Gun Lobbyist Kills Elephant In NRA-Sponsored NBC Sports Show

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post

National Rifle Association lobbyist Tony Makris loves killing big game, and in a recent episode of "Under Wild Skies," he shoots down one of the biggest: a bull elephant.

The show, sponsored by the NRA, has aired on various networks in the past, but NBC Sports Network is now facing backlash for carrying newer episodes of the program.

In the video above, Makris, wearing the brown safari hat, can be seen tracking the elephant, taking aim and shooting it twice. The large animal trumpets, and Makris and his guide retreat to reload.

"Somebody got a little cheeky there," he says, chuckling after the elephant stormed in their direction. Makris then raises his rifle up again and shoots it "between the eyes."


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/tony-makris-elephant_n_3989341.html

---

[font size="7"]THIS IS THE NRA![/font]

[sir pball]

1. Unfortunately, the local tribes are generally in favor of this.

They get a very large chunk of the "trophy fee", which can be well into the five figures for a trophy bull, plus they take the carcass for food. I imagine to convince them to stop the hunts, to provide a sanctuary, would involve paying them the fee, providing a ton of meat, AND restitution or replacement for the crops the elephants destroy when we encroach on their habitat. I'm not making any moral judgements either way, just pointing out that the realities of the situation ensure elephant hunting isn't going anywhere. Even it it becomes completely taboo here in the US, the Europeans still love them some big game..

[happyslug]

32. I have read two sides to this argument.

First is each country that permits such hunting, the fees are high, $30,000 to $40,000 dollars PLUS extras, not listed:

http://www.bulletsafaris.com/Bullet-Safaris-Rates.pdf

When you go to the elephants the "Weight" is the weight of the tasks.

Thus you have a lot of money tied up in any single hunt in Africa. In Botswana this seems to have lead to excess hunting of Elephants that saw a steady drop in their numbers to a level the Government decided was to low to continue to permit hunting.

Thus a lot of money and with it a lot of places where corruption can creep in (and in Botswana this seems to have been the case, to many elephants have been killed to sustain the herd).

[sir pball]

35. Maybe there can be some relocation

Zimbabwe is one of the "hot spots" for elephant hunting these days because the population there is around twice what's realistically sustainable given human encroachment into their habitat (>100,000 vs 50,000). The locals are clamoring to get the Rich White Men to come in and shoot them; they get money, meat and the crop-destroying pests are eliminated. It's a miserable situation, much like wolves and ranchers here. I suppose one could try to relocate some of the excess to underpopulated areas, but moving just a couple of hundred is a challenge - fifty thousand would probably be plain impossible.

[Judi Lynn]

33. Anyone who "still love them some big game.." is a degenerate, deteriorated pervert.

There is no way to actually present this behavior here as a compassionate, good thing to do.

There is NO "good side" to it. Only a disconnected, self-centered a-hole would claim otherwise.

[sir pball]

34. I'm not presenting it as anything, I said I wasn't making any judgement. FWIW I don't support it.

I'm just saying that the socioeconomic realities of the situation make it an uphill battle to put an end to elephant hunting. The local tribes need to be paid, provided with meat, and likely have their farming areas restricted and secured.

There's a significant overpopulation problem in Zimbabwe, due to both protection efforts and human expansion into their habitat; there needs to not only be the "benefits" provided to the tribes but also a comprehensive humane/no-kill population reduction program put into place. Details of the latter are left as an exercise to the reader.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. Wish he would have gotten stomped to death.

In the most long and painful way. Alert this post if you want, I don't care.

Fuck the NRA, fuck gun nuts, and fuck western trophy hunters who just want to kill something.


This is coming from someone who grew up in Iowa with a freezer stocked full of venison.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Sometimes they do.

Not a safe sport by any means.

I'm with you though. I hunt only for subsistence. If I can't eat it, I don't kill it.

[Frankie the Bird]

3. And needs to be cancelled immediately. n/t

[Berlum]

4. A RepublWanker asassinates a Republicon icon.

Sorryass RepubliSickos (R) and their compensatory guns. Totally pathetic needless killing to bolster this RepubliWankers phonyass 'machismo.' Freaking pathetic. Republicons get no respect because they have no honor.

[closeupready]

6. Just appalling.

K&R

[SummerSnow]

7. Disgraceful

[Happyhippychick]

8. I've read a lot of things that the NRA has done that have made me angry

But this makes me the angriest of all.

[jkilvik]

9. Kids vs Elephants?

Using member dues to pay for big game safaris for NRA staff is unquestionably a better use of those funds than spending it on NRA lobbyists and PACs and their arm everyone agenda.

[florida08]

10. It sure is

Very little respect for any life other than there own. Watched the video. He gave them a run for their money when he charged them. They ran breathing heavily. You know it's one thing to go hunting when you bring the meat home to eat but this is just senseless killing. No we don't go hunting.

[LanternWaste]

11. I really can't place too much faith or trust in anyone who enjoys killing.

I really can't place too much faith or trust in anyone who enjoys killing. Bit of an understatement that, but the sentiment holds...

[Hayabusa]

12. Too bad he couldn't have missed that last shot.

I would have loved to see what would have happened to him after that...

[CTyankee]

13. don't worry. People like that always think they can "get away with it."

He will eff up big time one of these days. Karma will be a bitch to him...

[Prometheus Perez]

14. This should be illegal

The elephant did not hurt anyone.

