Banned from Africa

[Mikeinhistory]

If something like African lions (who live and hunt in groups, and are strictly carnivorous, unlike the few predators we actually have that are comparable in size) had existed in North America, we'd have probably killed it to extinction a long time ago.

I don't want to see lions go extinct, but honestly I couldn't blame the locals if they wiped the things out. You want your kids growing up around that?

That is an interesting thought. Lions and tigers today are geographically dispersed somewhat as a consequence of British imperialism. Where the British were they killed all those beasts. In fact recent research shows that tigers from the Sundarban mangroves in India are slightly genetically different from other tiger populations. It is thought that this is because humans could not penetrate this area until recently and that these tigers retain a "man-eating" gene. In other areas all man eaters were hunted and killed rather systematically, originally by the British colonial forces. I know that there is, or was at one point a documentary about it on Netflix, but they are always changing what's available so I don't know anymore.

 

[tx_transplant]

My brother was a professional hunter doing hunts all over Africa before health issues forced him out. For one, conservation and herd management is taken very seriously by the governments, as well as the tour operators. Poaching is dealt with extremely harshly.
The money that these companies take in from fees and taxes, not to mention the employment of a considerable number of locals is huge. Removal of this stream of income would destroy what little bit of good is being realized. As was previously mentioned, there is also the donation of meat to the local populace as well.
The way I see it, if you have 40K or more to spend on a vacation, and this is what interests you, by all means, you should be able to do it. Like so many other issues, it isn't the law abiding that are the problem, it's the lawbreakers. Legit hunters and tour operators are what is keeping many of these animals from being endangered, often times at the hands of the illegal poachers.

 

[tXfactor]

You have 400 lb predators live in your backyard sometime and let me know how conservation minded you are toward them.

Americans have a very condescending way of approaching African issues. IMO the European attitude is worse.

That's funny because there are 400lb predators all over America and they are held to a higher standard. Ever heard of the wolf, brown bear, black bear, etc.?

 

[tXfactor]

If something like African lions (who live and hunt in groups, and are strictly carnivorous, unlike the few predators we actually have that are comparable in size) had existed in North America, we'd have probably killed it to extinction a long time ago.

I don't want to see lions go extinct, but honestly I couldn't blame the locals if they wiped the things out. You want your kids growing up around that?

Actually, they were killed to near extinction and then conservation groups spent millions of dollars to save the species and protect the species. Just because you are ignorant of the truth does not make it false.

 

[V-Tach]

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[M. Sage]

That's funny because there are 400lb predators all over America and they are held to a higher standard. Ever heard of the wolf, brown bear, black bear, etc.?

Wolves don't hit four bills, around 100 is normal, a huge one might hit 200... and we keep tight tabs on the size of their population. Our forebears did in fact hunt them right to the edge of extinction, and for a reason.

Bears aren't the kind of predators lions are. One, they don't hunt in groups. Two, they're not pure carnivores - 60-80% of their diet is plant matter . They're omnivores like us.