For a relative of mine.

I read where Trump rescinded an Obama Executive Order regarding Americans importing elephant trophies legally taken in Africa.

I know someone that disagrees with Trump doing this and seems to believe that Trump has done this out of spite.

First of all you really don’t get very far if you let spite run your administration. I think that Trump did this because he looked into it and believes it is the right thing to do.

People have a hard time understanding this but one of the reasons we still have many of the species still alive in Africa now is because of hunting. It is one of the paradoxes in life that hunting has saved several species of animals. The fact that people want to hunt them is what gives them value.

Let’s look at what an elephant is to most African villagers. It is a big, clumsy oversize crop damager that does them no good whatsoever other than the fact that people will pay good money to hunt them.

Tigers, lions and other big cats are a pain in the neck to villagers because they kill their livestock and if they are not careful, their children. Other than the money they draw from hunters they serve no useful purpose to villagers. In fact they cause a great deal of harm to villagers.

A relative asked me what kind of douche would want to shoot an elephant. I am not going to get into the personality of such a person. I don’t really care what kind of person goes elephant hunting. But to answer my relative I will say he is a person with a lot of money because hunting safaris are not cheap. They are quite expensive. They also quite often spread a lot of money from the country’s government agencies all the way down to the villagers.

Most of the animals that are so-called African trophies are nothing but pests to the average villager. Most people outside of Africa don’t realize, for example, the African hippopotamus is a pretty mean vegetarian and a nasty killer. Generally hippos kill about 2900 humans annually.

Of course, sitting in a climate controlled living room across an ocean with a good meal it is pretty easy to think that the villagers in Africa think the same way you do. Truth is they don't. While that meal you are eating came from a supermarket, the villagers have to grow and raise their own food. 

In addition to that, hippos join elephants as crop damagers. This certainly doesn’t endear these animals into the hearts and minds of African villagers that are trying to feed their families.

Truth is to an awful lot of Africans these animals are nothing more than nuisances that they would like to see eliminated. 

I can see their point and I can certainly see that most people don’t understand these people. They are simple people.

I never was much of a litterbug, but the exception was cigarette butts as I used the ash tray for change years ago. I got stopped in Washington State and another time in Massachusetts for throwing a butt out the window. Both times the cops were just fishing. Both times I handed the officers an Alaskan driver’s license and both times I was wearing an LL Bean wool shirt.

Both police officers gave me the same lecture. “You’re from Alaska, you should know better!”

Both police officers acted as if I was some kind of super ecologist uber world saver type simply because I was living in Kodiak. What a joke that was! They should have assumed I was one of those nasty old sourdough gold seeking slobs. I was just like everyone else up there. I wanted to make a buck.  As a fisherman I would go off to sea and make a concerted effort to sweep the sea clean of halibut. As a hunter I filled a freezer so I could eat. The reason I killed no bears is because they left me alone and there was no profit in it.

On a parallel run the same holds true for African villagers. They simply want to raise their families and if eliminating game animals makes it easier and safer then so be it. So what if it’s illegal. Those laws were passed by big city people that have no clue of village life. Just whack the critter and drag the body out into the bush for the hyenas to eat. If you can get a hefty chunk of change for the tusks or horns, better yet! These are real people unlike the fake crying Indian in the anti-litter commercial of years gone by.

Incidentally ‘Iron Eyes Cody’, the crying Indian in the ads, was really the son of Italian immigrants. While we’re on the subject of Indians the plains Indians moved frequently because they polluted their camp site. Granted the pollution was mostly organics so the camp site cleaned itself up fairly quickly and could be reused the following year or so, but that’s the reason they moved so frequently.

The fact of the matter is that the only thing that gives the trophy animals of Africa any value at all is that people want to hunt them, either with guns or cameras and will pay dearly to do so. It turns the herds into something that is profitable and that it makes sense to manage the herds for future business.

Since the animals now have value they must be guarded and managed for the future generations to be able to either hunt or otherwise profit from.

For some people this is a bitter pill to swallow but it is the truth when you take the time to look at it. When the animals lose value they will be poached into extinction. Poaching does more damage to the herds than managed legal hunting. Hunting is at least regulated. Poaching isn't.

Generally speaking, where animals are hunted legally poaching drops off. There are reasons for this. For one thing the money taken in by various trophy fees is often used to protect the herds.

The bottom line here is just like the bottom line everywhere else. Follow the money.

As for Obama outlawing trophies in the United States?

I’d bet that Barak Obama doesn’t give a sweet God damn nothin’ about the animals in Africa. He gave that executive order for political gain to impress a bunch of gullible people that think that it really would do some good. In fact, as with a lot of ‘feel good’ legislation it did more harm than good.

Since Obama gave that order the elephant population has dropped like a stone and the reason for that is poaching. Both the villagers want to get rid of the oversized crop crushers and sell the ivory as a bonus. Hunters from the States dried up and the animals lost value.

Had Obama not issued the order it is very likely that the elephant population would not have dropped because one of the things the governments do with the trophy fees is hire people to guard and manage the herds.

I’ll say it again. Follow the money.

I’ll add this for the benefit of my family. I have no use for a tiger skin to put down in front of my fireplace, nor can I use a set of kudu horns to hang on my wall.

I can’t really afford an African safari. However, if I won one or got handed a freebie I would most likely accept it but not bother shooting anything.  I would carry a camera, I suppose just to shut everyone up.

The truth is I would really rather go out with the professional hunter and simply watch the animals with my own eyes and add those memories to the pile. It would be a wonderful addition to the pile of memories I am accumulating to give Alzheimer’s more to steal from me.

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Update. I just read where Trump has put everything on hold pending more research. 

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY