An opinion piece

As Michael and I drive across America I love to search for animals in the woods, in the fields, in the mountains, like horses, goats, cows etc. So imagine my amazement when we were driving along the highway in… yes…Texas... and I noticed a farm of animals of a different type. They were gazelles! 20 or so huddled by the fence that practically butted up against the highway. Hmmmm strange. What were they doing here in Texas? Hello google? This is what found. 

In Texas there are gaming farms where people pay a lot of money for 5* accommodations and the “chance” to hunt these gazelles. The farms are open all year as hunting these animals (and many other types, over 100 of them) is allowed anytime of year. 

From what I understand anyone can book a 5* bed and breakfast on one of these farms to the tune of $250. to $500. a night plus a trophy fee anywhere from 5K to 20K. Once you are settled and cozy 2 or 3 of these gazelles are set free to roam around the hundreds of acres at the farm. Then you get a chance to run around those hundreds of acres to shoot one. Lucky you. You can even hire a guide to help you find them. Now to top this off there are maybe 50 cameras set up throughout the property so the people back at the ranch can give you hints. LOL OMG fun fun fun. phfff!

I understand culling the herd, I understand hunting an elk so that your family can eat throughout the winter like the family I have recently read about in Haines, Alaska. But I don’t understand the thrill of a kill for a trophy and I especially don’t understand these farms that turn killing beautiful animals into a game. Here are two 'trophy' pictures.

There are 500,000 of these gazelles in the wild and at other farms around the world so one might say “oh then, no big deal” but one is still killing a living creature for fun!

There are only 500 of these Dama gazelles left so now you might be killing them into extinction. 

Still fun?

Remember, this is an opinion piece.

We have ravaging wars, a pandemic all over our world, racial injustice, suppression of women, decisive hatred, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes and sicknesses we can't cure, all tearing us apart. AND we have people who think it's okay, or even lots of fun, to hunt down peaceful animals at a game farm just for the trophy. What have these animals ever done to not deserve our respect?

Did you know there are 2 trillion galaxies in the universe (at last count😉). We live in one of them and over billions of years we have evolved into who we are today. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good here and we can talk about that part later. Right now, in this world, here's my thought. 

What about the other galaxies, 2 trillion of them

There must be at least one other world

In one of those galaxies 

Where they have succeeded

Where we haven't