[Paper Roses]

15. Does this horrible act make the shooter feel more like a man?

I've had it with these gun wielding, NRA members who think they have the right to kill.
We are destroying the planet and its inhabitants. Maybe they get their jollies from this kind of killing. I'd kick them all in the backside and burn their guns.

My thoughts come from my heart. I grew up in a family who had shotguns. My dad used to go hunting for Pheasant and Grouse and Woodcock. This was not a sport. We were poor and whatever he managed to bring home was dinner.

A shotgun or rifle was not a 'fun' toy, it meant dinner for a few days.
Shooting an elephant disgusts me.
If I had the chance, I'd squash this guy under a great big foot.

[Bay Boy]

23. If he ate the elephant would it be ok?

How about if the locals eat it instead? Does that make it better?

[Scootaloo]

29. If he can afford a hunting safari, he has no need to hunt his own food

Much less to do so by traveling to a different continent

And if he wanted to be charitable, he could have provided that money to the locals - money is a much more liquid asset than elephant meat and could be used for much more improvement in their lives.

No, this guy just wanted to blow an elephants' brains out, and everything that happens after is an outgrowth of that pointless desire.

[Bay Boy]

30. Then you must be against all but

subsistence hunting.

[Beaverhausen]

16. link to Petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/519/765/555/tell-nbc-sports-to-cancel-under-wild-skies/

[dhill926]

18. signed....

thanks for this. This is just appalling.

[yuiyoshida]

19. signed the petition

[Judi Lynn]

31. Thank you for the chance to sign it, Beaverhausen. n/t

[dhill926]

17. cowardly piece of shit.....

[red dog 1]

20. IMO, The NRA is a terrorist organization, and so is the Republican Party

Despite the fact that 74 percent of National Rifle Association members support universal background checks, the NRA itself opposes universal background checks.
Austin American-Statesman, (Crime and law), March 28,2013, By Julie Chang
Austin American-Statesman, PolitiFact, Texas, Truth-O-Meter, By Lee Leffingwell, 3/28/2013
(I was unable to find a working link to either of these 2 articles)

REPUBLICAN SENATOR PAT TOOMEY REVEALS THE REAL REASON THE BACKGROUND CHECKS BILL FAILED TO PASS
"There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the President do something he wanted to get done, just because the President wanted to do it."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017115870/

It doesn't matter whether or not this poor excuse of a man had to pay for the privilege of killing the elephant; nor do I care whether or not the locals got elephant meat to eat.
The fact remains that this NRA lobbyist is as despicable as the organization he works for; and the Republican Party's allegiance to the NRA is why the universal background check bill failed to pass.

[tblue]

21. How could you?

There are no words to describe how PISSED OFF I AM!!!

How could you shoot a critter like this?




I have no care, no mercy for people who harm animals. That sick piece of caca.

[red dog 1]

22. + 1000

[JI7]

24. i didn't know people ate elephants

[bobclark86]

25. Crunchy and tastes good with ketchup.

Most big game hunter-shot elephants are given to the locals to eat, like the Venison Donation Coalition here in the states, which takes meat and hands it out at food pantries. It's not kosher, though, but that doesn't stop me from eating shrimp cocktails. The ones killed by poachers are usually left to rot, though.

If it turns out the meat was left to rot, rather than donated -- or if it was a member of an endangered species -- I can see the outrage. I don't understand the problem if it went to feed a village of people who make about $100 a year by farming in a horrible place to farm.

Or is the outrage like how many freak out over eating horse vs. eating cow (pretty vs. ugly)?

[LanternWaste]

27. The concern may stem from the fundamental point...

The concern (rather than the melodramatic and trivializing "outrage" qualifier irresponsibly tossed about) may stem from the fundamental point that he enjoys killing, rather than a manufactured hypothetical used to better rationalize the irrational.

"pretty vs. ugly" More likely, "enjoy killing for sport vs. kills out of necessity" seems a more rational read of the concern.

Yet justify it as you will...

[bobclark86]

28. Well, with all the lame dick jokes...

"blood boiling" reply titles and angry Internet petition signing (as opposed to, you know, actually doing something real like donating to charities or writing real letters to international lawmakers demanding such hunting be made illegal), yeah, a "melodramatic and trivializing 'outrage'" is IMHO the proper word.

Reminds me of this:


Hunting is a major source for food around the world. When you live in a place hit as hard by climate change as sub-Saharan Africa, yeah, an elephant is a great source for food. Probably better to have a Western hunter with a bigger gun shoot it than some kid with an AK poaching (with AKs being about an order of magnitude less powerful than an elephant hunter's weapon, so more likely to get himself killed).

I don't like the concept of trophy hunting, but this instaRaeg is coming from the involvement with the NRA and not any moral objection to trophy hunting. I don't see petitions on here against Bassmasters, or Ducks Unlimited, or the New York State DEC for selling buck tags ...

Yet justify it as you will...

[Laffy Kat]

26. Signed it. Blood boiling. Thanks for the heads-up. nt

[kiranon]

36. Disgraceful to kill such a magnificent animal whose network

of elephants puts our human network to shame. There is no manhood in killing an elephant - only an empty heart and soul IMHO.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

37. I saw this video via Facebook yesterday

Absolutely sickening. "Now let's go kill some birds."

Especially disgusting once you've seen something like this:

[Robb]

38. Inhuman. I hope.