Many years ago, pictures from a giant photo book from the library scarred me for life. I had forgotten to jolt down the name of the book but managed to scan a few pictures from it....
Nepal’s Terai lowlands is the site of some of the greatest animal massacre during early 1900s, when various prime ministers from the Rana Dynasty tried to get cosy with British Royals by organising massive shikars or royal hunts....
Make no mistake, this is not akin to Hemingway's "Old man and the sea" where one man battled, hands and fists, against nature. This is a grand ego trip where probably a thousand men and 500 elephants frightened the giant one-horn into the open so that a puny little man can get the easiest of shot and a trophy photo to boot. This photo may even be doctored (termed photomontaged) to remove all his assistants and entourage (Archduke Franz Ferdinand was notorious for this).
This picture probably showed the actual scene of the crime. (
1912. His Imperial Majesty's shoot in Nepalese Terai, December 1911. Hemg & Higgins, Mhow, India)
Gristly body counts:
1877: Prince Albert was reported to kill at least 6 tigers in a day and not sure what else (with the help of 700 tame elephants)
1893: Archduke Franz Ferdinand killed 18 tigers, at least1 panther, 2 elephants and "anything that moved" including monkeys and fowls (with the help of a thousand men and 200 elephants)
1911: King George with his 12 thousand henchmen and 600 elephants massacred 18 rhinos, 39 tigers, 4 sloth bears
1938: Lord Linlithgow and his entourage was reported to slaughter 120 tigers, 27 leopards, 15 bears and 38 rhinos
Spoils of Maharaja Shumshere's Royal Hunt (early 1900).
The gruesome pictures speak for themselves ....the dark pages of human history. Nowadays such excesses and disregard for animal life is frown upon but there are still many trophy hunters who kill for sport and excitement rather than
necessity. Since 1970s Nepal has banned hunting ....it is just one less from a list of places where big game huntings are legal - most southern African countries, Congo, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan and even rich countries like Canada (British Columbia for example) and some states in USA. According to the website kontinentalist Canada is head and shoulders above all others in trophy export - albeit as a mean to control bears and cougars.
I will not go into the arguments on the rights and wrongs....I have vegan friends and a cousin who gave up fishing because "it was too cruel". But as cheesy as it sounds, I do think that if this is right, the nothing will be left, especially with climate change and dwindling habitats already exerting pressures on the wildlife.
Reference:
The royal hunt of tiger and rhinoceros in the Nepalese terai in 1911
http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/117/1175857652.pdf
