Professional hunters in South Africa are asking for help as their livelihoods suffer during the lockdown.
Salome De Villiers is organising the GoFundMe campaign in support of the community of hunters and associated workers at the front lines of conservation and anti-poaching at a time when their businesses are on hold because of the pandemic.
Salome says the virus compounds existing “pressure on governments and companies” by “opposition groups to sustainable use of wildlife”. Travel bans have crippled tourism, Salome says, affecting hunters, trackers, skinner’s, chefs, cooks, admin staff, lodge staff and many more in the more than 300 hunting companies – around 7,000 people. She warned not to let anti-hunting groups “strike a victory in the midst of this world pandemic”.