Trophy Hunting Controversies

Overview

Trophy Hunting Controversies are the online backlashes against the hunting of wild game animals, many of which were spurred by the circulation of trophy photographs on social media websites.

Background

In Africa, trophy hunting is legally practiced in many countries and is considered a major part of the tourism industry. According to a 2009 report by the World Bank, trophy hunting generates $201 million per year on the continent.^[2] In March 2012, several trophy hunting photos featuring Donald Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr. began circulating online from the hunting website Hunting Legends, with many criticizing the brothers for killing the wild animals (shown below).

On March 14th, Donald Trump Sr. told Access Hollywood^[8] that he did not approve of hunting and would be talking to his sons about the incident:

“I’ve never liked it (hunting). I’ve never liked that they like it… I’m going to talk to them about it. I’m not a fan of the whole situation.”

Notable Developments

Melissa Bachman’s Lion Hunting Photo

On September 30th, 2013, Minnesota-based TV show presenter Melissa Bachman shared a photo of her smiling and posing with a dead lion via Facebook and Twitter^[1], adding “an incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion…what a hunt!” (shown below). After being initially met with positive feedback from her Twitter followers, the photograph was widely criticized after being posted by comedian Ricky Gervais.

Kendall Jones’ Hunting Photo

In February, 2014, an online backlash rose against Kendall Jones, a student and cheerleader at Texas Tech University, for posting souvenir photographs of herself posing with endangered wild animals killed during a safari hunting trip in Africa.

Rebecca Francis’ Giraffe Photo

On April 13th, 2015, comedian Ricky Gervais posted a tweet criticizing a photo of hunter Rebecca Francis posing next to a dead giraffe (shown below). In the first four months, the tweet gained over 49,000 retweets and 40,000 favorites. On April 14th, The Independent reported that Francis had received a “barrage of death threats” regarding her hunting images. As of August 2015, the Facebook^[6] page she used to share her hunting photographs has been deleted.

Cecil the Lion

On July 1st, 2015, Cecil, the treasured lion of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, was found dead on the outskirts of the habitat, skinned and beheaded after being fatally wounded by a hunter with an arrow and rifle bullet. The news of Cecil’s gruesome death was met with public outrage in Zimbabwe and the international conservation communities overseas, as the lion was well-known for his natural flair in human interactions. In the ensuing investigation by the Zimbabwean officials, two men were charged with poaching, Theo Bronkhorst and Bushmen Safaris, the owners of the bordering properties where the lion was killed. On July 27th, The Telegraph published an exclusive report identifying Cecil’s killer as Walter James Palmer, an American dentist and avid hunter from Bloomington, Minnesota. Palmer subsequently went into hiding following his identification as Cecil’s killer and Zimbabwe placed an indefinite ban on big game hunting in the region.

Sabrina Corgatelli’s Photos

On July 26th, 2015, Idaho resident and hunter Sabrina Corgatelli posted several photographs from her recent trophy hunting trip in Africa to her “ItalianHuntress” Instagram feed. The posts received many negative comments from those who found the pictures distasteful.

On August 3rd, Richard Dawkins posted several tweets mocking Corgatelli for claiming to love and respect the animals she killed (shown below).^[5] On August 4th, Corgatelli became a trending topic on Facebook.^[3] By August 5th, her fan page^[4] on the site gained over 24,000 likes.