#STOPTROPHYHUNTING

#STOPTROPHYHUNTING

PETITION: 

PROTECT GRIZZLY BEARS BY BANNING

THE BC TROPHY HUNT

Petition by Bears Matter Ltd.

http://www.change.org/petitions/honourable-premier-christy-clark-protect-grizzly-bears-by-banning-the-trophy-hunt?share_id=vFAKCBJnMB&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true

Reposted from Exposing the Big Game

Posted on January 22, 2014

Over 10,000 grizzly bears have been killed by trophy hunters between 1976 and 2012. More than one third (1/3) of grizzly bears killed by trophy hunters are female. In the Spring hunt female bears may be shot due to mistaken identity leaving their tiny 2-3 month old cubs to perish.

A recent report by the Centre for Responsible Tourism (CREST) in collaboration with Stanford University highlighted that bear viewing produces far more jobs and revenue than the grizzly bear trophy hunt, which costs more for the government to manage than it generates back in revenue. There is simply no scientific, ethical or economic rationale for the trophy hunt.

To:

Honourable Premier Christy Clark, Provincial Government of British Columbia

Honourable Minister Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources

Honourable Minister Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training

Honourable Minster Mary Polak, Minister of Environment

As British Columbians, we live in a democracy where the government is duty-bound to heed the voices of the majority and not to pander to a small, vocal segment of the hunting community. As you are aware, opinion polls have consistently shown that the overwhelming majority of British Columbians oppose the trophy hunt of grizzly bears. We urge your government to fully support eco-tourism and bear viewing, which not only benefit the bears but also local economies. The Coastal First Nations recently announced a ban on bear trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest so that they can fully embrace eco-tourism as a vital part of their sustainable future. We wholeheartedly support this important initiative and ask that your government follow their lead. 

Lastly, we would like to engage in a dialogue with your government about how we can best protect and celebrate our iconic grizzly bears and their habitat so that future generations will be able to experience the beauty and majesty of these creatures. One way to celebrate our grizzly bears could be, for example, through the creation of a province-wide Grizzly Bear Sanctuary. 

We, the undersigned, look forward to your response to our requests for action and meaningful dialogue on these important and time-sensitive issues. 

Sincerely, 

[Your name]

Sign the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/honourable-premier-christy-clark-protect-grizzly-bears-by-banning-the-trophy-hunt?share_id=vFAKCBJnMB&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true

___________________________________________________


#STOPTROPHYHUNTING

THREE ACTIONS TO
 PROTEST THE DALLAS SAFARI CLUB 
BLACK RHINO HUNT 
 TELL USFWS TO DENY IMPORT OF TROPHY.
http://noanimalsuffering.blogspot.com/p/stoptrophyhunting.html

Please take action. Tell USFWS not to issue the import permit that would allow the winner of the Dallas Safari Club auction, Corey Knowlton to import a black rhinoceros trophy from Namibia.

1) PETITION: 

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=104&ea.campaign.id=24844

2) PETITION: http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/get-involved/protect-black-rhinos-trophy-hunters

3) FB page with USFWS contact info and sample letter for writing to ask them to deny permit: https://www.facebook.com/events/242483775925213/

Corey Knowlton. 

Winner of Dallas Safari Club Black Rhino Hunt Auction is also the one who killed what may have been the largest Mako Shark ever.

Man who paid $350K for the right to kill a black rhino: "I will say to Bob Barker...the price was wrong"

by Exposing the Big Game

Reblogged from Piers Morgan:

Amidst a flurry of violent criticism across multiple social media platforms, on Thursday evening Corey Knowlton joined "Piers Morgan Live" for an exclusive primetime interview, during which he offered his explanation as to why he willingly paid 350-thousand dollars for the chance to hunt a black rhinoceros.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/us/black-rhino-hunting-permit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

As winner of the Dallas Safari Club's auction, Knowlton earned a hunting permit from the Namibian government, and is slated to travel to the southern African nation of Namibia for what he calls a conservation hunt.

