Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday (2008) Movie Script
This programme contains some strong
language.
MAN INHALES SHARPLY
(It's hard on me, man.)
(Why? I get excited.)
(Get the one in front of us.)
(Good shot.
(Good shot.)
(Great shot there, kid.)
(Nice stuff, man.
(Phew!)
# Hey-up! Ooh!
# A-wimoweh!
# A-wimoweh! #
I was in South Africa,
spending time in the world of trophy
hunters and safari outfitters.
Great shot, Nikki.
Here's the pig.
Right through the lungs.
Clever, eh?
Here's your first animal, Nikki.
Their practice of keeping
wild animals fenced in on farms
has made it cheaper and easier
to hunt than ever before,
and also proved
highly controversial.
Are you happy about your pig? Yeah.
Congratulations.
Well done, my sweet. Give me a kiss.
Still it attracts thousands
of budget hunters every year,
and I was joining them.
My journey had started
a week earlier
in South Africa's Limpopo Province.
Shingani Safaris is one
of a new crop of outfitters.
I'm Louis. Nice to meet you. How are
you doing? Nice to meet you too.
Its owner, Riaan Vosloo, caters to
hunters from all over the world,
but mostly from America.
We have clients here, Ann Marie.
And Louis. Hi, I'm Louis.
Nice to meet you. Thank you.
Nice to meet you. When did you...
Where did you just come in from?
Cleveland, Ohio. Really? Mm-hm.
He's dressed to hunt
and she's dressed to shop.
They don't have wild animals
in Cleveland?
Not wild animals like this. Really?
The wild animals in Cleveland
you're not allowed to hunt.
Paul and Ann Marie Potempski
were the first arrivals
of a group of 22 hunters from Ohio.
Paul had come for his dream
hunting holiday.
And Ann Marie was tagging along.
Ann Marie if you're not a hunter,
why are you here?
I'm here to watch him hunt. Yeah.
And they say that even
if you're not hunting,
the experience is
absolutely awesome.
Have you been out hunting
with Paul before? Never.
Never? No.
Why not? He doesn't take me hunting.
I'm not very much for the outdoors.
Really? Really.
But these guys are saying that
they think they may convert you?
That's what they're thinking.
What do you think? I don't know.
We'll talk you through it
step by step.
You just warn Paul, tell him we're
going to turn you into a monster
and he'll have to start skinning and
tracking to pay for your trophies.
Oh, great.
Do you have a list of animals
that you're after while you're here?
Er, a zebra and a kudu
are my big two.
And then any other,
other ones as well?
Oh, yeah, I'd really like to find
a baboon. A baboon? Yeah.
A baboon? I've never heard
of someone hunting a baboon.
A lot of people want it.
Er, it's a beautiful trophy.
Really? But they are tough to get,
because they are very smart.
They're very, very intelligent.
At the end of the day
it's also about money.
Cos he pays per trophy that he kills,
it's not just about shooting.
I mean, if money were no object
what would you be gunning for?
If money was no object, a rhino.
Really? A rhino? Yeah. Wow!
They just look fierce. Yeah.
And how much would a rhino
set you back? Wow!
You could shoot...
Rhinos now are very expensive,
because of the demand of the
rhino horn. The Chinese people...
Could someone come to Shingani
and shoot... Shoot a rhino?
If you want 20, I can get you 20.
20 rhino?
Yeah, easy. But it's the price.
You pay between 50 and 100,000 US
for a rhino now.
You hadn't met...Paul
and Ann Marie before?
Never met them. Had you spoken
to them on the phone?
Yeah, I spoke to them on the phone.
If you'd taken them down there and
then you'd seen them on the range
and he'd been a pretty
hopeless shot... Yeah.
..What would you have done then?
If you know he's a bad shot
you try and keep him on the
shooting range for the day. Hmm.
So we can tell them...
You can teach them? We teach them.
I also have a form where they
fill out their abilities -
can they walk, what operations
do they have, how's his eyesight?
So when a guy shows up
you know this guy is a 300-pounder,
he can't walk,
he can't climb off the truck,
and you adjust to his abilities.
But you have to talk him in.
Would you let him go out?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Cos you must make sure when
he pulls the trigger he's on it.
