I’ll admit it; when I first saw the pictures associated with this report I thought, “Oh, hell no!” It was disconcerting, even for me. As a person born and raised in cattle country who considers herself to be primarily carnivorous, it’s not often that I agree, wholeheartedly, with PETA. Now I am hoping they can embarrass the living daylights of the Trump family, and not just because I am an uber-liberal.
A carnivorous uber-liberal. I bet that’s a new mental image for you. I also like guns and think that incorporating a company should take an act of Congress. I am a whole bunch of oxymorons wrapped up into one little body. Now, back to our story…
Look how much fun this is! Let's post it to Facebook!
Donald Trump’s sons (Donald Jr. and Eric), who are apparently richer than rich because of Daddy Trump and really have nothing better to do, decided to take themselves on a little safari. Instead of marveling at all the pretty animals of the African savannah, and the delicate nature of the ecosystem, however, they decided to bring big guns and shoot at them. They took down an elephant, a crocodile, and a buffalo, amongst many other species. There is a large cat of some kind that looks like a leopard, but has been called by different names on different news sites. Then they decided to pose with all of the big animals that they so “sportingly” hunted down with their guides in their jeeps with their rhino guns (nothing like an unfair human advantage for a “sportingly” good time), and then—better yet—they decided to post them on internet.
So we could all share in their thrill of killing large animals, and we could wonder at their richy-rich masculinity.
PETA, as PETA is wont to do, quickly issued a statement about the pictures, which were first released by TMZ (every time I am about to quit TMZ, they pull me right back in with a true story!). Their statement:
“If the young Trumps are looking for a thrill, perhaps they should consider skydiving, bungee jumping, or even following in their anti-hunting father’s footsteps and taking down competing businesses—not wild animals.”
This caused the Trump boys to wonder why they are getting so much backlash. Donald Jr. took to the Twitter feed to defend himself, stating that they were doing the African people a favor:
“I can assure you it was not wasteful the villagers were so happy for the meat which they don’t often get to eat.”
Because people eat elephant tail every day!
And yet, we are still talking about an entire continent that holds some of the most endangered species in the world. Nearly every African country holds wild game preserves and conservatories to help protect these species. Africa’s primary revenue generator these days is tourism to see said animals. Why in the world does anyone think it is acceptable to hunt an elephant or a leopard (or leopard lookalike), whether or not the villagers got to eat it after the Trump boys were done posing with it? And will they come after our dyed to look like panda dogs next?
Jonah Gibson
03/14/2012
Personally I think big game hunters should be required to take their prey with knives. Either that or the animals should have rifles, but then only the monkeys could actually shoot. Nope. Knives would be best…and not really sharp ones either.
Sarah
03/14/2012
Yes! Knives. Let’s level the playing field, shall we? And hope that the poor Trump boys can outrun an elephant. Or hide from a leopard.
Although, I do have to say that I am not big on the idea of giving monkeys guns. They are mean, and can rip your face off very well on their own, thankyouverymuch!
Crack You Whip
03/14/2012
I think that they could have gone after something that wasn’t the size of a house and maybe a danger to our own society like snakes in the Everglades, but this is very tasteless hunting.
Excellent post!
Sarah
03/15/2012
Snakes! Yes! You see, that would be some productive hunting. I’m not against hunting, just senseless hunting of endangered animals with no actual skill required.
Alex@LateEnough
03/15/2012
And I’m not against legitimate hunting eg. overpopulation of deer and I don’t stand with PETA on much either, but the elephant tail photo makes me ill. Those boys are pathetic.
Sarah
03/15/2012
Agreed. It is pathetic– and I would say that if they were celebrities or not, rich or not, hunting on the African continent or not. There’s a huge difference between jeeps, guides, and high powered rifles versus the good old boy who goes out to the tree stand his Daddy used, and sits in the cold for four hours waiting for a buck to meander by.
We live in an area where the whitetail deer are so plentiful that we see them on our main road all throughout the year. They often get hit by cars. They have no fear of you while they are in your yard eating your lettuce. Even though the overpopulation problem is readily visible to any of us, I never would consider sighting one from my front porch– because it’s not good sportsmanship.