Having joined the program last summer after reeling in a record-breaking shark,

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/05/shark-catcher-corey-knowlton-we-worked-for-four-years-to-try-to-find-one-this-big/ 

on Thursday Knowlton returned for a live discussion, and revealed why he selected the CNN host as the man with whom he was willing to share his story:

"Piers, just like the gun thing, you've been attacked just the way I am about your views of guns, okay? We're human beings, both you and I," noted the host of “Jim Shockey’s The Professionals” on Outdoor Channel. "I don't think you should be hated because you believe that. I don't think I should be hated because I lead my life a certain way. They're threatening my children, Piers. They're threatening to kill me."

Knowlton fancies himself an expert hunter, and he views his work as part of the natural cycle of life, in which population is controlled, and species are protected. Suffice it to say, the masses haven't shared his perspective:

"I had no idea that it would be this visceral. I had no idea that they would be attacking my two-year-old daughter and my seven-year-old daughter and my beautiful young wife, and they'd want to kill us all and burn us, and make a "Saw" movie out of us," said Knowlton. "These are the type of things that I'm getting, okay?"

But the list of those lobbing criticism at Knowlton and the organization arranging his hunt isn't limited to simply faceless users of Twitter and Facebook. Legendary game show host Bob Barker has also voiced his objections, penning an open letter to PETA in which he offered the following notion:

http://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/bob-barker-urges-safari-club-auction-license-kill-older-male-rhino/

"True conservationists are those who pay money to keep rhinos alive—in the form of highly lucrative eco-tourism—as opposed to those who pay money for the cheap thrill of taking this magnificent animal’s life and putting his head on a wall."

Live on air, Morgan asked his guest to respond to the longtime host of "The Price is Right."

"He said what he said about it, alright? And Bob, he's a well-intended person," said Knowlton. "But if I want to learn about 'The Price is Right' and I want to learn about Plinko, I'll talk to Bob Barker. If I want to learn about conservation, I'm going to defer to the experts at the IUCN, I'm going to defer to the experts at CITES, okay. And the fact of the matter is, all this hate that you're talking about, the one thing I will say to Bob Barker is, the price was wrong! The contribution would have been much higher and everybody would have been much better for it, even up to a million dollars, they scared these people away because they didn't want to go through what I'm going through now."

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/16/man-who-paid-350k-for-the-right-to-kill-a-black-rhino-i-will-say-to-bob-barker-the-price-was-wrong/

____________________________________________


#STOPTROPHYHUNTING

If you do business with GoDaddy, and you oppose the concept of #TrophyHunting a threatened or endangered species, you might wish to take your business elsewhere.

Bob Parsons ~ Executive chairman and founder of GoDaddy~dot~com

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons#Elephant_shooting_controversy

ELEPHANT SHOOTING CONTROVERSY

In 2011 Parsons was denounced by animal rights groups for tweeting a video in which he shoots and kills an elephant in Zimbabwe.[10] In response, Parsons explained, "The tribal authorities requested that I and others like me patrol the fields before and during the harvest."[11] PETA said that it would close its account with Go Daddy and urged others to do the same.[12] Parsons said in response that by shooting leopards and elephants that he has been helping the local population. He has also stated that he believes the opposition to him only exists within small organizations who are not his customers.[13]

#StopTrophyHunting petitions 

http://noanimalsuffering.blogspot.com/p/stoptrophyhunting.html

Be #TheVoiceForTheVoiceless

Thank you to Walter Eisenstein for sharing the photo .

