OPEN LETTER LAIRD HAMBERLAIN by Trevor Oertel
Dear Mr. Hamberlain
Further to my WhatsApp message to you of the other day I have decided to send you this open letter.
Some might ask why I bother? For many reason, the least of which are to quote from Edmund Burke
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”
and a poem by Martin Niemoller my late mother (from a long line of political activists and a political activist in her time) shared with me as a young boy which I make no apology for bastardising:
First they came for the trophy hunter, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trophy hunter.
Then they came for the wing shooter, and I did not speak out— because I was not a wing shooter.
Then they came for the fisherman, and I did not speak out—because I was not a fisherman.
Then they came for me, a falconer — and there was no one left to speak for me.
My name is Trevor Oertel. I’ve been a hunter for the better part of my life and involved in conservation for the past 35 odd years. I’m humbled to be a member of a sustainable utilisation group made up of some of South Africa’s leading conservationists and key sustainable use role players. I also represent my organisation on a Ministerial wildlife panel.
On the 9th June I watched a live stream interview of the British Animal Rights Activists Eduardo Gonçalves where among others he crucified the well-known and respected African conservationist Mr. Ron Thomson, the pro sustainable utilisation conservation group The True Green Alliance and Safari Club International.
Even you Mr. Hamberlain as CEO of Safari Club International featured in his anti-hunting rant where he portrayed you as a debauched individual who derived some perverse sense of pleasure writing about “how exciting it was seeing a lion’s head explode in a cloud of smoke and who said nothing is more fulfilling in life than shooting an elephant dead”.
For those that don’t know, Gonçalves is the founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, which has been very active pressurising the British Parliament to ban the import of hunting trophies. Their supporters though very well-meaning like hunters passionate about animals are good caring people, celebrities and politicians with very little if any knowledge on wildlife and wildlife management. I suspect the majority must be urban as most rural people, if not livestock farmers themselves, would have a very basic concept of livestock management which is not too dissimilar to wildlife management.
The aim of Gonçalves interview, besides listening to the sound of his own voice, was to promoting his book “Trophy Hunters Exposed Inside The Big Game Industry”. Please see the link to the book review where among others trophy hunters are called serial killers.
As I wrote a few days ago “most people dislike trophy hunting not because they actually know anything about trophy hunting but because of a very active animal rights narrative against not only hunting but all forms of sustainable utilisation, it’s became fashionable to support the anti-hunting narrative and flock with the herd. At what cost to wildlife? Whether or not one likes hunting anyone reading this can only thank their ancestors that they were successful hunters! If hunting is so abnormal and only the realm of psychopaths I’m left wondering why the natural world has so many predators? Could it be that hunting is part of nature?”
The caring public through the emotive drivel feed to them by the anti-hunting lobby have become instant wildlife experts that are insisting that their voice and opinions should override basic wildlife management principles. Should any wildlife scientist express a professional science based opinion that differs from the uneducated collective they are immediately branded sell-outs and accused of being in the back pocket of hunting lobbyists. At what cost to wildlife?
Gonçalves anti-hunting rhetoric seems to be based on conjecture and his personal opinion which seems to be becoming more outlandish with each passing week. I’m sure Freud would have had a lot to say on the motives and reasons behind what drives Gonçalves. Maybe it is a bit more complex that he is just a cooked sad little man who seems to blossom in the notoriety his champaign has brought him or maybe it’s as simple as the financial rewards his champaign brings him.
He plays to his audience and points out that some notorious serial killers were trophy hunters. I’m not sure where he got these pearls of wisdom from but can assure him and the rest of the anti-hunting zealots most serial killers were not trophy hunters. To take the argument to its logical conclusion are we to infer that non hunters are predisposed to being serial killers?
During the interview, one of the comments made by a viewer was that they together with Eduardo Gonçalves have approached the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to include Trophy Hunting as “Harmful Effects” child abuse. Gonçalves even educated his audience on the meaning of “Buck Fever” which has a completely different meaning in his tiny little sad world than in the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Based on his definition of buck fever he falsely accuses hunters of sexually abusing children and domestic violence. Clearly Gonçalves has no concept of the truth, science or research and believes a thumb suck and fertile imagination are enough evidence. One would think as a criminologist (if that actually is what Gonçalves is) Eduardo Gonçalves would know that research by for one criminologist Professor Chris Eskridge who compared hunting license sales with violent crime rates on a county-by-county basis throughout the United States actually shows the opposite i.e. as hunting license sales go up, violent crime goes down. Obviously the truth is not of a high priority to Gonçalves. At what cost to our wildlife?
With the recent 5th anniversary of the legal hunt of Cecil, a previously unknow Zimbabwean lion, Gonçalves and animal rightist have been exploiting both Cecil and the donating public at the expense of biodiversity conservation, lion conservation and hunting. Their reliving of this donation savvy moment sounds like a stuck record as the animal rights movement flaunt Cecil as one of the main reasons why trophy hunters are the spawn of the devil and hunt illegally. Nowhere in their narrative do they reveal the Zimbabwean Governments confirmation that this hunt was legal. Obviously integrity is not a priority with Goncalves. At what cost to our wildlife?
Now this we won’t find in the mainstream media or on the social media walls of the donation hungry anti-hunting animal rights organisations:
In a written supplementary questions asked of Dr. Patience Gandiwa, Executive Technical Advisor Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, by Rep. Rob Bishop after her testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee United States House of Representatives:
“Was the hunting of Cecil the Lion legal and how does Lion hunting contribute to the conservation of the lion species in Zimbabwe?”
Here is Dr. Gandiwa’s written answer of the 1st August 2019 which is crystal clear to the question “Was the hunting of Cecil the Lion legal?”
“The hunting of Cecil the Lion was legal as the hunting party had all the paperwork and permissions required for a legal hunt.”
Here is the link to Dr. Patience Gandiwa’s answers.
I cannot help wondering what recourse Dr. Walter Palmer has against the thousands of animal rights activists and media that trashed his name. Surely Dr. Walter Palmer would have a very strong case of suing the media and animal rights movements for slander/libel?
How long are we as hunters and/or conservationists going to allow Gonçalves and his kind to call us child abusers, child molesters, psychopaths, serial killers and walk all over us with impunity? We are hunters not lambs going off to slaughter. Shouldn’t we be looking at legal action for the slander and libel we as hunters have to endure from the likes of Eduardo Gonçalves. It’s time to push back!
