A US citizen reacts to seeing, reading about teen hunter Kendall Jones.
We wondered what regular folk thought about Texas’ teen huntress. When one of our new volunteers expressed absolute dismay we asked her to jot down her thoughts… by doing so she learned a most valuable lesson.
What a fellow US citizen has to say about Kendall Jones
Recently, I came across the story on the news about Kendall Jones, the young lady who has been making trips to Africa to kill endangered species in effort of conservation. I was completely flabbergasted.
My first thought was ”How on Earth would this benefit conservation?”. Honestly, I do not understand the good of trophy hunting, how it can preserve the animals that have had enough of their kind killed already. I am against killing of all sorts except for bare necessities you can only obtain from an animal. Animal trophies are in no way necessary.
I looked deeper into the story about Miss Jones and found several pictures of her smiling next to the animals she had killed. The photographs included her and an elephant, a rhino, a lion, a leopard, a buffalo, a hippo, just to mention a couple.
I found it hard to believe that someone could be joyful in the presence of a deceased animal that they killed themselves, especially an animal in danger of extinction. I must say, I was moved by this story. Not moved to support her, but moved to be part in the non-violent rebellion against trophy hunting.
I remembered that the news story mentioned a petition on a site called Change.org.
I went to Change.org and made an account. The first petition I signed, of course, was the one banning Kendall Jones from making hunting trips to Africa.
Then, I started looking for some more petitions. The more I signed, the more I noticed that my actions can change the world. Albeit small, acts such as clicking a button that says ”Sign this petition’’ can be beneficial. After finally ceasing my petition signing, I leaned back and thought.
I thought about how mindless the human race can be at times. People, so intelligent, yet so foolish. Lead astray to a misconception so easily, or in some cases, we do the incorrect thing knowing we are at fault. I soon realized that I need not dwell on this fact, but instead use my time trying to improve the state of our world in all ways possible. I smiled. What a great thought… ”I can improve the state of my world.” I encourage whoever is reading this to keep in mind the fact that you can make a change. You can make the world as perfect as you yourself want to be.
Contributed by Nikela Volunteer Raven Nero
Update April 7, 2015:
This response by Erin Janus on YouTube may also be of interest to you.
another article that totally resonates with me….
I tip my hat to you, well done.
Good article. She is a disgrace to humanity and women who are normally compassionate and feeling. As an Acrican I am disgusted Americans, Asians and others come here and destroy the heritage of our people. Rangers and tribes especially in Kenya wot so hard to preserve them and people like her come and destroy it they should hang their heads in shame
The problem with responding to such posts is that we are doing so to those already of like mind. Somehow this has little effect on those that perpetrate such malpractices. But then even a small effect has value.
Strangely hunting in itself is not a threat to wild animals. Many of the world’s great reserves have been created by hunters either as areas to preserve species and ecosystems or as conservatories for game “stock”. Over time things have changed. We no longer have to hunt to survive. Greed has led to imbalances in species in ecosystems. Migration routes have been interrupted. Hunting has become a sport rather than necessity. And this is where it becomes truly disgusting. Some people kill for the pleasure of killing. What is going through their minds? Do they really not appreciate wildlife ? Life and all its beauty? Such people need to be curtailed. Anywhere. Farming deer for venison is little different to farming cattle. We can expect the killing to be humane. Is killing with a gun in the bush humane? Nature is itself cruel. Even if this aspect is covered, it still shows a glee in the act of killing for killing sake. The excitement of a successful kill in societies dependent on nature is very different to that of those that are not. But perhaps there is still some raw instinct within us too that cannot be sated within a supermarket.
Thanks Jeremy… It is the killing with glee that is most offensive. After all I don’t believe anyone else in the animal kingdom kills simply for the fun of it… I believe we humans have a corner on the market here.