Anthony Douglas Williams--Inside the Divine Pattern

STOP ANY KIND OF SAFARI HUNTING IN AFRICA

https://www.causes.com/campaigns/34435-stop-any-kind-of-safari-hunting-in-africa

STOP TROPHY HUNTING GIRAFFES

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/929/929/857/stop-trophy-hunting-giraffes/

STOP TROPHY AND BIG GAME HUNTING - 

ANIMAL CRUELTY SHOULD NOT BE A SPORT!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-savage-and-sickening-trophy-and-sport-hunting/

PETITIONING THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT 

THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT: STOP THE LEGAL SLAUGHTER 

OF POLAR BEARS BY HUNTERS

https://www.change.org/petitions/the-canadian-government-stop-the-legal-slaughter-of-polar-bears-by-trophy-hunters

 STOP LION TROPHY HUNTING

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_Lion_Trophy_Hunting/

WE SHOULD STOP TROPHY HUNTING!

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/11upoplawska

LEGAL KILLING OF WILDLIFE. 

STOP TROPHY HUNTING.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-legal-killing-of-wildlife-stop-hunting.html

REMOVE ALL OF MELISSA BACHMAN'S 
DISTURBING VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE
http://www.yousign.org/en/melissa-bachman-youtube

TAKE MELISSA BACHMAN OFF THE AIR
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/387/581/929/stop-melissa-bachman/

END MELISSA BACHMAN'S TELEVISION CAREER. STOP THE KILLING OF INNOCENT ANIMALS!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/777/390/520/end-melissa-bachmans-television-career-stop-the-killing-of-innocent-animals/#

HELP PROTECT AFRICAN LIONS FROM HUNTERS 

http://www.ifaw.org/united-states/get-involved/help-protect-african-lions-hunters

UPDATED DECEMBER 4.2013

Petitioning U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance 

US SPORTSMEN ALLIANCE AND ALL LINKED SPONSORS: REMOVE MELISSA BACHMAN FROM ALL AFFILIATED SPONSORSHIP.

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/us-sportsmen-alliance-and-all-linked-sponsors-remove-melissa-bachman-from-all-affiliated-sponsorship

NBC UNIVERSAL ASKED TO DROP TROPHY HUNTING PROGRAMMING

December 2, 2013

TV host Melissa Bachman posts photo with killed African lion, prompting public outrage
Melissa Bachman, host of NBC’s Winchester Deadly Passion, has sparked controversy by shooting and killing an African lion and then posting a photo where she posed and smiled while kneeling beside the carcass. As a matter of broadcast industry standards and practices because of the offensive and violent nature of the underlying behavior, The Humane Society of the United States has called on NBC to drop Bachman from all future shows and to reexamine its programming that promotes the vivid, inhumane and unsustainable trophy hunting of wildlife, including rare species.

In a letter to NBC Universal CEO Stephen B. Burke, The HSUS condemns trophy hunting, which involves apex predators and other rare species being shot just for their heads or hides for display purposes. In some of these hunts, the trophy hunters kill rare animals confined in enclosures that prevent the animals from even having a chance to escape – a practice generally referred to as “canned” or captive hunting.

The letter also addresses concerns about NBC’s association with Bachman, stating: “Ms. Bachman is a well-known trophy hunter, and her website and Facebook page are covered with photos of animals she has killed. On Winchester Deadly Passion, which airs on NBC Sports, she is shown laughing and giving the camera the ‘thumbs-up’ every time she kills a moose or bear or any number of other wild animals.” 

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS and author of the letter to NBC, said: “Melissa Bachman’s online boasting about her African lion kill is shameful, especially considering African lion populations are struggling to survive and belong on the endangered species list. We urge NBC to no longer air shows that feature Bachman, and to further take stock of its hunting-related programming to no longer promote killing as a head-hunting exercise.”

The HSUS notes that African lion populations have diminished by more than half in the last 30 years, and these majestic creatures now occupy only one-quarter of their historic range.  They have been devastated by the effects of habitat loss, poisoning, and trophy hunting. The HSUS and other organizations have petitioned the U.S. government to list the African lion as an endangered species. 

Media Contact: Stephanie Twining, 240-751-3943, stwining@humanesociety.org

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2013/12/nbc-trophy-hunt-program-120213.html#.Up-gKJSDRz8

Update about 'The Government of the Republic of South Africa: Deny future entry to Melissa Bachman.'

