A Texas hunter bid $350,000 for the right to hunt a rhino in Namibia:
Knowlton’s $350,000 will go to fund government anti-poaching efforts across the country. And the killing of an older rhino bull, which no longer contributes to the gene pool but which could harm or kill younger males, is part of the science of conservation, he argues.
Naturally, this makes him a terrible person:
“I think people have a problem just with the fact that I like to hunt,” Knowlton said. “I want to see the black rhino as abundant as it can be. I believe in the survival of the species.”
Bow hunter Cameron Hanes mentioned on the Joe Rogan podcast how 50 pounds (or one elephants worth) of ivory, for example, gets poachers only hundreds of dollars. That’s chump change compared to whatever American hunters pay! And on top of that locals get the meat for free. It really is a win-win situation.
But no amount of explaining will turn “Bambi” into the big rat it is.
Fun fact, deer are the preferred host for ticks, and the size of the tick population parallels that of the deer population. Making this tag-team the main vector for Lyme disease.
And Corey Knowlton himself on the Joe Rogan Experience! That’s the guy who won the controversial bid to kill a black rhino in Namibia.