This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/05/the-man-who-shot-the-trophy-hunters-david-chancellor-cecil-the-lion
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| 'After a kill, some pray, some smoke': the man who shot the trophy hunters | 'After a kill, some pray, some smoke': the man who shot the trophy hunters |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| In 1909, in British East Africa, you could shoot all of the following animals for a fee of £50: two buffalo, two hippos, 22 zebras, one eland, six oryxes, four waterbucks, one greater kudu, four lesser kudus, 10 topis, 26 hartebeests, 229 other antelope and 84 colobus monkeys. As for lions and leopards, trophy-hunters could kill as many as they could manage. The cats, which encroached on farms and killed livestock, were classified as “vermin”. | In 1909, in British East Africa, you could shoot all of the following animals for a fee of £50: two buffalo, two hippos, 22 zebras, one eland, six oryxes, four waterbucks, one greater kudu, four lesser kudus, 10 topis, 26 hartebeests, 229 other antelope and 84 colobus monkeys. As for lions and leopards, trophy-hunters could kill as many as they could manage. The cats, which encroached on farms and killed livestock, were classified as “vermin”. |
| Hunters back then would have been aristocrats, the landed gentry. “Today’s hunters,” says the British photographer David Chancellor, “are hedge fund managers, doctors, attorneys, their wives and children.” | Hunters back then would have been aristocrats, the landed gentry. “Today’s hunters,” says the British photographer David Chancellor, “are hedge fund managers, doctors, attorneys, their wives and children.” |
| Related: Finger on the trigger: trophy-hunters in Africa – in pictures | |
| Over the last seven years, Chancellor has photographed modern trophy hunters, infiltrating the industry that caters for people like Walter Palmer, the dentist from Minnesota who, on 1 July 2015, wounded Cecil the lion with an arrow from a crossbow, tracked him for 40 hours then killed him with a rifle. | Over the last seven years, Chancellor has photographed modern trophy hunters, infiltrating the industry that caters for people like Walter Palmer, the dentist from Minnesota who, on 1 July 2015, wounded Cecil the lion with an arrow from a crossbow, tracked him for 40 hours then killed him with a rifle. |
| “I expected to take 21st-century portraits of people who would seem like 19th-century figures,” Chancellor says. “But they’re not. They’re the kind of normal people you hear on the news now.” | “I expected to take 21st-century portraits of people who would seem like 19th-century figures,” Chancellor says. “But they’re not. They’re the kind of normal people you hear on the news now.” |
| The series, he admits, has been profoundly disturbing. “I’ve photographed people who have hunted animals in the most callous way who are heart surgeons,” says Chancellor. “I photographed one man, an extraordinarily prolific hunter, who ran a pet cemetery business back home.” | The series, he admits, has been profoundly disturbing. “I’ve photographed people who have hunted animals in the most callous way who are heart surgeons,” says Chancellor. “I photographed one man, an extraordinarily prolific hunter, who ran a pet cemetery business back home.” |
| What drives them to exert such power over something so free? “It’s impossible to say,” says Chancellor. “It’s such a divergent cross-section: some are meek-mouthed, some are forthright. Some will cry when they’ve shot an animal, some will pray. Some will drink beer or smoke a cigar. The only thing they have in common is the complete focus on what they’re doing. They don’t doubt it at all.” | What drives them to exert such power over something so free? “It’s impossible to say,” says Chancellor. “It’s such a divergent cross-section: some are meek-mouthed, some are forthright. Some will cry when they’ve shot an animal, some will pray. Some will drink beer or smoke a cigar. The only thing they have in common is the complete focus on what they’re doing. They don’t doubt it at all.” |
| Chancellor, who divides his time between Cape Town and London, took long journeys across South Africa for an earlier project on HIV. He became intrigued by the levels of privacy around the reserves beyond the cities. | Chancellor, who divides his time between Cape Town and London, took long journeys across South Africa for an earlier project on HIV. He became intrigued by the levels of privacy around the reserves beyond the cities. |
| “You would just see miles and miles of high fences,” he says. “I wanted to know what was going on in there.” | “You would just see miles and miles of high fences,” he says. “I wanted to know what was going on in there.” |
