A couple of months ago, there was news out of South Africa that a big-game hunter from Texas was killed by a Cape buffalo he was stalking. Asher Watkins, a well-to-do Dallas real estate man whose speciality was pricey ranches was the fellow who ran out of luck.
“Asher was fatally injured in a sudden and unprovoked attack by an unwounded buffalo he was tracking together with one of our professional hunters and one of our trackers,” Hans Vermaak, whose family runs [Coenraad Vermaak] Safaris said in a statement. (Source: NY Times)
It goes without blogging that I am completing lacking the inclination or temperament to go big game hunting. My idea of a challenge is keeping my DuoLingo streak going and reading 104 books (two books per week) this year. So far, so good on both counts. But just about as far away from big game hunting as you can get, as neither of my avocations requires wealth, travel, or guns. (None of those 104 books, by the way, will be authored by big game he-man Ernest Hemingway, by the way. I've never been much of a fan.)
No one I know hunts big game, but I've known some duck and deer hunters over the years (including my Uncles Jack and Bob, and my husband's Uncle Bill). To each his own. It's not as if I don't eat duck. Big game is less understandale to me. Why would someoe want to kill a magnificent giraffe, an elephant, a cape buffalo? It's not as if you're going to load up your freezer with giraffe steaks. At least I think not.
Many big game hunters - and Watkins was one of them - argue that big game hunting is good for conservation, which may be at least a quasi-valid point. But there's something more going on, the desire for the thrill of the chase, the thrill of the kill.
For what it's worth,Watkins (according to his obituary; yes, I am a ghoul) was a fair chase hunter. Such hunters pursue their prey in the wild, in their more-or-less natural habitat, as opposed to those who go to one of those outlets where the animals have no escape hatch. The pen may be large, but the animals are penned in. The likelihood of success is high for the hunter; the likelihood of making a safe getaway for the animal is pretty low. This sort of hunter isn't interested in a fair fight. They mostly just want the lion's head and the buffalo horns to mount over their fireplace, the tiger-skin rug under foot in their den.
But Watkins wasn't one of those guys, so in memoriam props to this hunter for that. But he was one of the guys who wanted the trophy, who wanted to pursue his "dream buffalo." I guess if you're into going after your "dream buffalo" you kinda-sorta know what your're getting into. The safari company's website has this to say about the cape buffalo:
A fearless and capable fighter
No species on the planet has a more fearsome reputation than a cape buffalo! Responsible for several deaths and many injuries to hunters each year, the buffalo is regarded as the most dangerous animal to pursue in Africa, let alone the world. Crafty and belligerent, he seeks refuge in thickets when wounded or danger approaches! Buffalo are known to charge unprovoked...Buffalo hunting is thrilling and exhilarating, placing this formidable species at the top of every hunter’s wish list! (Source: Coenraad Vermaak Safaris)
(The nickname for the cape buffalo is "black death," btw. And they're apparently pretty smart, at least by animal standards - which, come to think of it, probably aren't all that far off of human standards, at least what we see about human standards these days. Cape buffalo reportedly will rememeber a hunter they've had a run in with and, years after the fact, ambush that hunter when they run into them again.)
Anyway, what I don't particularly understand is why the attack on Watkins was considered "unprovoked." He was, after all, trying to kill the beast. I wouldn't characterize that as "unprovoked."
Given the current vibe, blood sports are on the increase, including - despicably - the lust for killing humans. Yet hunters and safari companies are well aware that there are plenty of folks who consider big game hunting amoral-immoral-postmoral etc. Coenraad Vermaak Safaris seems to hint at this when they write:
Although we are hunters, we are actually in the memory making business and we thrive on seeing Africa through our clients’ eyes!
Ah, conservation, fair chase, and memory making. Memory making, that is, unless you're killed in an "unprovoked" attack. Mabye the safari outfits shoud start seeing Africa through the eyes of the animals they're killing. "Unbprovoked" my hoof!
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