Hunting & Fishing Conservationist(rhino hunt winner) Faces Death Threats

[Phil1]

Winner of black rhino hunting permit says he's getting death threats
Published: Jan. 17, 2014 at 10:23 AM

DALLAS, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- DALLAS, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A man who won an auction for a permit to kill an endangered black rhino in Namibia and received death threats describes himself as a passionate conservationist.

Corey Knowlton, a Dallas-based hunting consultant for The Hunting Consortium, bid $350,000 Saturday night for the chance to hunt the rare animal, CNN reported Friday.

Knowlton's name as the winner of the Dallas Safari Club's auction was spread on social media and since then he has received death threats, he said.

"If I sound emotional, it's because I have people threatening my kids," Knowlton said. "It's because I have people threatening to kill me right now [that] I'm having to talk to the FBI and have private security to keep my children from being skinned alive and shot at."

"You are a BARBARIAN. People like you need to be the innocent that are hunted," one woman posted on his Facebook page.

"I find you and I will KILL you," another message read.

Knowlton said he's a passionate conservationist, pointing out that Namibia offers up a few permits to kill the black rhino each year to help the population thrive.

Namibia, which has an estimated black rhino population of just under 2,000, allows the selective hunting of older, post-breeding bulls that often attack younger bulls that are still breeding, officials said.

"I respect the black rhino," Knowlton said. "A lot of people say, 'Do you feel like a bigger man?' or 'Is this a thrill for you?' The thrill is knowing that we are preserving wildlife resources, not for the next generation, but for eons."

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[kurt]

To bad those tough internet cock suckers aren't as quick to sign up and protect the country as they are to help a fucking animal that with the money raised will have a better chance at long term survival. With out that money they would be wiped out at the hands of poachers. I hope the guy shoots one and puts the picture up on a bill board

 

[T J]

To bad those tough internet cock suckers aren't as quick to sign up and protect the country as they are to help a fucking animal that with the money raised will have a better chance at long term survival. With out that money they would be wiped out at the hands of poachers. I hope the guy shoots one and puts the picture up on a bill board

Well said & spot on in IMHO. They know not what they preach, idiotic sheeple who believe only what the Sierra club FaceBook page tells them. Some of the most ignorant people i've ever witnessed. Without conservation revenue, those rhinos are as good as extinct.


t

 

[Strykervet]

If the park and park rangers actually get that money, then I'm for it. I understand what they are doing. BUT, if that money goes to the corporation that put it on and the corrupt Namibian govt. and the park and rangers get little to nothing, then I think it was a scam to let a few greedy men get what they wanted at the cost of us all. Because if that money doesn't go to the park and their rangers to stop poaching, it won't be long before poachers start auctioning their own hunts for $350,000, and I guarantee you that money won't be going towards stopping poaching or for the park's benefit at all.

I think a better idea is to start a reality show, "The Hunter has become the Hunted!" and auction off slots where benefactors to the park and park rangers get to go on a poaching patrol using the new gear they helped fund. Each show illustrates the rangers getting more and more powerful against the poachers with increasingly better technology, weapons and training. It's entertaining so it draws advertisement and the show pays for itself (it uniquely would attract both hardcore-type hunters and animal lovers alike) it increases the effectiveness of the park rangers exponentially, the money goes directly from the benefactor to the park, it sends a message the rangers are strong and that poaching animals just got a LOT more dangerous. It's win-win for everyone but poachers.

THIS is how you stop poaching in the 21st century. It could be done in parks across Africa.

 

[hahco]

I was surprised that CNN and Piers gave him as fair a shake as they did.

 

[zac_c]

I can't believe people would give this guy death threats for winning a hunt.

 

[Wyfox]

The specific rhino Cory is going after is an old aggressive male that has been killing young rhino calves. The rhino will be euthanized regardless if a sportsman hunts him or he is sedated by a vet and euthanized. Having a hunter pay $350,000 to come and hunt an aggressive non-breeding rhino is conservation. That money will pay for a lot of 24hr anti poaching teams and rhino conservation and breeding efforts.
You tell me what is the right choice? Pay a vet money to kill it or profit huge from a hunter to kill it? Our sportsman dollars in Africa keep wildlife safe, that is what anti hunting communities don't understand! Photographers and tourists don't pay $20,000-$80,000 dollars for a week of taking pictures.

 

[Rock2D2]

While it suggests a certain kind of backwards logic to hunt something in order to conserve it, it suggests NO logic to threaten to kill someone in order to save something/someone else from being killed.

Let's also not mistake this for genuine philanthropy. If someone is willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the hunt that is viable trade, money has been exchanged for goods or services. In this case at least that money is going towards the conservationists as opposed to the poachers, and anything that draws attention to their illegal activities, and their hopeful end, is obviously benficial.

 

[kurt]

not backwards at all. Regulated hunting is conservation at its finest.