I was surprised when, opening my e-mail inbox, I saw on the side of the screen that Ekuja Hunting Safaris had advertised trophy hunting. Surprise was comparatively better however to the disgust I had when upon checking out the page I was greeted with grotesque images of dead African animals, including lions and leopards, where the bullet wound together with the blood was still visible. Also in the picture were the hunters themselves, proud of their heroic feat and beaming from ear to ear as if they had just seen Santa Clause fly over the Nairobi plain. Some had the audacity to display a victory sign next to the dead creature while some others took it a step further by turning the death of the animal into a chance for a family portrait as one could even see the children get to enjoy in this 'victorious celebration'. 

Now I understand, after not having to do much research on it, that the issue of trophy hunting is fiercely debated on with the rights of the animals being pitted against the economy of Nairobi and "conservation' efforts, though how the act of shooting and killing animals whilst making it entertaining by turning it into a sport can even be considered as 'right' no matter what the benefits, is beyond me. 

 However, leaving aside whatever 'benefits' that can be accrued from this cruel sport, there is no reason for insensitivity. One does not see the website of the government of the United States of America displaying images of the dead body of Osama Bin Laden to prove that they defeated the Al Qaeda. Therefore I do not see any reason for an organization to glorify an act as cruel as killing an animal as sport. Whatever happened to being dignified in death? If it helps the economy, fine. Go ahead and out up a statistical chart with the how the economy has improved. If it helps conservation, fine. Put up an image of the increase of animals. I really do not see how simply not putting up pictures of this nature is going to hinder the advertising process or any other process of such safaris. We live in such a society where even hate speech can be banned therefore I do not think that sensitivity towards animals and their rights, at a public level such as this, is a hard thing to ask for. In addition Ekuja Safaris themselves state in their public website that they employ "strictly ethical and fair chase hunting practices at all times" which shows that they themselves do believe to a certain extent that animals have rights. The ban on the pictures is just an extension of that principle. True enough, it might be hard to be monitoring all the image capturing devices on every person who goes on one of these trophy hunts but at least the organization in charge can take a stand on which side of the priciple is the right one. Not having such insensitive and disturbing images is not going to hinder the economy, the organization or whatever conservation efforts trophy hunting may bring about. I would include the animals as well but we don't really care about them do we? So we might as well show a little bit of respect in the process at least.