Conservation groups say eBay should ban trophy hunt sales

Conservation groups want eBay to ban auctions where people pay thousands of dollars to trophy hunters to kill leopards, lions, bears, and other predators.

(Credit: eBay)

Conservation groups praised eBay for banning the sale of ivory products in December, but on Friday they criticized the online auction site for allowing the sale of trophy hunts of lions, leopards, bears, wolves, and other animals.

Raincoast Conservation and Big Wildlife urged eBay in February to stop posting guided hunts of large predators on the auction site, arguing that trophy hunting of carnivores puts species at risk. Under guided hunts, hunters typically seek thousands of dollars up front to pay for a hunting trip and then get the remainder of the fee after an animal has been killed.

On Friday, the groups said they received word from Tod Cohen, eBay vice president and deputy general counsel, that the company would not halt trophy hunt sales because such hunting is legal.

"Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is ethical," Chris Genovali, executive director of the British Columbia-based Raincoast Conservation.

[Jack K1]

Locals preserve their wilderness environment and protect trophy animals to attract hunters.
Hunters offset costs by selling their trophies.
eBay bans trophy sales.
Hunters stop hunting.
Locals turn their wilderness environment into farmland.
Trophy animals die out in the wild.

Yup, that works for me.

[Tekuromoto]

You aren't seriously saying that hunting animals contributes to their survival as a species, are you?

And really, someone pays a trohpy hunting company $10,000 to go hunt a lion or whatever... do you really think the "locals" see a single cent of that?

[toddvj]

Sweet! I didn't know this was offered on eBay! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'm going to start bidding right away.

[CBattery]

The fact is that the vast majority of conservation dollars comes directly from hunters and fishers. I sure hope everyone in favor of this kind of nonsense is 100% pure vegan, otherwise you're just being hypocritical. Either that or you only like protecting the cute animals.

[ideatenow]

Given the state of the world's economy, perhaps groups that seek to ban companies from conducting legal business should be banned.

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[PJDJ]

"Just because something is legal doesn't mean it is ethical,"

Well, by that logic no one should eat meat. Can't wait to die of a protein deficiency. We have enough problems growing enough weeds for everyone to consume and you think we can grow enough twigs and berries to live on? Get real, this is planet Earth, not planet stupid.

[jCounsel]

Let me provide a few definitions of "ethical"

1. involving or expressing moral approval or disapproval <ethical judgments>
2: conforming to accepted standards of conduct <ethical behavior>

Note that these involve "standards" or ways to express "moral approval/disapproval.

Definitions for "moral" include

1 of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior : ethical <moral judgments>
2. expressing or teaching a conception of right behavior <a moral poem>
3. conforming to a standard of right behavior

We see that "ethical" and "moral" vary depending on your subjective opinion of those having the opinion. Rather than have "emotional" responses, go look up and practice "empathy."

People who quickly judge others for doing things they think are "wrong" never seem to think they do anything wrong. How is that a possibility? Right, it isn't unless they are "perfect"--which they aren't.

Therefore, they are "righteous" and "ignorant."

You are welcome to your opinion, and I will support your right to voice your opinion even when it is 180 degrees from my opinion. However, for you to "judge" me based on your opinion is exactly what "those" people do who limit freedom, commit genocide, and other "atrocious" acts. Judging people based on your opinions without accepting that not everyone is like you--and that is a GOOD thing.

Empathy. Go look it up and see if you can't practice empathy. If we all did, perhaps we wouldn't have people who felt "apart" from society to the degree that they are willing to bring a gun into schools and shoot people. While those people who are shot are victims, the person who did the shooting might be a victim as well... Of course, we don't like to admit that do we?

Empathy. Why don't we have more of it?