In light of the recent illegal killing of Cecil the protected lion by an American dentist trophy hunter, I feel that it was in very poor taste and inappropriate to have run a full-page ad from “Ammo and More” congratulating Sheridan Newsom on killing and taking as trophies FOUR big horn sheep. These majestic, healthy animals were “harvested” and taken out of the gene pool so that she could mount their heads on her wall and receive her award.
Trophy hunting of our biggest and best wildlife weakens the herds and serves no decent purpose. It is reprehensible to many people, myself included. It is not hunting for food, only for “sport.” Often, animals are killed just for a certain body part, the rest of the animal discarded like so much garbage. Thankfully, many airlines have now banned transportation of these trophy kills. Animal protection agencies all over the world are dealing with preventing the poaching of elephants and rhinos for their ivory, exotic species for their fur and for Asian “medicinal” purposes… the list goes on and on. Trophy hunting is exploitation, and anyone who respects and values our wildlife should speak out against it and work to enact laws to ban it.
I was especially disappointed to see the young woman in the add smiling with her dead sheep. It is more than sad, it is rather obscene.
Peg Brownlee
Florence