A little later
I joined Ann Marie and Paul
and their Shingani PH,
or Professional Hunter, Willie.
My lucky hat.
We're gonna kill today.
We had travelled
to a nearby game farm.
Twenty years ago all this land
was used to raise cattle,
now it was game fenced and stocked
with a range of trophy animals.
Paul was out for zebra,
price tag 675.
Do you know where
the zebras are, Willie?
Have you got a place in mind?
Yeah, I know in which area
they like to keep,
so what I'm doing is
we're zigzagging through that area,
see if we can find them somewhere.
I see a tree.
I saw the tree as well.
That's what I saw, the tree.
(Look, look, look, look! Over there.
Right there.
(Oh, wow!
Look even you can see this one.
(Yeah.
(Oh, my God, there it is,
there it is!
(My God, there's two of 'em.
(Oh, my God!
(Oh, my God!)
Oh, Jesus!
(I think I got him.)
But there was no immediate sign
of a dead zebra.
The trackers set to work.
(Are you nervous?
(A little bit, I think.
I'm excited for Paul if he got it.
(He's been waiting to get the zebra,
that's what he really wants.
(Could you do it?
(You know, I don't think so,
not like that.
(I mean, I wouldn't be able to take
a good shot from so far away.
(No, but, I mean, cos they're
like horses aren't they, zebras?)
(Right. I don't think I could.)
(Damn it.)
Nerves.
(What did you say?)
Nerves.
My heart was racing,
trying to breathe,
I'm shaky a little bit.
There was one I was watching
when they took off,
and I don't know which one it was
but it started to,
like, zigzag.
That's why I thought I hit one.
How have you found it so far?
Interesting.
Actually I find that I'm more
compelled than ever...
Than ever I thought I would be
to want to hunt.
So I don't know,
maybe it's like gambling,
like we were talking about
you're in the casino
and everyone else is doing it,
so you just want to try it.
I hear it's like a major rush
when you kill your first animal.
So, what about you? Do you think
you would ever kill an animal here?
Hmm, I don't think so.
No?
I think I'd feel bad.
See, and I would feel bad
if it was just killing the animal
just for the sake of killing it.
The fact that they, you know,
use the meat
and give it to people that are
in need, just like cattle,
they're raised to be slaughtered
for their beef, right?
Here you're giving the opportunity
for men and women that like to hunt,
give them that adventure,
and the animals are living freely,
they're not caged up,
and they're able to hunt,
and then the meat is still used
for the villages or sold to people.
So I don't feel bad
from that respect. Hmm.
Er, Paul, we can't get any blood.
So, er, and we've checked, Pietr
is making one last sleep...sweep,
but I don't think you got that one.
I'm glad there's no blood.
Yeah. Yeah.
What's the issue with leaving
a wounded animal?
Well, you don't want
to shoot something
and leave it in the bush,
not dead but wounded.
Yeah. Erm, so I think it..
In pain.
Yeah, it's an ethical thing.
And also if it's wounded
you've paid for it, right?
Yeah. Once it's wounded
and we've picked up blood,
then it must be paid for.
Er, then we must find it,
if possible.
I was on the far side
of Limpopo Province
to meet big game breeder,
Piet Warren.
Hello. Are you Piet? Yes.
I'm Louis. Pleased to meet you.
Piet raises exotic animals
and sells them when they're
old enough to be hunted.
He specialises in a kind
of antelope called Sable,
but today he wanted to show me
his lions.
Will we be travelling in here?
That's where you're
gonna travel. Yeah.
OK. So, this is what
you're feeding the lions?
Yes, these are unborn calves
from the abattoir.
We just... I buy them off the
abattoirs and we feed them...
feed them to the lions.
I'm not really used to being
around, um, dead animals.
Yeah. Yeah. You know?
No.
So, even, like, the idea of...
..unborn calves is odd to me.
Even the concept of it?
Yeah, a bit. Yeah.
Like seeing it
and I think the idea of slaughtering
a pregnant cow, to me is quite odd.
Yeah. But that's...
That's normal is it?
That's normal, yeah.
Piet also has
his own hunting reserve,
but filming there
was strictly off limits.
