By Monday a petition calling for Bachman to be denied entry to the country started circulating.
The petition states that Bachman was “an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation” that South Africa stands for.
“Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country. As taxpayers we demand she no longer be granted access to this country and its natural resources.”
There is also a facebook page called Stop Melissa Bachman (https://www.facebook.com/stopmelissa) which has over 130 000 likes.
The social media has been whipped into a frenzy and Bachman has shut down her twitter account and website.
Whatever the sentiment on this topic, it cannot be denied that hunting tourism is a huge source of income for this country.
Hunting brings in about R6.2 billion in revenue a year according to the Mail and Guardian (https://mg.co.za/article/2013-05-28-hunting-industry-earns-sa-r62-billion).
In an article on the Intellectual Bulletin (https://www.theintelligencebulletin.co.za/articles/Hunting-industry-a-success-story-1233.html) the wildlife industry is a multi-billion rand entity with four pillars – wildlife ranching, eco-tourism, conservation and hunting.
“Today we have more international hunting tourists traveling to South Africa each year than any other country on the continent,” says Adri Kitshoff, CEO of the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa.
“South Africa has an unrivaled diversity of species – more than 45 major plains game species and all of the Big Five can be seen or hunted here,” he said.
Many believe you cannot have conservation without hunting because of the money the industry pours back into reserves and parks.
This includes programmes such as the working on fire and working for water which should get R2.39-billion next year. This will rehabilitate 105 wetlands and clean 2 100km of coastline, while creating 34 000 full-time jobs.
Furthermore, hunting helps to keep populations under control so that overgrazing is minimised therefore improving the quality of life for all animals in the reserve.
One thing is for sure we cannot crucify one woman for doing something which was perfectly legal for her to do.
What side of the fence are you on? Do you believe hunting is necessary for conservation or that we should ban hunting in this country?
