https://apnews.com/4c575ec1a998cc1222ab44c560910747



Penned lions still on offer at US trophy hunting convention

By MICHAEL BIESECKER
22 minutes ago


WASHINGTON (AP) — An undercover video recorded by animal welfare activists shows vendors at a recent trophy-hunting convention promoting trips to shoot captive-bred lions in Africa, despite past public assurances by the event’s organizers that so-called canned hunts wouldn’t be sold.

Investigators for the Humane Society of the United States captured the footage last week at the annual convention of Safari Club International in Reno, Nevada. SCI is among the nation’s largest trophy-hunting groups and its yearly gatherings typically draw thousands of attendees and hundreds of vendors selling firearms, overseas safari trips and items made from the skins and bones of rare wildlife.


In the video captured by the Humane Society last week, tour operators said the lions for sale were bred in captivity. Typically, the lions are raised in cages and small pens before being released into a larger fenced enclosure. Once reaching young adulthood, customers pay to shoot them and keep the skins, skulls, claws and other body parts for trophies.

“They’re bred in captivity. They’re born in captivity, and then they’re released,” a salesman for Bush Africa Safaris, a South African tour operator, says on the video. “There’s guys who are going to tell you something different on the floor, they’re going to bulls—t you, that is what it is.”

Salesmen from two other safari operators also confirmed they had captive-bred lions for sale , including advertising a bargain-rate of $8,000 for a ranch in South Africa. Multi-day safaris for hunting wild lions can easily cost 10 times that — money that hunting advocates say helps support anti-poaching and conservation efforts in cash-strapped African nations.

“Canned lion hunts have no conservation value and are unethical,” said Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. “Lions bred for the sole purpose of being hunted for a trophy is an industry built on a conveyor belt of exploitation and animal cruelty.”

In 2018, SCI issued a policy opposing the hunting of African lions bred in captivity, which the group said is of doubtful value to the conservation of lions in the wild. After the Humane Society captured video of canned hunts being sold at the SCI convention last year, SCI issued a statement pledging not to accept advertising from any operator selling such hunts, nor allow their sale in the vendor booths rented out at its annual convention.

In a statement Wednesday , SCI said its policy against captive-bred hunts had not changed and that it would investigate the issue.

“Safari Club International (SCI) proudly supports the right to hunt; however, SCI does not condone the practice of canned hunting by our members, outfitters, or other partners,” said Robert Brooks, a spokesman for the group. “As sportsmen, we believe hunting is best enjoyed when certain fair chase criteria are met.”

Schalk and Terina van Heerden, the owners of Bush Africa Safaris in Ellisras, South Africa, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Despite tweets from President Donald Trump describing big-game hunting as a “horror show,” his administration has consistently moved to expand the list of nations from which the heads and hides of imperiled African elephants, lions and rhinos can be legally imported back into the United States as trophies.

An avid hunter, Donald Trump Jr. was among the featured speakers at the SCI convention last weekend. As part of the festivities, the group auctioned off a weeklong Alaskan “dream hunt” aboard a luxury yacht with the president’s eldest son. Two hunters paid a combined $340,000 to go on the trip.

In addition to the canned hunts on offer, vendors at the SCI convention were advertising a $350,000 hunt for a critically endangered black rhino in Namibia and $35,000 for a guided polar bear hunt in Canada. One safari outfitter from Africa was offering a $25,000 “Trump Special,” inviting hunters to ”make your own drone strike” by shooting a buffalo, sable, roan antelope and crocodile in a single trip.

“This convention does nothing other than celebrate senseless violence towards wildlife,” Block said. “Wild animals are not commodities to be sold, with their deaths something to celebrate. This needs to end.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...h68&feature=youtu.be


Link to video taken at SCI Convention.

As usual, only one side of a multi faceted issue and not worth reading.
There are those that believe the Humane Society is just one big anti gun organization.

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:
As usual, only one side of a multi faceted issue and not worth reading.
There are those that believe the Humane Society is just one big anti gun organization.

I have to disagree with you. They are far worse than that. They want us all to be vegans for example.

Maybe SCI will take action this time.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by crshelton:
As usual, only one side of a multi faceted issue and not worth reading.
There are those that believe the Humane Society is just one big anti gun organization.

I have to disagree with you. They are far worse than that. They want us all to be vegans for example.

