Melissa – Where Are You?
Melissa – Where Are You? I was going to start this message with the usual – Dear Melissa – then I realized that I was assuming a familiarity to which I’m certainly not entitled. So my opening query will suffice – Melissa – where are you? You have gone to ground just when people want to hear from you! Albeit – you’ve had some brutal comments tossed your way which may help to explain your silence.
We’re different in many ways – you’re an American – I’m a Canadian. You are fit and fancy – I’m not. You’re young – I’m middle aged. You’re a celebrity and I’m not. You kill animals and I don’t. I’m one of those soft and silly people who rescue spiders out of bath tubs and pick dew worms off the sidewalk after a heavy summer rain. I had “animal kindness” stamped on my soul when I passed along the assembly line of life – I’m stuck with a tender heart!
But we’re also a lot alike. We’re both women – we have lives of privilege – we have the means to pursue things that matter to us. We want to be good at our chosen professions – we work hard and like to be respected for our achievements. I have great friends and a nice family – I assume you do as well. I don’t know about you – but I grew up around guns – my father was a gunsmith and I target shot as a kid with pistols and long rifles. I know what the heft of a gun feels like in my hands.
So I’m curious about you Melissa! In light of the recent social media activity surrounding your now infamous picture with the slain trophy lion – the phenomenon is not that you shot a lion – the phenomenon is that this particular kill has garnered such a powerful global outrage.
There are countless pictures of chubby, rich men in their little camoflauge hunting outfits and even entire families with grinning children gloating over their dead elephants – giraffes – tigers – and water buffalo. These images may disgust many people but none has caused this unprecedented barrage of revulsion. You may be feeling quite unfairly singled out by this or maybe you are secretly thrilled with the publicity. It all adds to your legend as a “huntress” – worshipped like the mythical Diana – although I think she wore a neat, little tunic and I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a Land Rover.
So for a moment let’s set aside the fact that the current Government of South Africa does not protect endangered wild life and allows canned lion farms to exist. We know that you had a permit – your kill was legal. Let’s also forget the rhetoric that trophy hunting adds to conservation and that the meat of the downed animal goes to feed hungry villagers and that you are aiding the local economy.
Just from a human perspective – if we sat down together with a coffee for a wee chat there are questions that I would ask you. I am genuinely curious about the thought process of a person who “kills” animals for fun. It’s not really hunting is it? Trekking up hills and down into valleys with sweat on your face and dirt under your finger nails – blisters and biting bugs as you search for elusive wild prey. It’s a controlled area – I’m guessing that there is a comfortable vehicle near by and other people – guides and drivers and camera people and gun rests and such. We all know that you got to within yards of the lion – but there really wasn’t any potential danger was there – when you looked through the telescope and squeezed the trigger?
So let’s agree that we will never meet and enjoy the aforementioned coffee – but I’m still interested in knowing how you would answer these questions?
1) Did you have pets growing up and do you have pets now? If you do have a pet now would you allow anyone to hurt it?
2) How old were you when you first killed an animal?
3) Did you kill it to please yourself or to gain the praise of someone else?
4) How did it feel to look down at the lifeless body of your first kill. Did you feel powerful? Did you think that you had the right to take this life? Do you remember? Did you think at all?
5) Do you know how many creatures you have killed? Is the phrase “the thrill of the kill” really accurate? Is there really a little giggly tingle right down to your toes when you see an animal die?
6) After you have killed an animal and had the requisite photo op – do you drive off to have a shower and then pop out for dinner with admiring friends – while someone else deals with the body of your kill?
7) Do you ever dream of your kills after the fact? Do you remember the recoil of the gun as the bullet takes flight or the whisper whirr as the arrow leaves the bow? The satisfaction of impact – the fall of your prey to the ground? The fist pump!
8) Have you ever thought of the “fight and flight reaction” of the hunted animal? The shock and pain for the animal at the point of entry of the arrow or the bullet? The fear as the animal waited for a second or even third shot – the slowing heart beat and final surrender as death overtakes life?
9) How does the still warm body of your kill feel to you? Are you triumphant?
10) When you see an animal falter and fall what goes through your mind?
11) If you weren’t 100 yards away – but right up close and personal looking into the face of an animal – and seeing the beautiful spark of life that resides there – could you still calmly shoot it in the face and watch those bright, clear eyes fade?
12) Are you proud of what you do?
13) What pleasure do you get from taking the life of another sentient being?
And lastly – if there is a God – as you pass through those Pearly Gates – how will you explain your need to consume the lives of animals for no good reason other than your personal aggrandizement?
I’m sure that I’m not the only person who would like to hear from you Melissa Bachman – so when you surface again – it would be great to see you as a dedicated hunter – have a civil, sit down discussion with Chris Mercer – who is a devoted advocate of lion preservation and genuine wildlife conservation. So – Melissa Where Are You?
Melissa – you have an invitation to come out and talk to Chris Mercer – to explain your need to kill and pose with dead animals. We look forward to seeing you. And – BTW – you should read the report below – it’s most interesting!
OF $200 MILLION TROPHY HUNTING REVENUES, HOW MUCH GOES TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY? LESS THAN 5% Here is the definitive research paper undertaken at the request of the African Lion Coalition this year, and published by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. This completely negates pro-trophy hunter allegations that trophy hunting revenues support the community and conserve lions, H.A.N.D.S. thanks to Fauna Tomlinson for the citation. http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/Ecolarge-2013-200m-question.pdf Photo: Nathalie Manuel (c)