I mean, just for the record,
can I ask, obviously
you've made a decision
you would like us not to film
any hunting, is that right?
Yes, bec.. Why is that?
If you show hunting,
it's offensive to 98% of the people.
So that'll give the film
a negative taint before you start.
You don't even want us to film you
talking about hunting?
No, it's negative,
it's negative to the mind,
it's about farming.
What we came to do is farming.
There are just so many people
that want to do that.
What? Hunt.
There are just so many and they
want to hunt, that's what they like.
And there's a demand for it.
All this that you see here
was paid for by the Americans.
We had cattle here,
this was orange trees.
30 years ago this was all orange
trees, now it's just bush and game.
Because they pay us more money
than what we did with the cattle.
It's very simple.
They're very clean looking aren't
they? There's no scars on them.
Yeah, because if you don't allow a
lion to go hungry, they don't fight.
They only fight when they get hungry.
So these lions
have never been hungry?
Well, why would I
allow them to get hungry?
They might... There's a 120,000 rand
walking around there.
Why would you allow him
to get hungry?
That's...
That's 10,000 just about.
Why is he looking at us like that?
He thinks you are a plate of food.
He doesn't see you as anything else,
he doesn't see you as...
And you go and try and walk in there
and see what happens.
And all that will remain
is the top part of your skull
and your boots, the rest
they will eat everything.
And they will play with your clothes.
So these lions, will they be hunted?
Every one. They will?
That's the only value,
what other value is there to a lion?
Yeah. So you raise them for hunting?
I only raise them for hunting.
And, um.. If the hen doesn't
lay eggs we eat it. Yes.
We raise those chickens, the ones
that lay eggs, they stay one side,
they have an 18-month period,
and Miss Hen, do you know
this is your cage,
you lay one egg a day,
and if you don't lay one egg
a day we eat you, too.
LION GROWLS
How do you feel about your lions?
Do you love them? No.
Why? No, it's just because...
Look at his eyes.
You walk past him, walk past him and
feel if you feel any love there.
Walk past where?
Next to the walk area.
I'm not sure if I want to. No.
There's no love.
OK, let's go. What about Siegfried
and Roy, they love their tigers.
PIET LAUGHS
Yeah.
It's just a plain commodity.
Let's go.
But do you think, um...
No, now we're going, now it's time.
We've got to go?
No, sir, you're wasting my time,
let's go. Get in.
Do we get in here?
Yeah, we get in here.
We're definitely safe in here?
You have to come in here too,
though, Piet.
I'll just take you to the gate first.
They'll go for the...
They're not gonna eat...
Obviously not gonna eat us, but...
No.
Do we have a plan as far as how
we're gonna get out once the...?
Well, you don't get out.
No. You don't move.
Not out of this vehicle.
Yeah. Couldn't they reach
through the bars though?
It's all suddenly gone a bit..
OK? It's all suddenly gone a bit
Ernest Hemingway, hasn't it?
So what is that there?
That's your...?
That's just an ordinary shotgun.
Just a pump-action shotgun
and I've got seven cartridges,
so we've got lots of... Er,
if ever something did go wrong.
SHOUTS IN AFRIKAANS
If it was a human body
you must know how much pain
you would be suffering.
Shall I throw one?
Shall I... Shall I throw one?
About 20 kilos.
Backward, yeah.
Yikes!
Ohhh!
PIET LAUGHS
Does it seem a bit...?
I mean, you could say
it's a bit pointless
the idea of raising
an animal in captivity,
then releasing it
and then hunting it.
Is it sort of a...an artificial
experience, a little bit?
Yes, I would guess so,
but a bungee jump is also.
I mean, if you're going to jump
out of an aeroplane, well...
A bungee jump is an
artificial experience.
You know it's going to
catch you there.
Would it appeal to you,
the idea of hunting in that way?
If I had never hunted...
Maybe a bear or something,
which I've never hunted
or never been, I've never been
to Alaska, I would..
You'd do the so-called
canned option? Absolutely.
Because it's quicker and
more convenient and...?
No, and the adrenaline rush
is so much more
and the risk is so much more.
Lions like this in Tanzania
would cost you 40,000
US dollars to hunt.
You won't get a trophy that looks
like that for that kind of money.
