Texas hunter shoots endangered Namibian rhino for $350,000

Quote

Windhoek (AFP) - A US hunter who paid $350,000 to kill a black rhinoceros in Namibia successfully shot the animal on Monday, saying that his actions would help protect the critically-endangered species.

Corey Knowlton, from Texas, downed the rhino with a high-powered rifle after a three-day hunt through the bush with government officials on hand to ensure he killed the correct animal.

Knowlton, 36, won the right to shoot the rhino at an auction in Dallas in early 2014 -- attracting fierce criticism from many conservationists and even some death threats.

He took a CNN camera crew on the hunt to try to show why he believed the killing was justified.

"The whole world knows about this hunt and I think it's extremely important that people know it's going down the right way, in the most scientific way that it can possibly happen," Knowlton told the TV channel in footage released Wednesday.

"I think people have a problem just with the fact that I like to hunt... I want to see the black rhino as abundant as it can be. I believe in the survival of the species."

Since 2012, Namibia has sold five licences each year to kill individual rhinos, saying the money is essential to fund conservation projects and anti-poaching protection.

The only rhinos selected for the hunts are old ones that no longer breed and that pose a threat to younger rhinos.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says there were about 850,000 black rhinos alive through much of the last century before hunting left only about 2,400 in 1995, but numbers have since edged up to about 5,000.

"These are incredibly majestic creatures, and their worth alive is far greater than (when) they are dead," said Azzedine Downes, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), one of the conservation groups opposed to the hunt.

Both black rhinos and the more common white rhino have recently suffered from soaring poaching in South Africa's Kruger Park where hundreds are killed each year for their horns which are used in traditional Asian medicine.

The exact location of Knowlton's hunt was kept secret to avoid tipping off poachers.

Television footage showed Knowlton accompanied by a professional hunter and local trackers as they tried to find a rhino that was approved for killing.

His first shots injured the animal before he fired the fatal bullets.

"I felt like from day one it was something benefiting the black rhino," Knowlton said just after the hunt ended, his voice croaking with emotion.

"Being on this hunt, with the amount of criticism it brought and the amount of praise it brought from both sides, I don't think it could have brought more awareness to the black rhino."

All it takes is money.

If the hunter wants to pay the rate, good for him. I don't see the amount of money paid a problem, do you?

I don't know that it matters what one thinks of what another chooses to do with his/her money.

Contrary to all the whining by the antis, that guy just did more for Rhino conservation than all of them put together have ever done.

Originally Posted by ingwe

Contrary to all the whining by the antis, that guy just did more for Rhino conservation than all of them put together have ever done.

This!!!!

All of the people who oppose the hunt should direct their efforts at ending the poaching instead of protesting against a legitimate, regulated hunt.

One of the essentials the antis ignore (or are willfully ignorant about, which may be the same thing) is bull rhinos legally killed by hunters are old enough not to last much longer anyway. They can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for anti-poaching funds to protect rhinos, or not. Apparently the nitwits prefer not.

Damn!

Inflation sure has hit hard since the Mau Mau.

Originally Posted by EdM

I don't know that it matters what one thinks of what another chooses to do with his/her money.

You couldn't have said it any better.

Originally Posted by luv2safari

Originally Posted by EdM

I don't know that it matters what one thinks of what another chooses to do with his/her money.

You couldn't have said it any better.

I agree with you both wholeheartedly!

Originally Posted by Apparition

Originally Posted by ingwe

Contrary to all the whining by the antis, that guy just did more for Rhino conservation than all of them put together have ever done.

This!!!!

I think so.

The guy allowed CNN to document the hunt. Several video's and a write up here.

http://www.cnn.com/search/?text=rhino+hunter

It is also my understanding that this particular black rhino was targeted, by Govt. authorities, because it has previously killed other black rhinos!!!! This one was one of 4 that has killed other black rhinos over territorial issues.
I see now that that twit Ricky Gervais has now started to "target hunters" because of this.....just who in the hell is Ricky Gervais, anyway? Some un-funny third rate comedian who has to do something to get his name in the lime light.....

If the antis really gave a damn about these animals (or any other animal) they would quit trying to equate hunters as poachers and focus on issues such as habitat destruction, poaching, etc. But it's much easier to sit there on their fat asses with no sense of what everything is about and criticize those who do understand that hunters pay for conservation, and you cannot "preserve" an ecological system....nature will not allow it.

idiots are from the shallow end of the gene pool!

Does anyone know what chambering was used to whack the rhino?

The guy on the right is the hunter with his rifle.

Looks uber.

[Linked Image]

The write up author reports 4 shots, which would indicate both shots by the hunter and 2 more from PH/handlers.

Congrats to the hunter.

Originally Posted by DancesWithGuns

Damn!

Inflation sure has hit hard since the Mau Mau.

FOAD, asswipe,

Originally Posted by RWE

Does anyone know what chambering was used to whack the rhino?

I believe it was a 500 NE

"The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says there were about 850,000 black rhinos alive through much of the last century before hunting poaching left only about 2,400 in 1995, but numbers have since edged up to about 5,000."

It's a shame the original article had this error and it wasn't corrected.

Originally Posted by jorgeI

Originally Posted by DancesWithGuns

Damn!

Inflation sure has hit hard since the Mau Mau.

FOAD, asswipe,

Well, in the 50s and 60s you could get a thirty-day safari and shoot 50 assorted animals for about $10,000.