Maybe SCI will take action this time.

Very true!

Bloody brainless, selfish, stupid, idiots!

Next will be African game farms.

Dave

Who would shoot such a lion? I don't get it.
People with low self-esteem and small hands?

Bill many hunters say the same thing about SA's put and take farm hunting.

As NP2 said, the only difference between much of the SA farm hunting and captive bred lion hunting is the size of the animal pen.

Farm raised lion do serve to reduce the demand for wild lions and that isn't a bad thing (except in Namibia). But if the conservationists continue to win the discussion, we won't have either as an option. Pick your poison.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
Bill many hunters say the same thing about SA's put and take farm hunting.

As NP2 said, the only difference between much of the SA farm hunting and captive bred lion hunting is the size of the animal pen.

Farm raised lion do serve to reduce the demand for wild lions and that isn't a bad thing (except in Namibia). But if the conservationists continue to win the discussion, we won't have either as an option. Pick your poison.

I have been saying for years.

Never give in to those idiots, not one inch.

"farm bred" lions are in focus right now.

Tomorrow it will any bred on a farm.

It is important to note that this propaganda piece from HSUS only used quotation marks around the words, "horror show". President Trump spoke those two words in relation to elephant hunting, not all big game hunting, as this article states. HSUS has long been on record as wanting to stop ALL hunting, and will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. They have an annual budget in excess of $100 million USD, and use their name to confuse donors into believing that they are connected with humane societies operating shelter and rescue operations for dogs and cats. They do nothing of this sort, and have been given substandard ratings by charity watchdog groups for the excessive monies paid to their staff in salaries and benefits. They also were required to pay around $10 million USD in a court settlement for making false claims concerning alleged cruelty to circus elephants. Their former leader, Wayne Pacelle was forced out over sexual harassment issues. A thoroughly evil and dishonest organization that cannot be tolerated by hunters and other real conservationists.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Who would shoot such a lion? I don't get it.
People with low self-esteem and small hands?

Your contempt is directed at the wrong group Bill. That is, if you are a hunter. It should be directed toward HSUS.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Who would shoot such a lion? I don't get it.
People with low self-esteem and small hands?

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Who would shoot such a lion? I don't get it.
People with low self-esteem and small hands?

I am not for this type of hunting. However , you smalls hands comment sounds like something the ARA often say.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Who would shoot such a lion? I don't get it.
People with low self-esteem and small hands?

I wouldn't shoot a pen-raised lion for free but as long as it's legal I support it.

Did you ever shoot a Pheasant on a preserve?? A deer in a fenced-in ranch in Texas, or catch a trout raised on a fish farm and released?

PS: when the anti's are finished with lion (with your approval Bill) they will continue on....do you really think that their motives are genuine or that they REALLY care about the long term well being of the species??

Here we have a perfect example of what we have wrong with us.

Bill said something to raise a point, and some of you are not happy about it.

What Bill said applies to me.

I am a small man, have small hands, and would not shoot a lion in South Africa, and I do not take any offense of what he said.

All of you were dead quiet when Mark Sullivan went on a lion "hunt" in South Africa and claimed publicly that it was the very best lion hunt he had ever had.

Go figure!

HSUS and PETA and all there sorts are run by stupid idiots who as far as I am concerned have no relationship to normal human beings.

They are so far removed from reality, their only claim to existence is the fact that they live on the emotions of poor, like minded sods.

I have been on plenty of proper lion hunts, and shot quite a few.

I shot two last year, and one got close enough to our blind to strike it with its claws he tore holes in it!

I have no wish to shoot a farm bred lion.

But, some stupid fake was promoting it here, and no one said a bloody word.

Funny thing is, he keeps telling us he gives the buffalo a choice of how to die.

Have not seen him do that to a lion.

Wild or with without an eartag!

