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Protesters to target African trophy hunting show in Calgary

EVA FERGUSON, CALGARY HERALD

More from Eva Ferguson, Calgary Herald
Published on: January 25, 2017 | Last Updated: January 25, 2017 7:56 PM MST


Protesters working to ban African trophy hunting will rally later this month at a Calgary hotel, after hunting groups were unsuccessful in a court bid to halt them across Canada.

Members with Ban African Trophy Hunting will demonstrate at Delta Calgary South on the weekend of Jan. 27, saying the sport of trophy hunting goes against basic values and falsely claims to help conservation efforts.

“Killing animals for trophies just does not belong in a civilized society,” said Mike Donovan, spokesman for BATH.

“In Africa, where many countries are run by corrupt governments, you will see these countries report false population numbers for certain species, which are actually endangered, just so that those countries can make money.”

Donovan added that while hunters say their money goes toward conservation, he argues that “just as much money can be made through photo safaris, you don’t have to kill these beautiful animals.”


Donovan said BATH’s cause was ignited after the July 2015 killing of a protected lion by American dentist Walter Palmer.

The death of Cecil the Lion, a 13-year-old iconic attraction at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, sparked a criminal investigation and international outrage by conservationists.

“That was a turning point for us,” Donovan said. “It’s really made more people stand up and pay attention.”

BATH is also lobbying for legislation to prevent the transport of hunted animal parts into Canada and the United States.

“We are already seeing a lot of airlines refusing to move these animal parts,” Donovan said. “But we need regulations at the border to stop this practice.”

Birgit Johnstone, spokeswoman for African Hunting Events, which is part of the Calgary trade show, argued that groups such as hers are responsible in their hunting practises and contribute important funding to conservation and economies in Africa.

“When African communities know that animals in their countries are highly valued, they make an effort to protect them and their habitat, instead of just illegally poaching them and using the land for goats or chickens,” Johnstone said.

“Trophy hunters pay a very high price to these countries, it’s good for their economy and it creates a lot of jobs.”

Organizers of the African hunting trade shows, including Africa Events and Safari Club International, were recently denied a court application in Calgary to stop BATH demonstrations from occurring across Canada and have their social media sites taken down.

Johnstone argued that protesters have often been over-aggressive and unruly at demonstrations, forcing some hotels to cancel future trade shows.

“It is a form of bullying. They are screaming at people, interfering with the hotel and our right to hold a trade show.

“There was a situation last year where demonstrators screamed ‘psychopathic killers’ as a father and his young son walked into the hotel.”

Donovan said he won’t apologize for strong language, adding “if we are lying, they can take us to court.”

Marc Rheaume, general manager at Delta Calgary South, said their acceptance of various trade shows does not indicate support or endorsement of any particular group.

“While we respect everyone’s right to voice their opinion, we will be doing everything we can to minimize disruption to our guests and hotel operations.”

eferguson@postmedia.com

I believe that a judge, on Friday, banned these hate groups from making false and malicious claims on their media regarding this event.

Alberta judge rules hunting is ‘a legitimate commercial enterprise’; grants injunction against derogatory statements by activists


