Trump Endorsed by Group Maintaining Hunting Records for Pygmy Hippos Like Moo Deng
Trump's trophy hunting group posted hunting strategies used against the endangered pygmy hippo
Written for MeidasTouch by J.D. Wolf
Trump is endorsed by a group, Safari Club International (SCI), which maintains Pygmy hippo hunting records and has published hunter strategies used against the species which has gained more prominence since video of Moo Deng, an adorable baby pygmy hippo at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand has gone viral for her playful energy as well as her tendency to bite her zookeepers.
Videos of Moo Deng have received millions of views online and have resulted in tons of memes.
Pygmy hippos like Moo Deng, whose name means "bouncy pig," are native to a handful of African countries along the continent's west coast. Videos of Moo Deng like the one below have received millions of views across social media.
With so many enamored with the antics of adorability of Moo Deng, it may come as a shock to learn that SCI, which has endorsed Trump, maintains an "online record book" of hunts which includes the pygmy hippo which is a protected species. SCI notes that 2 entries in their record book for pygmy hippo kills, a "gold" rating 16 14/16" tusk by rifle and a "bronze" 12 8/16" tusk by bow.
SCI's record book preview page comments on hunting pygmy hippos:
"It is a very wary, alert animal that has proven extremely difficult to hunt by normal methods. A few local Liberian hunters have been able to track them to their resting places in the thick jungle, but visiting sportsman should not count on doing the same. Most are taken in pit traps dug in their pathways by local meat hunters; this is also a difficult matter, with only a handful of expert trappers having much success."
SCI: "[The pygmy hippo] is a very wary, alert animal that has proven extremely difficult to hunt by normal methods."
SCI's record book, which is behind a paywall, allows hunters who pay lots of money to travel to other countries to hunt rare and endangered animals to post their kills to the group's database as a sort of high score dashboard. SCI states they will allow endangered animals to be in their record book under certain conditions.
SCI has rules in place which provide a methodology for rating a killed animal. The group bunches hippos, pigs, water deer, and musk deer together and states how to measure the tusk. Other groups of animals have other methodologies assigned to them.
According to a report critical of SCI from the Humane Society International, "trophy hunting is contributing to the decline of some of the world’s most iconic and ecologically essential species." The Humane Society International added that trophy hunters are not "weekend deer hunters," but individuals who "will do anything to make a kill" even targeting endangered species.
Trump has enjoyed a lot of support from SCI and the group has worked closely with him to push for changing policies to allow for the import of hunting trophies, which are the dead carcasses of animals that are put on display as trophies. Trump has even incorporated SCI into his campaign, visiting the group's DC offices in June.
During Trump's visit to SCI in June the time, the GOP nominee stated:
"It's a great honor to be at the Safari Club International hunter embassy, and it's a beautiful building and the work they do is incredible. We're working very closely with them."
Trump: "It's a great honor to be at the Safari Club International hunter embassy ...the work they do is incredible. We're working very closely with them."
Trump stated that SCI was "going to get out the vote" for him and said people have guns and rifles "for a very, very good reason and for actually incredible entertainment." Trump stated he is "with the Safari Club" and supports the leadership, which he called "incredible patriotic Americans," "100% percent."
Trump views guns as "entertainment" and supports a group that maintains records of pygmy hippo hunts and publishes information on hunting strategies used against them. Friends of Moo Deng know what to do this November.
This is unbelievably demented, disgusting and evil to kill these endangered species of animals. What if rich white bigots were listed as an endangered species??? Perhaps that would even the trophy score🤔💭
A bunch of small penised white men—natch.