There are perhaps 4500 black rhinos left in the world. As of last Monday, there was one fewer.
One Percenter Corey Knowlton bid $350,000 to have the “opportunity” to kill one of the last surviving members of this endangered species.
(Smiling while killing.)
The Safari Club's auction on January 11 was attended by high-roller hunters who bid on the opportunity to shoot a mature male black rhino. Though predicted to net up to $1 million, the highest bid, reportedly made by Knowlton, was $350,000. The event was framed as a fundraiser, the proceeds from which would be earmarked for preservation of the species.
Source.
Oh and just BS on this: paying to kill one of the last surviving members of a species to "raise money" for "preservation of the species" is beyond specious. Just own up, Corey Knowlton and others involved with this rhino murder.
You were willing to pay what amounts to seven times the average American family’s income to kill an animal so you could have the trophy. You and your fellow travelers are sick animal murderers. The idea that you were involved with this to "preserve a species" is absurd and you know it.
You are a pathetic trophy hunter. If you cared about preservation, you could have donated that money to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where it would have done some actual good.
Kenyan Ranger Speaks Out Against Planned Murder of Black Rhinoceros by Corey Knowlton
International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Jeff Flocken told NPR Wednesday, "If you pay to take a human life and give to humanitarian causes, it does not make you a humanitarian. And paying money to kill one of the last iconic animals on earth does not make you a conservationist."
Salon
Nor does posing with a smile on your face behind the carcass of a leopard you murdered.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, Mr. Knowlton said:
I did not create this plan, Piers. They created this plan. I'm the one that believes in it enough to put my money where my mouth is. I'm not just sitting at home watching a Discovery Channel. I'm not going to go condemning those people. It's wonderful that they're getting to see wildlife. But I understand these animals are going to die anyway. You cannot grant them an eternal life any more than I can. Out there, it is a crazy wild world where these things kill each other. And I'm actually ...
MORGAN: If you kill it, Corey -- if you kill it, will you be as you have done many times posting a picture of you smiling in celebratory by the dead rhino? Do you intend to do that?
KNOWLTON: I intend to take trophy photos of the animal in a respectful manner so I can remember it, so I can give it to the Namibian government -- to the Namibian people, and honor the animal as what it is.
CNN Transcripts.
Corey Knowlton won an auction last January that gave him a hunting permit to kill an endangered black rhino, which weighed about 3,000 pounds. Knowlton quickly gained criticism from animal-rights activists, since there are only about 4,500 black rhinos left on Earth. But Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism gave Knowlton the permit, and he obtained another permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so he could bring the dead animal back to America.
For its part, the ministry maintains that the contest and permit are actually helping save the animals — the group allows five killings a year of rhinos who aren't able to breed and could be a threat to younger males. The money from the contest is given to anti-poaching and conservation projects, NPR reports.
Knowlton made good on his winnings and killed the rhino on Monday.
The Week
To the "ministry" that encouraged this contest: SHAME ON YOU.
To Corey Knowlton: You are an animal murderer. SHAME ON YOU.
To the US Fish and Wildlife Service: SHAME ON YOU.
Global March for Elephants and Rhinos 2015