Of course, we must admit.....the colonialists were far too heartless, arrogant and greedy and richly deserved the Mau Mau.

Originally Posted by Mule Deer

One of the essentials the antis ignore (or are willfully ignorant about, which may be the same thing) is bull rhinos legally killed by hunters are old enough not to last much longer anyway. They can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for anti-poaching funds to protect rhinos, or not. Apparently the nitwits prefer not.

Willful ignorance, calculated stupidity, it's all the same. People refusing to allow facts or logic to influence their baseless but cherished opinions. Ron White was right...

Originally Posted by ingwe

Contrary to all the whining by the antis, that guy just did more for Rhino conservation than all of them put together have ever done.

Exactly.

Not only do those funds go directly to rhino conservation, but the rhino taken was slated for removal anyway? Why? Because it was beyond breeding age and had already severely killed or injured several other younger, breeding age bulls. Taking that rhino out allows younger bulls the opportunity to breed and continue the species; leaving it in continued to threaten the herd's survival.

Those facts are always conveniently omitted.

Originally Posted by 4ager

already severely killed or injured ....

Severely killed is more killed than just regularly killed.

Rhino was a bad ass.

Originally Posted by RWE

Originally Posted by 4ager

already severely killed or injured ....

Severely killed is more killed than just regularly killed.

Rhino was a bad ass.

Typing too early. Should have been "killed or severely injured". However, if anything is capable of severely killing something, a rhino is probably it.

Originally Posted by 4ager

Originally Posted by ingwe

Contrary to all the whining by the antis, that guy just did more for Rhino conservation than all of them put together have ever done.

Those facts are always conveniently omitted.

Antis and facts never run in the same crowd.

Originally Posted by Jcubed

Texas hunter shoots endangered Namibian rhino for $350,000

Quote

Both black rhinos and the more common white rhino have recently suffered from soaring poaching in South Africa's Kruger Park where hundreds are killed each year for their horns which are used in traditional Asian medicine.

Why don't the anti-hunting 'conservationists' go to Beijing and Hanoi and conduct sit-ins and violent street protests and throw blood on the commie politicians and criticize their black market practices? Oh, wait........

His money and he used it as he wished and for a good cause.
Case closed.

Originally Posted by jorgeI

Originally Posted by DancesWithGuns

Damn!

Inflation sure has hit hard since the Mau Mau.

FOAD, asswipe,

Why the harsh response to an innocuous post?

Originally Posted by postoak

Originally Posted by jorgeI

Originally Posted by DancesWithGuns

Damn!

Inflation sure has hit hard since the Mau Mau.

FOAD, asswipe,

Why the harsh response to an innocuous post?

Fortunatelym this asswipe, under this nandle and many others, has since been banned...agaib

Fortunatelym---nandle---agaib. are these new words,or is it my lack of education.

The interduction of Viagra has done more for Rhino Conservation than anything in the last few years

Originally Posted by RWE

The guy on the right is the hunter with his rifle.

Looks uber.

[Linked Image]

The write up author reports 4 shots, which would indicate both shots by the hunter and 2 more from PH/handlers.

I would have thought Jim Shockey would be his guide/PH . . . . .

He has been criticized for a number of animals that he has killed...

I seem to remember people criticizing him for an ENORMOUS mule deer he killed that some thought was more of a city deer than wild.

If he's legal, who are we to knock him for what he's doing??

Likely the anti's could have out bid him and packed the animal off to some heavenly retreat if they were truly concerned.

Rhino must be one of the only animals you can't shoot in Texas.

Originally Posted by ingwe

Contrary to all the whining by the antis, that guy just did more for Rhino conservation than all of them put together have ever done.

Not only the "Antis", but also short-sighted, jealous hunters. You see this attitude every time a Big Game Conservation Organization or State Game and Fish Department auctions off a couple of coveted Big Game tags for hundreds of thousands of dollars that are plowed back into conservation projects to help the species.

Bighorn sheep license auction, raffle
generate big bucks
SANTA FE – The auction and raffle of four bighorn sheep hunting licenses brought in close to a half million dollars for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish bighorn sheep program this year.

Two lucky hunters won prized bighorn sheep permits in a record-breaking raffle conducted by the New Mexico chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation in June. The raffle sold more than 7,000 tickets and earned $143,000 for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish’s bighorn sheep program, said Eric Rominger, bighorn sheep biologist for the department. Twice as many $20 raffle tickets were sold this year than last year for the chance to hunt for either a Rocky Mountain or desert bighorn sheep, Rominger said.

In January, the auctions of a desert bighorn license and a Rocky Mountain bighorn license together brought in another $330,000 to the department’s program, Rominger said.

Proceeds will go to the department’s bighorn sheep program and will be used for research, restoration, predator control and other operations, Rominger said.

New Mexico’s desert bighorn sheep population was nearly wiped out by market hunting, domestic livestock diseases and mountain lion predation. Fewer than 70 animals remained statewide by 1980, prompting New Mexico to add the desert bighorn to its endangered species list. Today, transplanting efforts and cougar control have helped establish herds across southern New Mexico. By 2011 there were enough desert bighorn sheep in the state to enable their removal from the state endangered species list.

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep had already disappeared from New Mexico by the early 1900s.

But the animals have since rebounded through efforts by the department with funds from hunters and conservation groups.

Hundreds of bighorn sheep have been transplanted across the state to establish herds while mountain lions have been brought under control to limit predation losses.