He's scarred and he's buggered
and he's ugly.
But he's more real, I suppose?
He's more real, I suppose, yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
LION GROWLS
Back at Shingani and
there was a busy day ahead.
The rest of the hunting party
from Ohio had arrived,
and they were keen to get out
onto the game farms
and start claiming their trophies.
What's the plan today?
I'll just head into a blind
and hopefully we'll get a kudu.
Kudu? Kudu. And you, Rick?
I'd like a wildebeest boar maybe
and a...er gemsbok.
What do you guys do back in
your regular lives, if I may ask?
Erm, I own a trucking business,
so I pretty much haul asphalt
and...er we do roadways,
and when I'm not doing roadways
I haul stone and gravel.
So it keeps me busy. Yeah. And Rick?
I work at a recycling plant,
recycle books.
So kind of a good thing.
How did you choose kudu?
Well, that's the king
of African game, is kudu.
So... They're a big animal,
very big.
Anthony's kudu
would be costing 1,100.
He and Rick were shooting on a
game farm belonging to Lolly Furie.
Are you Lolly? Yes. I'm Louis.
How are you doing?
Who I'd heard had a surprising
second occupation.
Am I right in thinking you're a vet?
Yes.
A veterinarian?
I'm a veterinarian, yeah.
So you heal animals, you cure them?
Yes. Yeah, we try.
Do you look after the animals here
as well as a vet? In a way that's..
Yes. ..Almost like a conflict
of interest though. Yes.
You could say, because the animals
are getting hunted and killed. Yes.
Your profession is to keep animals
alive in a way. That's right.
So the game farming today
is a farming practice,
you've got to make a living out of it
one way or another. Yeah.
And the game, you know,
once a game fence is up
we feed them every winter
and they get fed very well,
so of course they breed very well.
So, you know, the amount
of space you've got,
you're limited to a certain amount,
so you've got to keep your numbers
down. Do you hunt yourself?
No. Not at all. Why not? Why not?
No. I don't enjoy it.
You used to do it? Yeah.
But not any more? Not any more, no.
Why doesn't he do it any more?
I ask the same thing of my dad.
My dad becomes more enjoying the
animals than hunting the animals.
I think it comes with age.
My dad said, "Wait till
you get older
"you're gonna slow down on hunting,
"you're not gonna have that
killer instinct all the time."
While we waited for news
from the hunters,
Lolly took me on a tour
of his 3,000 acre property.
This too had once been a cattle farm
and was now turned over
to a variety of trophy animals.
Like a lot of game farmers,
Lolly had formed an attachment
to his animals.
He told me he'd only
allow bow hunting,
as the noise of gunshots
causes them stress.
He seemed especially fond
of his giraffes.
You were saying,
that people are not allowed
to hunt these on your property?
Er, Louis, you see,
there's a time, you know,
it's just a matter
of one becomes attached to them,
you, you eventually get to know
each one of them, you know,
so we don't allow any hunting,
whether it be rifle or bow hunting
of the giraffe on the farm.
I suppose it's...
I wouldn't say it's wrong,
but there's always that
little bit of sentiment.
It's like cattle as well,
I don't shoot the animal,
the cattle on the farm as well
for own use,
I'd rather load him
to an abattoir or whatever
and get a butcher to...
to do the meat processing.
Why?
It's just, as I said, there again,
it's that close contact
that you have with the animals
and you get to know them and so on,
and I've just lost
all interest in it.
I don't enjoy shooting animals,
whether it be cattle
or game or whatever.
The giraffe, there's always
a sense of tranquillity about them,
they move quietly.
Late in the day, word came that
Anthony had shot his dream animal
and that trackers were trying
to find it before nightfall.
How was it?
Kind of, er...shaky. Why?
Cos it's a lot of animals
in here at one time
and I put a good shot on, I think.
It went off down that way.
Where'd you get him?
It was a kudu, right?
Kudu, got the kudu.
Oh, went right in the front
of the shoulder
through to the back
of the shoulder.
Went all the way in. Vitals?
Yeah, I think I got both lungs.
Maybe the heart.
A good shot.
So, what's gonna happen now?
We're gonna sit and track,
hopefully it's getting dark.
