Thursday, July 17, 2014

Activism: Canned Lion Hunting

I am woefully behind on some of my posting, so here is one for the catching up list.  We had a very busy day this past March.  Down at the State Capitol, about a twenty minute drive for us, there were several activities going on.  SR, GR and I were with our homeschool group's teen group doing our version of The Amazing Race.  There were also two protests going on: one against fracking and the other against canned lion hunting.  GR and JK both had pre-planned to go to the lion one, but GR got caught up after the race, so just JK, G and I went to this protest.  Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by the thousands of people who showed up to protest against fracking, but we still managed to find the group.  Not that I was opposed to the anti-frackers - they just made it difficult to find the lion people.


What is canned lion hunting, you ask?  It takes place in South Africa, where people raise lions from cubs, feed them by hand, essentially taming them.  Then, when the lions are good and tame and unafraid of people, the handlers let high-paying "hunters" come in and shoot them in large pens, the "cans" if you will.  The day we went in March was an international day of protest, but I just checked their website, and there are ongoing events.  GR and JK made signs, which JK is holding by his side in the picture above.  Sacramento's small group of protesters marched around the capitol and tried to bring attention to this ghastly practice.  Check out the main website that talks about this at http://www.cannedlion.org/ .  Maybe you can be a voice next year along with ours.

On a side note, our family is going to try and amp up our level of activism.  We used to be much more active, and if I can find a photo of a protest that we did against Proctor and Gamble years ago, I'll make a post about that, as well.  It's so easy to become complacent in our lifestyle, especially when your whole family is either vegan or supportive of you.  But, there are too many animals suffering in so many ways, that complacency cannot be accepted anymore.  I, for one, want to raise the next generation of activists for the animals.

17 comments:

  1. It just boggles my mind that there are people who consider this sort of thing fun.

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    1. Andrea, I know. What kind of people are they?

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  2. I wonder how these kinds of activities can even be accepted as legal. I really don't understand what's the sense of achievement someone could feel in killing an animal in this way.

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  3. Sarah, having children is such a responsibility, and one of them is to teach them strong morals and ethics. I'm not perfect by any means, but I do try and do that at least. :-)

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  4. That's so good to hear about the activism - you're absolutely right, we should all do more if and when we can. Being vegan is just the start. I find the whole idea of canned lion hunting just baffling in the extreme. I suggest a more fair fight - man and lion mano a mano in the pen.

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  5. Good for you for getting involved. People who kill animals for fun should be hunted themselves.

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    1. SV, I'm not going to put that on record, but I understand your sentiment.

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  6. Oh i had no idea about that with the lions. It is so sickening what some people do :-(
    Good on you for deciding to be more active!

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    1. Thanks, Sandy. Hopefully, I'll be able to post about a lot more activism.

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  7. Ohhh, my eyes are full of tears. I just don't get it. Good for you guys...I am always a little unsure what to do for activism. My meek nature doesn't always lend itself well to that sort of thing.

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    1. I am not a loud person, either. But when things like this happen, and my kids get outraged, it's easy to be active.

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