I was hoping that this was not true when I first heard of it.
After contacting several reliable sources, I’m honestly saddened to say that South African has turned back its policy and is once again shipping Safari / Hunting Game Trophies.
What is sad about this is the fact the SAA was leading the charge when they announced the ban in April 2015. Airlines lined up behind SAA with similar policies, but it was SAA that was the first to make a substantial stand and took the brunt of the criticism from the pro-hunting lobby.
It looks like the pro-Hunting lobby had gotten to SAA with veiled threats regarding the economic loss they’ll incur by not flying hunters to the animal’s death camps. And apparently SAA is only thinking with dollar signs (or Rand signs as it were) in their short-sighted minds.
If there was one airline that I would think would take a tough stand against the eradication of threatened animals it would be SAA. Considering the vibrant Bushveld full of beautiful critters that you’ll find in South Africa, its a shame that the nation’s flag-carrier wants to be part of the problem.
The murder of ‘Cecil’ apparently rang hollow on these foolish hypocrites…..
Sad that a Star Allince member would do that. SAA is the worst in the Allince though.
Yes it is very sad because your just shooting stuff and my uncle owns a wiledlife island and you just pay him money to hunt.
Big game hunting brings in tens of millions of dollars to Africa. Lots of that money goes to conservation, and some of it goes to the politicians. The africans are happy because there are less lions that eat them, and everyone gets money.
They have no reason not to.
I understand that there is an economic impact to them, but time after time, its been proven that live animals are more profitable than dead ones. The thing that pissed me off more than the actual act of flying the trophies is that they came out with the ban, all proud and boastful, and then quietly went back to their old ways.