in size, the “smaller horned males get far more opportunity to mate” meaning that their self-defense will worsen and they will be less attractive towards the female sheep (Huang 1). Eventually, the downgrading of these animals will lead to their extinction along with other animals in similar situations all because of trophy hunting. The idea of reverse evolution also happens with mental aspects, represented by High Country News, “…the older animals carry …show more content…
Many trophy hunters enjoy the thrill of hunting a dangerous animal, but forget that they are putting themselves in a dangerous situation that could risk their life. According to an article by Onegreenplanet, “A trophy hunter who was leading a guided group to hunt an elephant for its tusks was trampled to death by a young bull elephant in Zimbabwe” (Dolmage 2). Hunters at least need to consider their own safety, even if they do not care about the animals they are hunting. Hunting is defiantly not fun when you end up in a hospital, or in Ian Gibson’s case, lifeless, so reconsider how thrilling it actually is. Humans should not “celebrate anyone’s death” and should “see the entire situation as utterly senseless” (Dolmage 4). Trophy hunting is basically enforcing that it is fine for humans to get injured or killed. Similar to Gibson’s scenario, trophy hunter Owain Lewis was also killed during his attempt to kill a dangerous animal. An article by The Telegraph describes Lewis’s death, “[he] had been caught unaware when the buffalo charged from the undergrowth and tossed him in the air” (Laing 1). In the article it is mentioned that the buffalo was “shot and injured”, but even then, it was physically more powerful than a hunter with a highly powerful weapon. This shows that no matter how prepared and safe you think your plan is, trophy hunting is still extremely
Ms. Peters
Adv. English Period 3 October 12, 2015
Is Trophy Hunting Worth the Hype?
Walter Palmer paid around 55,000 dollars this year to hunt a famous lion in Zimbabwe (Mosbergen 1). The money that Palmer spent is equivalent to an average person’s yearly income. There has been much controversy about Cecil the lion’s death recently. Both hunters and animal conservationists both have strong opinions about the case. To hunters, hunting is a hobby, an activity done for fun. They see no reason for the controversy on their actions. However, animal advocates feel that trophy hunting is cruel and needs to be illegalized. The fine line between what needs to be outlawed and what is not causing enough harm to society becomes blurry. …show more content…
Eventually, the animals being hunted will physically and mentally degrade from their original states resulting in reverse evolution. “…biologist Marco Festa- Bianchet of the University of Sherbrook in Quebec found a roughly 25 percent decline in the size of these horns, and both male and female sheep getting smaller” Newsweek states in an article explaining reverse evolution (Huang 1). The size of these bighorn sheep’s features are dramatically declining due to trophy hunting. Hunters obviously would want to hunt the animals with better characteristics to show that the hunter is more skillful and powerful. The hunter’s desires are ruining these animals’ intentional functions. These big horned sheep had larger “Princess Leia [like]” horns in order to be more attractive during mating season, and to defend themselves against other rams who choose to compete with them (Huang 1). However, now that trophy hunting is causing their horns to decrease in size, the “smaller horned males get far more opportunity to mate” meaning that their self-defense will worsen and they will be less attractive towards the female sheep (Huang 1). Eventually, the downgrading of these animals will lead to their extinction along with other animals in similar situations all because of trophy hunting. The idea of reverse evolution also happens with mental aspects, represented by High Country News, “…the older animals carry …show more content…
Many trophy hunters enjoy the thrill of hunting a dangerous animal, but forget that they are putting themselves in a dangerous situation that could risk their life. According to an article by Onegreenplanet, “A trophy hunter who was leading a guided group to hunt an elephant for its tusks was trampled to death by a young bull elephant in Zimbabwe” (Dolmage 2). Hunters at least need to consider their own safety, even if they do not care about the animals they are hunting. Hunting is defiantly not fun when you end up in a hospital, or in Ian Gibson’s case, lifeless, so reconsider how thrilling it actually is. Humans should not “celebrate anyone’s death” and should “see the entire situation as utterly senseless” (Dolmage 4). Trophy hunting is basically enforcing that it is fine for humans to get injured or killed. Similar to Gibson’s scenario, trophy hunter Owain Lewis was also killed during his attempt to kill a dangerous animal. An article by The Telegraph describes Lewis’s death, “[he] had been caught unaware when the buffalo charged from the undergrowth and tossed him in the air” (Laing 1). In the article it is mentioned that the buffalo was “shot and injured”, but even then, it was physically more powerful than a hunter with a highly powerful weapon. This shows that no matter how prepared and safe you think your plan is, trophy hunting is still extremely