| He remembers flying across the country, looking down from the window and seeing men walking across the plains dressed in head-to-toe camouflage. | He remembers flying across the country, looking down from the window and seeing men walking across the plains dressed in head-to-toe camouflage. |
| “I wanted to discover the people who do this legally. As soon as I started looking into it, I was knocked over by the huge amount of revenue this industry makes.” | “I wanted to discover the people who do this legally. As soon as I started looking into it, I was knocked over by the huge amount of revenue this industry makes.” |
| The hunting industry may have begun in the British colony, which is now known as Kenya, but it spread quickly – to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland. Trophy hunting now occurs in 23 sub-Saharan African countries. | The hunting industry may have begun in the British colony, which is now known as Kenya, but it spread quickly – to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland. Trophy hunting now occurs in 23 sub-Saharan African countries. |
| Where once landowners would make their money from farming livestock, many now act as wardens for the “big game” that roam their land. Foreign hunters are invited to kill such animals in exchange for a cut of the revenue. | |
| And there are hordes of willing clients. In America, prospective hunters can even attend “safari” training schools, says Chancellor, where they practice shooting on remote-controlled elephants, leopards and lions. | |
| “Many of the people who come to hunt have a place ready for their trophies in their homes, long before they even arrive in Africa,” he says. “They have expectations –and they must be met.” | “Many of the people who come to hunt have a place ready for their trophies in their homes, long before they even arrive in Africa,” he says. “They have expectations –and they must be met.” |
| Chancellor recalls standing with an American hunter as she berated a local landowner. “You promised on your website that we’d see all the big five in a day, and we haven’t seen a lion. I want my money back,” she said. In general, though, he says “the huntresses were different to the male hunters. They would often spend a lot more time with the animals, both before and after the kill”. | |
| Chancellor was also struck by how caring many of the professional wardens were about the animals whose lives they bartered for cash. “I think some difficult clients put them in very difficult positions, but I didn’t find a group of guys slaughtering animals left and right,” he says. “Many of them had a very powerful relationship with their environment.” | Chancellor was also struck by how caring many of the professional wardens were about the animals whose lives they bartered for cash. “I think some difficult clients put them in very difficult positions, but I didn’t find a group of guys slaughtering animals left and right,” he says. “Many of them had a very powerful relationship with their environment.” |
| Chancellor has already gained notable success with the series, including the 2010 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize for the photograph Huntress with Buck. | Chancellor has already gained notable success with the series, including the 2010 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize for the photograph Huntress with Buck. |
| The portrait, which remains one of the most striking in the series, shows a 14-year-old girl from Alabama – her name is Josie Slaughter – on her first hunting trip to South Africa. | The portrait, which remains one of the most striking in the series, shows a 14-year-old girl from Alabama – her name is Josie Slaughter – on her first hunting trip to South Africa. |
| With the bush behind her and the sky turning from day to dusk, Josie holds the deer’s antler as his body hangs limply over her horse’s neck. | With the bush behind her and the sky turning from day to dusk, Josie holds the deer’s antler as his body hangs limply over her horse’s neck. |
| “There was a contrast between the tranquillity of the location and Josie’s beauty and the dead buck – that was what I wanted to explore,” Chancellor says. “This intricate and complex relationship between man and animals, and how both struggle to adapt to their changing environment.” | “There was a contrast between the tranquillity of the location and Josie’s beauty and the dead buck – that was what I wanted to explore,” Chancellor says. “This intricate and complex relationship between man and animals, and how both struggle to adapt to their changing environment.” |
| It is, he says, an ongoing project, for the issue is only becoming more pressing. | It is, he says, an ongoing project, for the issue is only becoming more pressing. |