Animal rights advocates name “Hunting Trophy” Word of Shame of the Year

Trophy hunters spend their leisure time injuring and killing defenceless animals, only to then boast about the lifeless bodies of their victims — the «hunting trophies» — in recreational hunting circles.

Editorial team Wild beim Wild — 14 January 2016

On hunting farms in particular, animals serve as living targets for hobby hunters.

After a “trophy photo” is taken, the animal carcasses are usually mutilated: their heads are severed or their hides stripped, so that the hobby hunters can take their victims home. Through PETA’s vegan blog and Facebook page, interested parties were able to submit their suggestions — an internal PETA jury selected the dubious winner from hundreds of entries.

“Trophy hunting is a despicable pastime of wealthy, callous individuals who have more money than morals,” said Vanessa Reithinger, wildlife expert at PETA Germany e.V.

“Shooting a defenceless animal from ambush or piercing its body with steel arrows is no triumph — it is a testament to moral bankruptcy. That is why ‘hunting trophy’ prevailed as PETA’s Word of Shame of the Year 2015.”

As recently as July 2015, the killing of the lion Cecil by an American trophy hunter drew international attention. According to media reports, the animal was pierced by a large steel arrow and suffered terrible agony for 40 hours. His carcass was mutilated, his head severed, and his hide stripped. Shortly afterwards, the killing of a rare elephant bull by a German trophy hunter in Zimbabwe became public. The man is said to have shot the largest elephant killed in Africa in 30 years — a major loss for species conservation.

PETA advocates for a ban on trophy hunting on both ethical and conservation grounds, and calls for a general ban on the import of hunting trophies into Germany.

Trophy hunters decimate wildlife on a considerable scale. A scientific study on hobby hunting of lions in Tanzania reveals that legal trophy hunting — not poaching or habitat loss — is the primary factor behind the significant decline in wildlife populations. [1] A petition by a animal rights organization has already gathered over 35’000 signatures, calling on the federal government to introduce an import ban on hunting trophies.

Also shortlisted for «PETA’s Most Objectionable Word of 2015» were the terms “Gentle Training,” “By-product,” “Slaughter Festival,” “Animal Welfare,” “Meat Supply Center,” “Lab Rabbit,” “Organ Farm,” “Frozen Feed,” and “Breeding Material.” Since 2008, PETA has been searching for and naming the most anti-animal word of the previous year. The aim of the campaign is to draw attention to discriminatory language and to make everyday speech more animal-friendly in the long term. Animals are not only exploited, abused, and killed in their billions worldwide; language also systematically degrades them. There are many words and phrases that conceal the true nature of animal exploitation, thereby trivializing the callous treatment of cows, pigs, geese, minks, and other animals.

[1] Packer C., Brink H., Kissui B.M., Maliti H., Kushnir H. & Caro T. (2011): Effects of Trophy Hunting on Lion and Leopard Populations in Tanzania. Conservation Biology. Volume 25, Issue 1, p. 142–153.

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