It's not about whether or not we would shoot a bred lion in an enclosure.We don't go hunting in Africa to feed ourselves or our families.We go there to hunt animals or game we choose to hunt.What's with the lion being a holy animal or is it the disney factor? Doesn't breeding lions increase their population? Would people rather see them extinct? Best not take sides against hunters especially when they did nothing wrong and acted in the best interest of conservation and hunting.When I go to the local shooting range I meet hunters who dream of going to hunt in Africa and the only reason they don't is because they don't have the money are just not interested enough .That doesn't stop them throwing insults and wishing me hell because I did.I see the same behaviour here.I honestly believe there are people who when they are done with hunting couldn't care less if other generations had hunting taken away from them.

https://wnyt.com/politics/hunt...ts-at-event/5645316/

Safari Club will probe sale of captive-bred lion hunts

By MICHAEL BIESECKER

Updated: February 14, 2020 04:02 PM
Created: February 14, 2020 03:53 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - A trophy-hunting group says it has launched an ethics investigation following the release of undercover video showing vendors at its recent convention promoting trips to shoot captive-bred lions in Africa.

Safari Club International CEO W. Laird Hamberlin vowed swift action Friday to ensure exhibitors at the group's annual convention "operate in full compliance with SCI's policies." The group had previously issued public assurances that so-called canned hunts wouldn't be sold at its events.

"Under my leadership, this organization will take all necessary action to ensure that all of our partners adhere to the policies that are instrumental in making us First for Hunters," Hamberlin said, referencing his organization's slogan. "No matter where this investigation may take us, I can guarantee that SCI will identify and follow the right course of action to guarantee the integrity of our show, and adherence to our high standards for ethical hunting."

Hamberlin's statement comes after The Associated Press reported Wednesday on video footage collected last week by investigators for the Humane Society of the United States at SCI's annual conference in Reno, Nevada. SCI's yearly gatherings typically draw thousands of attendees and hundreds of vendors selling firearms, overseas safari trips and items made from the skins and bones of rare wildlife.

In the video, three safari tour operators can be clearly heard confirming the lions to be shot on the trips were bred in captivity. Typically, the lions used in such canned hunts are raised in cages and small pens before being released into a larger fenced enclosure. Once reaching young adulthood, customers pay to shoot them and keep the skins, skulls, claws and other body parts for trophies.

"They're bred in captivity. They're born in captivity, and then they're released," a salesman for Bush Africa Safaris, a South African tour operator, says on the video. "There's guys who are going to tell you something different on the floor, they're going to bulls-t you, that is what it is."

SCI issued a policy in 2018 opposing the hunting of African lions bred in captivity, which the group said is of doubtful value to the conservation of lions in the wild. After the Humane Society captured video of canned hunts being sold at the SCI convention last year, SCI issued a statement pledging not to accept advertising from any operator selling such hunts, nor allow their sale in the vendor booths rented out at its 2020 convention.

As part of SCI's statement sent to AP on Friday, Hamberlin suggested without offering any specific evidence that the Humane Society had selectively edited the videos it released. He challenged the animal welfare group to provide SCI with its raw, unedited videos from the Reno convention.

SCI's statement also said that the vendors caught on video selling canned hunts would also be provided an opportunity to tell their side of the story.

"The vendors who attend SCI's Convention every year are a crucial component to the organization's overall role as the leading advocate for hunters and they too have the right to a fair and transparent process with the opportunity to defend their business against allegations that may be entirely baseless," the group's statement said.

Anna Frostic, an attorney for The Humane Society, said Friday her group had not received any sort of direct request for video from SCI, but pointed to publicly available links of sound bites and extended footage gathered at the conference.

"The video footage we have that is relevant to what we found at the SCI convention regarding captive lion hunting is freely available online," Frostic said.

Lovely!

This is all we need, that SCI is taking action after HSUS brought it to the public attention!

SCI has been turning a blind eye to all the shenanigans of crooked South African outfitters.

Probably most of the top trophies in their record book, shot by certain professional hunters, have all been canned!

SCI never cared before.

I did a bit of research a few years ago, and found a staggering number of very high scoring SCI trophies, shot by many self glorifying so called “hunters”.

Guided by the same professional hunter??!!

We all know good trophies do not grow on trees.

Most of these were actually bought, then transported elsewhere for idiots to fly over and kill them!

The web pages of those PHs were full of photos of these.

Somehow they seem to have conveniently disappeared now!!

I wonder why a PH would remove record book trophies he has taken, honestly??

