Naked Against Hunting

Nude, breathtakingly beautiful, and vulnerable: Princess Maja von Hohenzollern has bared all for the first time in a photo shoot for the animal rights organisation PETA.

The committed animal welfare advocate appears in the new photo as a shot deer bleeding from a wound on its leg. With this image, the princess joins forces with PETA to call for a ban on recreational hunting, which will enter its main season again in October. Up to five million animals are killed every year by hobby hunters in Germany alone.

Cowardly, brutal, and utterly pointless

«Recreational hunting is cowardly, brutal, and utterly pointless,» says Princess Maja von Hohenzollern of her commitment alongside PETA. «Shooting defenceless animals is an interference with nature that we humans have no right to carry out. It is hypocritical to artificially feed animals in winter, driving up the population, only to kill them in autumn. This does not regulate any animal population — it merely satisfies the killing urges of hobby hunters.»

The vegan Princess Maja von Hohenzollern is known as a passionate animal rights advocate. For many years she has championed the protection and rescue of animals, as well as love and respect for all living creatures. She is the first princess in the world to take a stand against recreational hunting. She lives with more than 100 rescued animals in Spain.

Immeasurable suffering caused by recreational hunting

Hobby hunters kill animals primarily as a leisure activity, frequently causing considerable pain to these sentient beings. Under the guise of “connection with nature,” recreational hunting causes immeasurable suffering — every year, many animals are struck by stray shots or literally crushed in traps, dying a slow and agonising death.

Scientific studies confirm that recreational hunting is not suitable for regulating wildlife populations on a lasting basis. Scientists demonstrated that female animals in hunted wild boar populations reach sexual maturity earlier, which increases the birth rate. Accordingly, high hunting pressure causes the population of the wild animals in question in that area to increase.

Renowned biologist Prof. Dr. Josef Reichholf also sees no necessity for hobby hunting from a wildlife biology perspective: The nearly exterminated wolves do not need to be replaced by human hobby hunters, as natural regulation of animal populations living in the forest occurs through environmental influences such as weather, food availability, and disease.

Increased caution during the main hunting season

PETA advises the public to exercise increased caution during the upcoming main hunting season from October to January and strongly recommends avoiding hunting areas and paying attention to warning and advisory signs: Every year, hunting accidents occur in which stray shots or ricochets injure or even kill people.

Source: Servanty et al. (2009): Pulsed resources and climate-induced variation in the reproductive traits of wild boar under high hunting pressure. Journal of Animal Ecology. No. 78, Issue 6.