Ron Thomson’s response to a comment by a Facebooker on his previous blog post Medical science gives hunters thumbs-up approval
THE COMMENT
Ron Thomson is a trophy hunter and claims to have killed thousands of elephants and hundreds of other creatures like hippos, lions, cheetahs, etc. He has made idiotic claims like there is an overpopulation problem with elephants. There used to be tens of millions of elephants in Africa and now there are only hundreds of thousands. So, the notion that they are overpopulated is just ridiculous. Thomson is pushing his trophy hunting agenda and doesn’t care about facts or reality. That’s why this is published in a NRA magazine and not a peer reviewed scientific journal.
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THE RESPONSE
What article am I supposed to have published in the NRA magazine? If it is the one about medical science supporting hunting these critics of mine they’ve got it all wrong. Those guys (authors) were high-powered medical people and psychologists whose combined thoughts and ideas, put together, strongly supported hunting. That article first appeared in the NRA magazine, American Hunter, a long time ago; and it makes no difference ‘where’ or when it was published. It was WRITTEN by high-powered people in the medical world and what they wrote was not twisted in any way at all. Certainly not in the way that Mr L is trying to twist my life around – of which he knows nothing at all.
And does it matter whether or not I was or am a trophy hunter? WHAT on earth has THAT got to do with the contents of the article (which was written by some of the top medical people in their field in the world?) These critics are like all the other animal rightist I have come across. When it come to propaganda they twist everything that is said or done to maximum degree – and then expect THAT (their conclusion) reflects some kind of truth. Because they DO believe that, they are sick in the head!
And, for their interest – for whatever it is worth – I am NOT a “trophy hunter” and never was. So where did they pick that bit of fabrication from? I began my hunting career when I was nine years old and I don’t even own an old grey duiker’s horn – a memento from by first small buck. Sure, I have hunted a great many big game animals – including thousands of elephants – and hundreds of several other big game species – and I have captured a great many, too – but all THAT hunting and capture work was done in my capacity as a big game-hunting game ranger in the Rhodesian Department of National Parks. Hunting problem animals was a major part of my job (for over 30 years altogether) – and the numbers that I shot and/or captured is a mark of my very great experience with elephants, black rhinos, buffaloes, lions and leopards, their management and their hunting. And I became an expert at it. Moreso than Mr L is ever likely to accomplish. I studied this job in the “University of Life” – because there is no other academic institution that “teaches” people how to shoot elephants. So, Mr L doesn’t like the fact that I have done all these things? TOUGH! I couldn’t care a damn what Mr L thinks of me or my accomplishments. I know who and what I am. I am now an 80 year old university-trained ecologist and ex-game warden (with bucketfuls of practical and academic experience) – who has worked for wildlife all his life – who administered one of Africa’s biggest and most prestigious National Parks, and I have hunted more elephants than Mr L has ever seen pictures of in the story books that he reads. And I have been deeply involved with the management of elephants and other big game animals in Africa’s national parks since 1959. And I am STILL involved in such matters now – 60 years later. I wonder how Mr L’s experience of life compare with THAT?
Sir, you are like a puppy dog who barks at a motor car on the main road, and which runs after the car, barking, until it stops. And when the car stops the little dog doesn’t know what to do with it. Mr L, I have taken the time to stop when you started barking at my heels; And I have taken the time to respond to you this time – but I am really not interested with your inane blusterings. I could invite you to read one of the several university-level wildlife management text books I have written 15 books (and hundreds of magazine articles) on wildlife management – to make you a little bit better informed – but I don’t think you would understand the book’s content. It takes some considerable intellect to understand the principles and practices of science-based wildlife management – and I really don’t think you have what it takes to be an academic! So I will, instead, bit you adieu and hope that I shall not to be bothered by you ever again.
With kind regards
Ron Thomson