CALGARY, 24 JANUARY 2017 - SCI-Calgary is celebrating a judge’s decision to require anti-hunting activists to remove derogatory statements about hunters and hunting from their social media pages and messaging.
The hunting advocacy organization had sought an injunction against Michael Donovan and his ‘Ban African Trophy Hunting’ (BATH) organization following their attempts to prevent hunters from congregating at African Events trade shows in Toronto, Saskatoon and Calgary in 2016.
It is believed Donovan planned similar protests for this years events.
The bizarre and highly inflammatory statements by Donovan include comparisons to the ‘extermination of jews’ and hunting in Africa, moral comparisons between what the judge deemed to be a legitimate commercial business and Donovan views as akin to slavery. Donovan also claimed that the only countries where hunting occurs in Africa are those where authorities are ‘paid off’ by lawful hunters.
Michael Donovan has organized protests against hunting events in a clear effort to draw down interest in the lawful activity and presumably to support his own ‘photo safari’.
“We were highly offended that Michael Donovan has sought to use defamatory comments about legitimate commercial enterprises by invoking the horrors of slavery and the holocaust in what we believe is simply an effort by him to shore up customers for his own African focused outfitting business.” Said David Little, President of SCI-Calgary. “The court affirmed you do not have the right to make such derogatory comments about legitimate activities like hunting, simply because it suits your interest to do so.” Little added.
SCI-Calgary is pleased with the judge’s ruling and hopes it will pressure anti-hunting activists to actually make fact based arguments to support their opinion, instead of degrading the memories of holocaust victims and those who were forced into slavery in decades and centuries past.
“It is clear to me that Donovan’s brand of activism is led by his desire to grow his own competing business, despite photo safari businesses doing precious little to support meaningful conservation in Africa. Here is some free advice for Mr. Donovan that I’ve picked up in business: calling people you want to be your customers ‘wealthy individuals with a sickness’ isn’t nearly as good as demonstrating value and having a positive impact on animal conservation in Africa -- something hunters and outfitters do everyday.” Little added.

Mr. Donovan also sent a letter out to most Board members of hunting groups in Alberta stating:
Alberta Hunters ;

To paraphrase Mark Twain , “Its easier to lie to somebody than it is to convince them that they have been lied to .” I think that is what I am up against here but I am willing to give it a try .
True subsistence hunters need to know what is going on with trophy hunting in Africa because you really do not want to be categorized in the same class as an African trophy hunter . Personally , I do not consider the majority of African trophy hunters to be real hunters .
These so called trophy hunters go to impoverished nations in Africa to shoot an animal solely to have its carcass adorn their abode . There is frequently no fair chase involved , virtually none of the funds goes to community support , and the animal population , already under stress , is being decimated . Trophy hunting is also being used as a cover for poaching operations .
I realize that hunters are being told otherwise by the likes of trophy hunting advocates such as Safari Club International (SCI) , but from someone who operates a tour business in Africa and who just won a court case against SCI , I can tell you that SCI is not being straight with the hunting community particularly about what is going on in Africa .
For your information SCI receives a large part of its funding from the oil industry who in turn fund their own wildlife studies . SCI conveniently relies on its own studies to state the facts as they see it . However on page 22 of the US government report , Missing The Mark ( click to read ) , it states , “…. a recent assessment of lion population status across Africa found no scientific merit in any of the SCI funded surveys… “ . This situation is reminiscent of the tobacco industry conducting its own studies on the effect of tobacco on smokers a few decades ago , and we all know how that turned out .
Many independent credible studies completely contradict what SCI purports and I can forward them onto you if you request so.
We are Ban African Trophy Hunting (BATH ) . The majority of us are just regular people who have nothing to gain materially by speaking out on the atrocities being committed in Africa by trophy hunters who may be your relative, a neighbor or someone you work with . We hope that as a true hunter that you also see these trophy hunters for the depraved exploiters that they are , and let them know in no uncertain terms , that you do not support trophy hunting in Africa and you do not want to be associated with them in any way.

Regards

Mike Donovan, BATH Director


This was two days after the judge ruled against him. Seems to be slap in the face of the courts to me! Hopefully the courts view it that was as well.

TJ......... what is your take on how this was received by the various AB hunting groups?

This is another example of how these people are out there lighting fires in ways that most of us are not expecting......... and why we spend most of our time running around reactively trying to put the fires out.

These people know that a large number of resident hunters do not actually have a great deal of knowledge about how things actually work in other parts of the world. Just like non-hunters, their knowledge base on the subject tends to be what they see on TV, which we all know is mostly slanted in a negative fashion towards hunting and most especially "trophy" hunting.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Most everyone I've talked to thinks he's a nut job. I think we are finally starting to get the message out to hunters about Africa...now onto non-hunters.

Glad to hear that.

Our kind of protester at the Africa Show on weekend.

I was at the show Three days, the protesters On Saturday didn't make any difference. Attendance was good, attendees were positive and it went very well. the best Calgary has had to date