November 19. 2013

Dear Signatories,

I want to say thank you!

With your support, we have brought extensive attention to the issue of trophy hunting, now symbolised by Melissa Bachman’s morally debased grin, over a destroyed lion.

BUT, we cannot stop now. We need more signatories and we need more attention. If you have not yet done so, please post the petition to your social media sites. (I am also including some newspaper reports on the issue at the very end of this email).

While the vast majority of correspondence I have received has been overwhelmingly positive, I do want to address a number of the challenges I have received. These include:

______________________________

PETITION NOW CLOSED
487, 628 people said this was wrong!

“It is not illegal to hunt lion in South Africa, so what is wrong with it?”

Please sign: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-of-the-republic-of-south-africa-deny-future-entry-to-melissa-bachman?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice


Those South Africans old enough to have experienced Apartheid know all too well that what is “legal” and what is “ethical” are not always the same thing. Legality is no proof for morality. The law must often be challenged until such time as it is congruous with our moral understandings. Simply because something has been allowed by law, or has yet to be banned by law, does not make it ethical.

“Trophy hunting generates significant revenue for the South African economy, much of which is used for conservation.”

Since when have we allowed economic benefit alone to determine what should be tolerated? We are not about to start an industry for arsonists, simply because the revenues will support fire-fighting in South Africa. It also strikes me as particularly ridiculous to allow Melissa Bachman to showcase lion hunting, as she has done, thereby increasing the bloodlust amongst people of her ilk, and then use those revenues to protect lions. If we need further resources to protect our wildlife, here is one person willing to assist in finding it in more ethical places.

“You are just a soppy, liberal, animal-lover”

The term “animal-lover” has become one of condescension. This petition is not fueled by some deep seated love of South African wildlife, though I do really love it. Rather, the petition is fueled by moral considerations. Our wildlife deserves better treatment than it is receiving from the likes of Melissa Bachman. I am not advocating that lions get the vote, I simply ask that they are spared from being hunted down for pure sport and profit.

“You are taking on the wrong person, take on your government.”

I certainly intend to use this petition as a basis upon which to challenge the South African government. As above, our laws need to catch up with our moral understandings. The reality is that the South African government is overrun with legislative issues and this will likely take time. In the interim, I think it is a fitting strategic measure to petition against those fueling the demand for this activity.

Sadly, it often takes making an example of a single person to raise awareness about a particular issue. I am not taking on Melissa Bachman alone. She is simply a very deserving target of what I hope will become a sustained assault on this practice. I say that she is particularly deserving as she has staked her livelihood and celebrity on massacring wildlife.

“Do you eat meat? What is the difference?”

I personally do not eat meat and I am not an advocate for the meat industry. However, I maintain that producing meat for consumption remains morally preferable to producing wildlife for purposeless slaughter. Bachman destroys animals for mere photo opportunities. This is surely the most facile cause proffered for the destruction of a sentient being.

“Don’t you have bigger causes to tackle?”

There is always a more pressing moral issue or injustice. We need to fight every injustice, whenever and wherever we can, in order to make our world a better place. 
_____________________________

Thank you again for lending your name to stopping this practice. 

Best, 
Elan

News:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/351128/Calls-for-TV-presenter-to-be-banned-from-South-Africa-for-shooting-lion

http://www.smh.com.au/world/lion-hunter-becomes-the-hunted-in-barrage-of-criticism-20131116-2xnum.html

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/362218

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tv-presenter-slammed-photo-lion-killed-article-1.1519039

http://americanlivewire.com/hardcore-huntress-melissa-bachman-lion/

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/tv-presenter-causes-outrage-after-posing-with-lion-she-killed-29759967.html

Please sign the petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-of-the-republic-of-south-africa-deny-future-entry-to-melissa-bachman?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice



The Government of the Republic of South Africa: Deny future entry to Melissa Bachman.
change.org
113