© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The High Stakes and High Cost of Trophy Hunting

Daughter#3
/
Flickr
Cecil at Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe 2010
His guides were under a lot of pressure, so they acted illegally to make sure he got the trophy he paid for. - Meg Brown

Millions of people around the world are outraged over the death of Cecil the Lion, killed by a trophy hunting dentist from Minnesota. This is not an isolated case.

"Hunters by and large don't want to feel that their experience is fake, but at the same time if they're paying $50,000 or more there is a lot of pressure on the outfitters to deliver the goods," says author Meg Brown. "I think [the Minnesota hunter] might have relied on his guides and his guides were under a lot of pressure, so they acted illegally to make sure he got the trophy he paid for."

On this Talk of Iowa segment, host Charity Nebbe talks with Brown about the high stakes, high-dollar world of trophy hunting. Brown recently wrote about the case for Slate.

Tags
Charity Nebbe is the host of IPR's Talk of Iowa