KICKSTARTER supports the slaughter of endangered animals as ‘Project of the Day’
January, 25th, 2013 - It is unfortunate that a company as reputable as Kickstarter can support the slaughter of endangered animals as a 'Project of the Day'. On August 31st, 2012 – KICKSTARTER, a funding platform for creative projects, has staff picked pictorials of dead animals for the “Project of the Day.” The photos in the three-book series entitled “Hunters” glorifies the hunting of endangered animals and shows scenes of deceased lions, elephants, giraffes and other species portrayed as trophies next to the hunters.
South African based photographer David Chancellor, the author of “Hunters” is seeking funding on Kickstarter to produce and publish his three-book series. Chancellor says,”Among the animals hunted in Africa are Black Rhinos, even though they are an endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Ten Black Rhinos a year, five each in South Africa and Namibia are allowed to be hunted for trophies.”
He continues: “Today’s hunters are your hedge fund managers, surgeons, dentist, attorneys and their wives and children. These wealthy families usually attend an ‘African Safari Training School’ where they shoot remote controlled Elephants, Leopards, Lions and other species. Long before they arrive in Africa, they have high expectations of the hunt on real animals.”
Here are the numbers from 2011, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agency. And they are staggering!
$746 Million – Annual amount of money spent by hunters in the United States on licenses and public land access fees alone. Sportsmen’s licensing revenues account for more than half of all funding for state natural resource agencies.
$300 Million – Additional monies contributed to wildlife conservation every year by the more than 10,000 private hunting-advocate organizations, like the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
$4.2 Billion – Amount of money sportsmen have contributed to conservation through a 10% federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, and gear since the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act established the tax. Millions of acres of public-use land has been purchased, preserved, and maintained with this money.
It’s no science that nature is in need of wild animals and plants to produce a healthy living habitat. The concern is that these “Hunters” want you to believe that the millions of acres of natural habitat that the hunter’s tax dollars are paying for does more for the preservation of these animals than organizations like PETA, when in fact the same dollar that goes into preserving land for a natural habitat lets hunters kill these animals in there supposed preserved habitat. There is no safeguard for animals put in place and no real consequences for hunting. Many of the animals tusk, teeth, organs and blood are sold on the black market as ritualest remedies for health and wealth.
In a land suffering from drought, man-made watering holes lure wild animals to quench their thirst only to be shot dead. The almighty dollar stretches far beyond the African horizon as some agencies that say they protect animals will turn their back to let hunters kill game on a supposed wild life preserve.
According to Kickstarter, the ‘Project Guidelines’ states that prohibited content is defined as – Offensive material (hate speech, inappropriate content,etc)
Kickstarter says “The project review process works when someone has finished building their project, they submit it to Kickstarter for a guidelines review to ensure that it does not violate the Project Guidelines. A project is either approved or declined, and in some cases we’ll reach out with a question asking for clarification. In every case, we send an email notification to the creator. We spend a big part of our day keeping up with projects. Every morning our editorial team opens hundreds of tabs in their browsers and watches all of the project videos that launched in the last 24 hours. When something sticks out as particularly compelling, a great story, or an exciting idea, we make the project a Staff Pick.”
Kickstarter states, “Our editorial team selects projects from Staff Picks to include in the homepage rotation. From that homepage rotation, we choose a single project to feature as our “Project of the Day.” We put a lot of care into selecting projects, focusing on the same qualities we do for Staff Picks. Because the homepage is the first thing people see when they visit, we aim to have it populated with projects that are excellent examples of what a Kickstarter project can be.
If the project “Hunters” demonstrates an excellent Kickstarter Project then we need to question the morals, ethics and integrity of Kickstarter as a company. Justin Kazmark of the communications team has yet to comment if the project will be pulled from Kickstarter or if kickstarter condones the activity portrayed in the book.
South African based photographer David Chancellor, the author of “Hunters” is seeking funding on Kickstarter to produce and publish his three-book series. Chancellor says,”Among the animals hunted in Africa are Black Rhinos, even though they are an endangered species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Ten Black Rhinos a year, five each in South Africa and Namibia are allowed to be hunted for trophies.”
He continues: “Today’s hunters are your hedge fund managers, surgeons, dentist, attorneys and their wives and children. These wealthy families usually attend an ‘African Safari Training School’ where they shoot remote controlled Elephants, Leopards, Lions and other species. Long before they arrive in Africa, they have high expectations of the hunt on real animals.”
Here are the numbers from 2011, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agency. And they are staggering!
$746 Million – Annual amount of money spent by hunters in the United States on licenses and public land access fees alone. Sportsmen’s licensing revenues account for more than half of all funding for state natural resource agencies.
$300 Million – Additional monies contributed to wildlife conservation every year by the more than 10,000 private hunting-advocate organizations, like the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
$4.2 Billion – Amount of money sportsmen have contributed to conservation through a 10% federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, and gear since the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act established the tax. Millions of acres of public-use land has been purchased, preserved, and maintained with this money.
It’s no science that nature is in need of wild animals and plants to produce a healthy living habitat. The concern is that these “Hunters” want you to believe that the millions of acres of natural habitat that the hunter’s tax dollars are paying for does more for the preservation of these animals than organizations like PETA, when in fact the same dollar that goes into preserving land for a natural habitat lets hunters kill these animals in there supposed preserved habitat. There is no safeguard for animals put in place and no real consequences for hunting. Many of the animals tusk, teeth, organs and blood are sold on the black market as ritualest remedies for health and wealth.
In a land suffering from drought, man-made watering holes lure wild animals to quench their thirst only to be shot dead. The almighty dollar stretches far beyond the African horizon as some agencies that say they protect animals will turn their back to let hunters kill game on a supposed wild life preserve.
According to Kickstarter, the ‘Project Guidelines’ states that prohibited content is defined as – Offensive material (hate speech, inappropriate content,etc)
Kickstarter says “The project review process works when someone has finished building their project, they submit it to Kickstarter for a guidelines review to ensure that it does not violate the Project Guidelines. A project is either approved or declined, and in some cases we’ll reach out with a question asking for clarification. In every case, we send an email notification to the creator. We spend a big part of our day keeping up with projects. Every morning our editorial team opens hundreds of tabs in their browsers and watches all of the project videos that launched in the last 24 hours. When something sticks out as particularly compelling, a great story, or an exciting idea, we make the project a Staff Pick.”
Kickstarter states, “Our editorial team selects projects from Staff Picks to include in the homepage rotation. From that homepage rotation, we choose a single project to feature as our “Project of the Day.” We put a lot of care into selecting projects, focusing on the same qualities we do for Staff Picks. Because the homepage is the first thing people see when they visit, we aim to have it populated with projects that are excellent examples of what a Kickstarter project can be.
If the project “Hunters” demonstrates an excellent Kickstarter Project then we need to question the morals, ethics and integrity of Kickstarter as a company. Justin Kazmark of the communications team has yet to comment if the project will be pulled from Kickstarter or if kickstarter condones the activity portrayed in the book.
- TAGS:
- kickstarter,
- supports,
- endangered,
- killing,
- animals
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