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It's hypocritical to shoot down Pigeon over hunting photos

Roar Guru
23rd February, 2015
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Glenn McGrath celebrates a wicket during his last Test. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Roar Guru
23rd February, 2015
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2079 Reads

Glenn McGrath is an Australian legend, an outstanding cricketer responsible for countless Australian successes. After retirement from cricket he has dedicated himself to The McGrath Foundation, which has grown into one of the biggest in Australia.

He has never been in any drug scandals, or off-field scandals at all from memory. In fact I can’t remember anything negative in his public life until this hunting ‘scandal’ came along.

I know hunting is not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m not trying to convince anyone to pick up a gun and go out shooting animals. But hunting is not illegal and most farms in Africa have strict rules around hunting ethics for foreigners. As a South African who has spent many weekends away on hunting trips these ethics are ingrained.

I was taught by my father at a young age to respect the wildlife and the environment, that hunting and protecting wildlife go hand-in-hand. I was told never to take a shot from a vehicle or use a night light. Safety and respect must always be on your mind and long before you actually pull a trigger you have to understand that it’s about taking the life for the purposes of life.

Again I’ll stress that I know this is not for everyone and that most people are happy to buy their meat from Woolies, oblivious to the fact that it was once a living, breathing creature with a heartbeat. There is a perception that the animals that are now packages on the supermarket shelves died humanely, but the truth is far from it.

These animals are born into captivity with one purpose only: to become food for the masses. Consumption has become so great the industry is using all sorts of unnatural ways to increase growth and weight. Anyone who has visited a modern, large-scale abattoir will tell you these animal neither live nor die humanely. It’s easier for the consumer to not see their meat as an animal but then it also easier for them to judge those who hunt.

An ethical hunt is not easy. People might think a rifle gives you the ultimate edge but it’s not true. When hunting by foot with a rifle, the advantage is actually in the animal’s favour; you’re in his natural environment. He is camouflaged, and able to smell and hear you from 300-plus metres away, long before you actually manage to spot it. In the case of large game like buffalo you actually risk your life.

I have gone over all the photos, including the one of McGrath next to a elephant bull which he would not have brought down himself. First off the rifle in his hand is not powerful enough to bring down the elephant, second the hunt was not a result of game but rather population control, another result of humanity’s expansion.

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The photo of the smallish antelope on the back of a ute shows it’s been brought to base, where it will be gutted and processed for meat. Most of the times even the guts are used as sausage lining.

Furthermore, these African animals at least had the chance to live and experience their natural environment, then be killed in a fashion no less humane than a cow in a abattoir.

McGrath said he would like to hunt on foot to be closer to the environment. Does a man who has done so much good in this world deserve the ignorant backlash? What would we do if we experience financial collapse and Coles don’t restock the shelves?

I am proud to say I have hunted. It’s brought me closer to nature in a time when voting for the Greens or watching the Discovery Channel seems good enough. What I have learnt I will pass on to my son, and he will understand and respect where meat comes from and our close history with animals.

McGrath is entitled to hunt by the laws of governments and laws of nature. In doing so he has enriched his life and his son’s by facing a reality that was once a part of our existence but is now being denied by Twitter accounts and self-righteous hypocrites who would rather think of meat as something that was grown in the ground.

The further we move away from our understanding of meat the less we will respect the environment and the animals that give us this wonderful gift.

Like anything in life you get good and bad, and there are countless stories about bad hunting, but this is a minority. Would a man like Glenn McGrath, who has done so much for others and is a true role model, associate himself with the bad side of hunting?

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