SCI knew about all these, but never moved a finger!

https://www.safariclub.org/blo...l7-IwwLban4BX3bKHZyE


SCI Opens Ethics Investigation 20323822 Fri, 02/14/2020 - 08:35

INSIDE SCI

Today the CEO of Safari Club International (SCI), W. Laird Hamberlin, vowed swift action to ensure that its convention exhibitors operate in full compliance with SCI’s policies. The release of heavily edited convention video footage that allegedly shows vendors at Safari Club International’s Annual Convention violating SCI policies has triggered the opening of an ethics investigation by SCI.

As the world’s leading advocate for hunters and sportsmen, SCI will take all necessary action to ensure all vendors and exhibitors adhere to the policies that govern the Ultimate Sportsmen’s Market. SCI’s policies are carefully calibrated to ensure that exhibitor offerings comply with not only all applicable laws and regulations, but also adhere to SCI’s code of hunter ethics.

At the same time, SCI is committed to ensuring that all vendors involved in this ethics investigation be afforded due process. The vendors who attend SCI’s Convention every year are a crucial component to the organization’s overall role as the leading advocate for hunters and they too have the right to a fair and transparent process with the opportunity to defend their business against allegations that may be entirely baseless. That is why SCI, in the sake of transparency, is challenging the Humane Society to provide us with a full, unedited copy of the footage taken at the Convention last week so that every party involved has unrestricted access to all the facts.

Lastly, it is the duty of SCI to additionally clarify that all products offered at our 48th Annual Convention are legal under all applicable federal and state laws. Out of an abundance of caution, SCI has disqualified certain items from sale or auction in the months leading up to the show, and SCI works closely with law enforcement agencies during the show to guarantee that all products offered for sale on the show floor are fully compliant. The material composition of specific items is difficult to differentiate from unreliable secondhand accounts and secretly recorded videos, but SCI also notes that many products featured on the Convention floor are for display purposes only and not available for purchase.

SCI CEO Laird Hamberlin commented on the ethics investigation, saying “Under my leadership, this organization will take all necessary action to ensure that all of our partners adhere to the policies that are instrumental in making us First for Hunters. Any vendor who violates those principles puts at risk all the work that SCI does not only for hunters but also for wildlife, such as raising $13 million from this year’s convention alone. While our accusers are exploiting these allegations purely to fundraise for their own coffers, the success of our convention provides critical conservation funding that will be deployed all over the world. For that reason, I hope that our accusers have an equal commitment to a rigorous examination of all the facts, and will provide us the raw footage to assist us in this process. No matter where this investigation may take us, I can guarantee that SCI will identify and follow the right course of action to guarantee the integrity of our show, and adherence to our high standards for ethical hunting.”

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Lovely!

This is all we need, that SCI is taking action after HSUS brought it to the public attention!

SCI has been turning a blind eye to all the shenanigans of crooked South African outfitters.

Probably most of the top trophies in their record book, shot by certain professional hunters, have all been canned!

SCI never cared before.

I did a bit of research a few years ago, and found a staggering number of very high scoring SCI trophies, shot by many self glorifying so called “hunters”.

Guided by the same professional hunter??!!

We all know good trophies do not grow on trees.

Most of these were actually bought, then transported elsewhere for idiots to fly over and kill them!

The web pages of those PHs were full of photos of these.

Somehow they seem to have conveniently disappeared now!!

I wonder why a PH would remove record book trophies he has taken, honestly??

SCI knew about all these, but never moved a finger!

+1!!

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
https://www.safariclub.org/blo...l7-IwwLban4BX3bKHZyE


SCI Opens Ethics Investigation 20323822 Fri, 02/14/2020 - 08:35

INSIDE SCI

Today the CEO of Safari Club International (SCI), W. Laird Hamberlin, vowed swift action to ensure that its convention exhibitors operate in full compliance with SCI’s policies. The release of heavily edited convention video footage that allegedly shows vendors at Safari Club International’s Annual Convention violating SCI policies has triggered the opening of an ethics investigation by SCI.

As the world’s leading advocate for hunters and sportsmen, SCI will take all necessary action to ensure all vendors and exhibitors adhere to the policies that govern the Ultimate Sportsmen’s Market. SCI’s policies are carefully calibrated to ensure that exhibitor offerings comply with not only all applicable laws and regulations, but also adhere to SCI’s code of hunter ethics.

