Longwalker
AH elite
this is the email I just sent the Saskatoon Inn. I am not a happy hunter.
I am very disappointed that The Saskatoon Inn has chosen to cancel the African Hunting Show event. Some misguided individuals have protested the “exploitation” of african animals from hunting. I understand your sensitivity to their concerns. However, there are many others with different opinions who are perhaps not so skilled at protest or dissent. You may not have heard from us. Perhaps you should have considered other opinions and the facts as well?
I am a deeply committed wildlife enthusiast and lifelong hunter from Saskatchewan. I have been to Africa a couple of times — once on a photo safari and once on a hunting safari. This is what I have observed. In the countries where hunting has been banned, like Kenya, the few remaining animals that still exist in the photo safari areas are crammed into tiny islands of remaining habitat surrounded by relentless pressure from agriculture, grazing, poaching and industry. Wildlife is not winning.
In contrast, in more enlightened countries like South Africa and Namibia, ranches that struggled for years to raise European cattle and sheep that were unsuited to life on the veldt have discovered that eliminating cattle over wide areas, re-introducing formerly rare or extirpated native antelope, and restoring the grassland and trees in balance with native grazers has paid huge dividends in sustainability, biodiversity, and better welfare for both humans and wildlife.
The key source of cash that sustains the local meat market for game animals and allows this success story to continue to develop is foreign sport hunters. The tourist dollars that they spend are vital source of capital that allows the reduction of cattle, the restocking of antelope, and the scientific and ecological management of the land for the betterment of all wildlife and people. But for that to happen, some animals, the mature males and the surplus females must die and be marketed. Every bit of an african animal killed by a sport hunter or shot by the landowner during culling operations are sold to market or otherwise used for human food. Nothing is wasted.
Please understand that there is no practical alternative to the commercialization of african wildlife, except to go back to the destructive agriculture / poaching practises of the past. Some people in Canada and other priveleged countries are upset that grazing animals die at the hands of humans as part of the cycle of life. They espouse vegetarinaism, abhor hunitng, and generally feel more virtuous by not eating meat and condemning all forms of animal utilization. But the alternative to not useing a semi-arid grassland landscape to produce wild meat is - grazing by unsuitable foreign domestic species, or cultivation of unsuitable crops. Wildlife of all types lose everything then.
I urge you to reconsider your ill-informed attempt at public responsibility. Regulated hunters are not the enemy of wildlife in Africa or anywhere else. Hunting, conducted by professionals and clients in Africa or in Canada is sustainable, renewable, and the least harmful use of the ecosystem. A great number of your regular guests are hunters. It would be unfortunate for the Saskatoon Inn to lose their support and business with one ill considered decision.
I will base my own decision whether to support or boycott your busines on your reply.
Sincerely,
I am very disappointed that The Saskatoon Inn has chosen to cancel the African Hunting Show event. Some misguided individuals have protested the “exploitation” of african animals from hunting. I understand your sensitivity to their concerns. However, there are many others with different opinions who are perhaps not so skilled at protest or dissent. You may not have heard from us. Perhaps you should have considered other opinions and the facts as well?
I am a deeply committed wildlife enthusiast and lifelong hunter from Saskatchewan. I have been to Africa a couple of times — once on a photo safari and once on a hunting safari. This is what I have observed. In the countries where hunting has been banned, like Kenya, the few remaining animals that still exist in the photo safari areas are crammed into tiny islands of remaining habitat surrounded by relentless pressure from agriculture, grazing, poaching and industry. Wildlife is not winning.
In contrast, in more enlightened countries like South Africa and Namibia, ranches that struggled for years to raise European cattle and sheep that were unsuited to life on the veldt have discovered that eliminating cattle over wide areas, re-introducing formerly rare or extirpated native antelope, and restoring the grassland and trees in balance with native grazers has paid huge dividends in sustainability, biodiversity, and better welfare for both humans and wildlife.
The key source of cash that sustains the local meat market for game animals and allows this success story to continue to develop is foreign sport hunters. The tourist dollars that they spend are vital source of capital that allows the reduction of cattle, the restocking of antelope, and the scientific and ecological management of the land for the betterment of all wildlife and people. But for that to happen, some animals, the mature males and the surplus females must die and be marketed. Every bit of an african animal killed by a sport hunter or shot by the landowner during culling operations are sold to market or otherwise used for human food. Nothing is wasted.
Please understand that there is no practical alternative to the commercialization of african wildlife, except to go back to the destructive agriculture / poaching practises of the past. Some people in Canada and other priveleged countries are upset that grazing animals die at the hands of humans as part of the cycle of life. They espouse vegetarinaism, abhor hunitng, and generally feel more virtuous by not eating meat and condemning all forms of animal utilization. But the alternative to not useing a semi-arid grassland landscape to produce wild meat is - grazing by unsuitable foreign domestic species, or cultivation of unsuitable crops. Wildlife of all types lose everything then.
I urge you to reconsider your ill-informed attempt at public responsibility. Regulated hunters are not the enemy of wildlife in Africa or anywhere else. Hunting, conducted by professionals and clients in Africa or in Canada is sustainable, renewable, and the least harmful use of the ecosystem. A great number of your regular guests are hunters. It would be unfortunate for the Saskatoon Inn to lose their support and business with one ill considered decision.
I will base my own decision whether to support or boycott your busines on your reply.
Sincerely,
