Friday 20 April 2012

Big Game


Cro has just thrown my mind into a tumultuous maelstrom of impotent hatred by posting a picture of the utter bastard, Juan Carlos - King of Spain - standing next to a young, tusked elephant that he shot dead recently, looking very pleased with himself indeed.  The elephant is - pathetically - kneeling head-on against a tree which it managed to stagger up to in it's completely unexpected death-throes.  I am grateful to Cro for posting that image though, even though it has somewhat ruined my day.

I used to have a sort of grudging admiration for Juan Carlos, what with him riding around Madrid on a motorbike, etc. but now I long for nothing else than his deposal - preferably a violent one which culminates in him dangling upside-down from a lamp post, and I am ashamed to admit to this level of emotional involvement.  The people of Spain seem to be more upset by the fact that he took an expensive holiday at a time of financial hardship for everyone else, than that he shot dead a young elephant from an endangered, close family herd.  I suppose that's what you must expect from a nation of bull-fighters.

I have been very indecisive about whether or not to renew my membership to the classic gun-club that I belong to, for a number of reasons.  We only shoot shotguns and we only shoot them at clay-pigeons, although most members do go shooting pheasant and pigeon etc. as an extra-curricular activity, and I regularly eat game-birds and venison shot by them in season.  I am very similar to all good Moslems in one respect though, and that is that I do not ever want to kill anything for 'sport' - I could never derive any pleasure from bringing down a creature with a gun, although I completely understand that to do so efficiently and cleanly requires a level of skill which does - by sheer practice - involve pleasure and satisfaction from doing something difficult well.  I get this pleasure from shooting at fast-moving, inanimate objects, and find it difficult to transpose onto birds.  Having said that, I do like the idea of fly-fishing, but somehow I just cannot identify with fish.

Being handed a high-velocity rifle by an experienced skivvy and training the cross-hairs of a high-powered telescopic sight on the unmissable bulk of a stationary elephant from a quarter of a mile then pulling a trigger does not - in my opinion - require any level of skill which could justifiably engender any pride in the work, nor can it be described as 'sport' by any well-balanced human being.

A few years ago, we had a club-member who was universally disliked - even by the most right-wing of the old boys who form the nucleus of the club - and he was primarily despised for his Scrooge-like meanness when it came to money.

Despite his tight hold on the purse-strings, every summer he would take a £3000 holiday in Africa with the sole intention of shooting big game with telescopic rifles.  He enjoyed nothing more than to fly thousands of miles into the African wilderness and take the lives of a few docile water buffalo or gazelle which happened to be wandering around trying to survive before he arrived.

The club did - at one time - have one Arab Moslem member, and I wondered how he reacted to all the pro Iraq War hate emails being circulated by some of the more extreme members at the time.  Then Christmas came around and we were required to choose in advance from the menu of the restaurant which was hosting the annual dinner.  That was when everyone realised that he was also a vegetarian...






19 comments:

  1. I can kill a fish in order to eat it, that's ok in my book as it's better than trying to eat it whilst it is alive.

    Can you eat elephants? Not sure but I'll bet he didn't.

    Talking of killing for sport, how's about a spot of regicide this afternoon Tom?

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    1. Never eat anything bigger than your head - and that includes Spanish kings.

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  2. Lovely, thought provoking post Tom.
    And to think I was just about to write one about a shambolic kangaroo hunt ...

    People who kill animals for sport and prestige have always been bottom of the bucket for me. It's just disgusting. Growing up on a diet of Robert Ruark made sense when he finally succumbed to a completely emasculating disease. (That said, at least he acknowledged all that stuff in one of his final books.)

    I'm with you on the so-called king. I've killed fish for a living but I know that folk have appreciated the feed. What I've learned from fishermen and other food hunters is that they don't take pictures of themselves next to their dead prey, because that is not what they are about at all.
    As soon as someone takes a photo, the whole 'game' changes.

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    1. Yes, photos and trophies are the pits. Hence the Larson cartoon.

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  3. I'm with you here, Tom; Juan Carlos is firmly off my dinner party circuit since this news emerged. Killing animals for a thrill or for honing one's expertise is cruel, and shows lack of imagination: there are less inhuman thrills to be had.

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    1. obviously it was legal for him to do so, a fact that I find rather puzzling...was it part of an accepted cull?
      anyhow it sounds all rather dated and clarke Gable ish to me....
      I know in general the Spaniards wouldnt give a flying fart for the elephant but by the sounds of it, given the problems Spain is in financially, people are well pissed off with the old kind for his lack of tact.
      as for killing game birds
      sure bag a couple for the pot, but the sight of a row of guys blasting fuck out of birds that have difficulty even flying straight, makes me puke!!!!!!!!!

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    2. Was it legal? There are armed patrols to shoot poachers on sight in Africa, but I'm not sure that covers kings. If I cannot sell antique ivory on ebay, then surely you cannot get it fresh?

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  4. I think Sarah said it well...real hunters and fishermen don't take photos.

    I could barely look at Cro's pictures..I found it most disturbing.

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  5. I'm kinda OK with fishing, but hate it when one gets itself snared on my hook. I'd be just as happy with a float and weighted line (I'm eating a Sea Bass tonight).

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  6. I'm with Sarah on this.

    And standing 1/4 mile away with a high-powered gun does not a hunter make. Not in my book.

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  7. I absolutely agree with you, Tom. I just had a look at the pictures -- what a stupid man is King Juan Carlos... perhaps I've erred in calling him a 'man'!

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  8. Un"effing" believeable! But then again, didn't he even shoot his own brother? Ooops, my bad. That one shall be forgiven since it was an accident. Shooting the elephant was not. I'm not sure if I should call him a very dumb man or a pompous ass.

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    1. I heard that his brother (or his son) accidentally shot himself in the foot. Either that was a traditional way of opting out of the situation (like WW1), in which case he has my respect, or it was yet another bit of Darwin theory in action, in which case he has my admiration.

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    2. his son apparently was wearing novelty rabbit slippers at the time

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    3. I thought you were joking, but I've just heard that is true. Must be Darwin after all.

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  9. I guess I'm an anathema...I eat meat and fish, but could never kill it.
    This sort of shooting however, is nothing short of animal cruelty in my book. Shame on the Juan!!!

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  10. No, seriously, Juan's brother Alfonso died by gunshot. It is unclear if he accidentally killed himself while cleaning his weapon or if good old Juan accidentally shot him while goofing around. Either way, Alfonso turned up dead.

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    1. Was it on the same trip? I hope so, but I feel a bit guilty about hoping so.

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  11. What pleasure would anyone get from shooting an endangered animal? I will never understand such cruelty. xx

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