That's the bad thing
about night shooting.
Very windy today.
It was a calm shot though
when I took it, it wasn't windy.
What's the story, do you know?
No, it sounds like a good shot.
It was.
Showing quite a bit of blood.
Twenty to five, it came in.
Let's see if you hit him there.
That one?
Yeah. God, I'm still shaking!
This is it.
I think I got it,
I think I put a shot on it.
As the minutes passed
there was still no sign of the kudu.
Lolly seemed to grow anxious the
animal might be wounded and in pain.
What do you think?
Personally, I think
it's turning a bit awkward.
I'd prefer a shot if he could
take it behind the shoulder.
Yeah, he was a little... Yeah,
he was about like that toward me.
Yeah.
I hope they get him fast.
It's getting dark quickly now, hey?
SPEAKS AFRIKAANS
Uh? They've found it.
What's that? Yeah, they've found it.
Did they?
Yeah, it's just a little...
They got it?
LOLLY SPEAKS IN AFRIKAANS
Ah, they got it.
Oh! Oh!
Is that good?
Oh, no, he's dead. Well done.
Oh! Oh! Congratulations. Well done.
Where is he? Right here. Oh, wow!
He didn't go far.
It skidded and you hit this bone
here, but then..
Yeah, that's where I hit it
right there, it went through.
It must have ricocheted
and hit a bone. Yeah.
And veered off. Yeah.
No, that's wonderful.
The horns are holding its head in
quite an eerie position aren't they?
Yes.
How long would it have taken
that kudu to die, do you think?
You know, this animal took off there
at one hell of a lick.
So this is fast.
Would he be in his prime
or in his old age?
He's not old,
so he's got eight years.
What...?
Anthony, what's happening now?
Well, my heart's thumping.
But what are you doing?
We're doing trophy shots right now.
Is this an important part
of the whole thing?
This is the very important part.
After you kill a wonderful beast
like this, this is the time.
Very good.
Back at Shingani
and the Ohio hunting party
had brought back
a massive haul of animals.
Including Anthony's,
there were three kudu, one gemsbok,
four impala, two warthog, one nyala,
one blesbok and a blue ball monkey.
Nice, man!
You got it? Yes, I did.
The atmosphere was jubilant,
but I was still struggling
to share in the excitement.
Come here!
Dude, that's huge.
I've got a big warthog
sitting out there. Giant!
They come in, he's like,
"I'll try it."
I'm like, I threw that arrow off,
I'm like, "I'm shooting this one."
Look at this beast.
Nice. Wow! What an animal!
It's beautiful.
I've waited and waited.
I mean, it was...
I don't know, it's like, erm..
What do you want to say?
I don't know, I'm just
trying to think about...
Cos like, people who watch that and
they're still not gonna understand,
like, how you would explain why,
why it makes sense to do it.
You've got to have a passion
for hunting.
If you have the passion for hunting
and you come to a state like this
and you take an animal like that,
dreams come true.
This is a dream.
This is a dream.
Huge.
Very huge.
Big animal.
It's a great day.
What do you think?
I mean, I can...
The idea of preserving game
in private game farms, you know,
makes sense. Mm-hm.
And I know that's done a lot to
increase the numbers of rare species
and exotic species
and at the same time,
the idea of actually shooting one
doesn't appeal to me.
I mean, I think I'd feel guilty
and upset if I did it.
I understand. Yeah. I understand.
I didn't feel guilty.
I didn't feel guilty.
Are there animals
that you wouldn't hunt,
because they're sort of higher
up the food chain, as it were?
Well, it's all in the cost.
The cost is a big thing. Every...
Not the intelligence or the
sensitivity of the animals?
No, it's all in the cost.
You would hunt an elephant, say?
Um... If you had the money?
If I had the money, yes.
If I was very wealthy I'd take
every animal you could get.
A lion? Yeah, not a problem.
It's all in the money. Really?
Yeah. You can only afford so much.
You afford...
You could take it, go for it.
No matter what state it's in
or what country.
Cos you might never, ever get
that opportunity to do it again.
The following day and after
all the activity at Shingani,
I've heard that Ann Marie
was now thinking seriously
about hunting an animal herself.
