Lion On The Prowl

Viral Articles About Trophy Hunter Being Killed By Lion Turns Out To Be Made Up

Earlier this week, a story about a trophy hunter in Africa being killed and eaten by the brother of a lion he had just shot took the internet by storm. The story went massively viral and was recirculated by news outlets all over the world. It even drew the attention of some pretty notable names. That includes UFC Fighter Jake Shields who said he was happy the lion ate the guy. Social media posts about the incident have racked up tens of millions of views. The only problem is, the story apparently isn’t true. The false story appears to have originated through an outlet titled River City Post. It was originally posted on January 13th. More recently, Mandy News shared a post that seems to debunk the entire ordeal.

The original article was headlined “Trophy hunter eaten alive by the brother of the lion he eliminated for an Instagram story.” However, the post provided no hard evidence or credible sources and very little information beyond the clickbait headline. The article also included a video that purported to show the incident described in the headline. That footage was actually a 4-year-old video from CBS News about a poacher being eaten by lions.

The photo of the portly gentleman and his wife posing with a dead lion that accompanied the story was also found to be taken more than a decade ago. As the story began to circulate widely, a second video from 2013 was rumored to have the incident on tape. That very same video had already been proven to be falsely edited by the reputable fact-checking website Snopes a long time ago.

The Truth About Trophy Hunting

Given how much attention the fake story has gotten, it obviously highlights the polarizing nature of “trophy hunting.” It’s certainly understandable for people to be uncomfortable and even outraged by pictures of people posing next to iconic species like lions. However, internet frenzies pushing back against trophy hunting actually sets a dangerous precedent. The fact of the matter is, trophy hunting provides financial resources for managing wildlife in Africa for which there are no viable alternatives.

The lofty amount of money people pay to shoot one lion is essentially reinvested into habitat conservation and anti-poaching efforts. Those efforts protect entire lion populations and every other species in the area. People who have never been to Africa and know nothing of the continent’s wildlife management principles are now rallying online again to try and end trophy hunting. Meanwhile, people actually on the ground in Africa are imploring them to let them make their own decisions for the sake of ongoing wildlife conservation efforts.

The most common argument against trophy hunting is that photo safaris could simply take its place. That’s certainly true in highly visited areas like National Parks. But most African hunting takes place on private land in the most rugged and remote areas of the continent. Places that absolutely no tourists go to, besides those there to hunt. Plus financial assessments prove that no viable alternative currently exists for replacing the funds for conservation that trophy hunting creates.

Hunt The Facts With Safari Club International

Safari Club International has an ongoing campaign titled Hunt The Facts. It includes detailed reports on species conservation in Africa. It also highlights Safari Club’s advocacy efforts to assist with legislative and regulatory priorities to promote wildlife conservation through hunting. An extensive research library is also available. It catalogs countless scientific reports that prove trophy hunting is an essential part of international wildlife conservation. The Myth vs. Facts aspect of the campaign also debunks misinformation about trophy hunting.

The most thought-provoking part of the Hunt The Facts initiative though is the video collection produced by Blood Origins. It includes more than a dozen videos from leading government officials in Africa expressing how important trophy hunting is to their country’s economy and wildlife management efforts. Many of them specifically ask foreigners who know little of how things work in Africa to stop trying to influence decisions about trophy hunting policies and regulations in their respective countries.