“Canned Hunting” Ban on Cards

“Canned hunting,” which involves buying or breeding game animals specifically as future hunting trophies – as well as plopping rich, inexperienced “hunters” in the vicinity of their often caged and half-drugged quarry, and finishing off the poor beast once they’ve shattered its legs or gut-shot it with a few horribly mis-aimed salvos – is set to be banned in South Africa.

The hunting industry brings millions in tourism revenue to SA, and most hunts take place within a larger conservation strategy – quotas for animals living in the wild, for instance, are established when their numbers threaten local biodiversity – or within the context of encouraging economic growth in poor, rural communities. But the practice has a much-tarnished reputation because of the size and scope of its “canned” dark side, and most conservationists – many of whom are not anti-hunting, per se – will welcome measures that lead to the latter’s shutting down.

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