Will acknowledge:
-That I'm currently an omnivore with the baggage attached to that
-That I've participated in some things related to animals some people have decided I'm abhorrent for (being a runner in a Running of the Bulls, notably; please keep in mind that I do not support bullfighting whatsoever and did not and will not go to a bullfight, I crashed at a gaffer's in Pamplona and so did not contribute in any meaningful way to the economy supporting the continued existence of the San Fermin festival, and effectively just gave bulls free shots at goring/killing me with no recourse, the end, with no expectation or desire for sympathy had I been injured....but judge that level of participation in the cultural relic as you will nonetheless)
-That this guy apparently greatly offsets the numerical loss of the elephant he shoots with money contributed to broader conservation efforts.
-That, ultimately, humans as a species will go ahead any kill anything, including other humans, all the time, every day, with or without justification, and assigning comparative value to non-human life when we still can't get the whole "not kill each other over terrible reasons" thing right ends up being somewhat of a non-starter, regardless of our observations about intelligent non-human species we share the planet with, so with non-human life valued so little as it is, there is a legitimate enough argument to be made about trophy hunting vs supporting conservation efforts for the greater good of the species in question. Things are pretty dire out there and we're talking about the very real possibility of extinction down the road due to how almost none of us give a damn in any meaningful way, so, yeah, it's easy to indict this squished guy while doing nothing to help species that are being poached to extinction as we speak. Do put your money where your mouth is, if you're in position to do so and feeling righteous enough to publicly condemn this sort of act.
Still...even so....elephants are very intelligent creatures, and their trajectory right now due to human involvement is tragic to say the least. I've had the privilege of spending considerable time among them in the wild at this point for some first-hand insight as well. I just have to categorically reject the idea of humans justifiably murdering them for sport no matter the donation involved for "the greater good." Can't get myself there. Not going to claim moral superiority -- honestly, if we don't end up wiping out most if not all intelligent life on the planet in short order at this rate it'll be a miracle anyway, so killing one elephant while facilitating saving several others from inevitable poaching is a hell of a lot better than the norm for a human being when it comes to this stuff -- but can't get behind the notion of sport killing a species like the elephant.
So, yeah. Sucks that you got squished by your trophy animal, I guess, but it is, well, pretty morbidly funny to go out like that, I gotta admit. RIP elephant and the unlucky man-paste underneath. I'll stick with contributing to wildlife conservation funds and shooting elephants with my cameras instead of my guns, for whatever that's worth, but it probably ain't worth much in the grand scheme. We don't give nearly enough fucks as a species. Not by a long shot.