At the same time, SCI is committed to ensuring that all vendors involved in this ethics investigation be afforded due process. The vendors who attend SCI’s Convention every year are a crucial component to the organization’s overall role as the leading advocate for hunters and they too have the right to a fair and transparent process with the opportunity to defend their business against allegations that may be entirely baseless. That is why SCI, in the sake of transparency, is challenging the Humane Society to provide us with a full, unedited copy of the footage taken at the Convention last week so that every party involved has unrestricted access to all the facts.

Lastly, it is the duty of SCI to additionally clarify that all products offered at our 48th Annual Convention are legal under all applicable federal and state laws. Out of an abundance of caution, SCI has disqualified certain items from sale or auction in the months leading up to the show, and SCI works closely with law enforcement agencies during the show to guarantee that all products offered for sale on the show floor are fully compliant. The material composition of specific items is difficult to differentiate from unreliable secondhand accounts and secretly recorded videos, but SCI also notes that many products featured on the Convention floor are for display purposes only and not available for purchase.

SCI CEO Laird Hamberlin commented on the ethics investigation, saying “Under my leadership, this organization will take all necessary action to ensure that all of our partners adhere to the policies that are instrumental in making us First for Hunters. Any vendor who violates those principles puts at risk all the work that SCI does not only for hunters but also for wildlife, such as raising $13 million from this year’s convention alone. While our accusers are exploiting these allegations purely to fundraise for their own coffers, the success of our convention provides critical conservation funding that will be deployed all over the world. For that reason, I hope that our accusers have an equal commitment to a rigorous examination of all the facts, and will provide us the raw footage to assist us in this process. No matter where this investigation may take us, I can guarantee that SCI will identify and follow the right course of action to guarantee the integrity of our show, and adherence to our high standards for ethical hunting.”

This is becoming funnier and funnier!

SCI has ETHICS??

The same SCI that has single handedly turn hunting into a competition?

So that the Kardashians of hunting can compete to get into one silly Circle or another?

Waiting for the next funny episode!

Didn't realize SCI had rules against selling legal hunts at our convention.

The antis hate SCI. The antis hate all hunting. The antis won't stop until it's all closed down. Then they'll go after fishing.

So why give them an inch? They won't hate you ANY LESS for giving them that inch.

Just tell them: "Only legal hunts are allowed to be sold at our convention. If you don't like it, either: 1. Go and change the laws in RSA (or wherever else) or 2. Go pound sand.

The hunts are legal, and I agree with you SCI should tell them to take a bloody hike off the Mountain Everest.

The point is SCI is pandering to them, and they got themselves into this silly situation themselves.

Whoever is running SCI, at any given point in time, is sitting in those chairs with their brains switched off.

Only thing they think of is TROPHIES! INNER CIRCLES! CREATE MORE CIRCLES!

Common sense never comes into that room!

SCI is playing the PR game... and losing on both sides.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
SCI is playing the PR game... and losing on both sides.

Nothing new here.

Normal operating procedure for SCI!

SCI's saying FIRST FOR HUNTERS is like a rapid vegan opening a butchers shop!

quote:

HSUS and PETA and all there sorts are run by stupid idiots who as far as I am concerned have no relationship to normal human beings.

They are so far removed from reality, their only claim to existence is the fact that they live on the emotions of poor, like minded sods.

What Saeed says is true, and to add, follow the money...always. Each anti-hunting, kitty cat and puppy dog advert is a ploy designed to capture the weak heart and feeble minded, knee jerking Lemming; ready to open that purse or wallet and send $19 per month to support what....A damned Dog and Phoney Pony show. These King pins live a life of high status while some of these poor souls struggle to pay rent, but are Hell bound on intent to save that Chipmunk, Elephant or Rooster. These clever charlatans know how to rob people and rob them they do! Soft piano music from the telly, wet, muddy, shivering kitties and puppys, Geoffrey Giraffe and Tippy the Kangaroo is all it takes and bam! Another coffer filled to the brim. Now we get those con artists with a camera! All these tame animals in the park and suddenly they're experts on conservation, and Nat Geo is paying mega bucks to show how clever and wise these crooks are. Yes, we live in a world where hunting, fishing and all outdoor sports are being attacked on a daily basis, and it all boils down to making someone rich. Follow the money and never step back or bow and scrap to an anti-hunting Imbecile.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
SCI is playing the PR game... and losing on both sides.

The above statement sums it up perfectly!