What's the thought process
that's taken you here?
Well, the last couple of days
I've been in the blind with Paul
and it's been, I mean, it's been
very exciting watching the animals
and seeing the animals
and it's been exciting,
but in the same breath,
I'm excited, but also worried.
So, I think it's just...
I think it's peer pressure.
We're here at a hunting lodge
and everyone is talking
about the hunting
and I've experienced it first-hand
and it's been exciting.
And Paul got three animals,
didn't he?
He got a kudu, a zebra,
a gemsbok and then a warthog.
And how was that for you
seeing that?
I was OK with all of them
except the zebra.
I think maybe because it's too much
like a horse, that was very...
That was an emotional one for me.
Was it? Yes. Was that
emotional for you, Paul, too?
It wasn't.
I felt bad for her,
she was teary eyed and,
and wasn't real happy with it.
So it's...I think it's just in
the evolutionary process
of Ann Marie.
She's evolving.
The evolutionary process?
A little later, I joined Riaan
for a tour of his latest venture,
a recreated wilderness that he
was in the process of building
on 2,000 acres.
There's a water hole I built.
Up until now, the sight of dead
animals and the relative ease
of the hunting
had left me feeling unsettled
about the industry,
and I hoped this might be a chance
to share my misgivings.
And so the water's piped in?
I've got a pipe. Can you see
that little black pipe
sticking out? Really?
This keeps it filled
and I pump it once a week.
And so this is more, more natural.
Animals like it more. Yeah.
And then I've built a blind, erm,
where we shoot for hunting out
in the antler shape.
And you built this? Yeah.
It doesn't look unnatural
for the animals, also.
It's...it's like
animal-friendly. Yeah.
Do you ever feel like...you
grew up in South Africa hunting
in the old style. Yeah.
And there'd be wild animals,
you'd track them, no-one owned them,
it's changed a lot. Much easier.
It's much easier.
You have to cater to what
the clients want really, don't you?
Yeah, you basically...
You basically get adopted of the
client's, erm, abilities, number one,
and then what he needs.
And if he says I'm here for five
days and I want to get a kudu
and a zebra and a wildebeest
and X, Y and Z, and then you
sort of have... You're obliged
to kind of deliver that really?
Yeah. Because
that's how we make our money.
That's how we make a living,
so you have to get him his animals.
When I was a boy if I shot one animal
in the whole hunting season,
which was three months,
that was great.
Now you can shoot five,
six a day if you want to.
That's just how much...how much
the change with the management.
If you go to Zimbabwe tomorrow and
go try and shoot a kudu, good luck.
Poached out because
the people were hungry,
the government, there was no food
and they killed out the animals.
They're now poaching in South Africa
already. Those animals are gone.
Five, six years ago in Zimbabwe
we have one of the best animal
countries there was,
game everywhere,
but there was no control.
Poaching took over. Now you have,
here you have private land, people
take care of their private land,
they take care of the animals, that's
why the numbers are so much more.
How do you see your role, then?
It's very difficult because
there's...there's a lot of pressure,
on hunters because people
don't understand it.
I've tried to explain to you.
If you don't pull the trigger
you don't know, "Why does this guy
like to kill animals?"
Because it basically comes to the
point, man, you kill animals.
The hunting part
nobody listens to that,
this is like that guy's a murderer,
he kills animals, look at
all the blood.
Like, hey, go to...do you eat beef?
Do you eat lamb?
How do you think they get killed?
That's worse than you
ever can believe.
The killings we do are clean
compared to how domestic animals,
horses, cattle get killed
in the slaughtering houses.
These things get...
What do you call it when you've
twisted a guy's arm and break legs
and they go through hell.
Tortured. They get tortured, yeah.
These guys go into
the slaughtering houses,
the meat gets exported and people
eat it, they've got no idea
where this meat comes from.
This piece of beef grew on
a farm and if somebody killed
it with a little pin,
shot it in the head and while
it was still kicking,
somebody cut the vein, cos the blood
needs to come out of the meat
to get it clean.
But this is the things that nobody
sees, so nobody can relate and say,
"Oh, it's bad to shoot cows or it's
bad to eat beef, because beef are
being slaughtered."
But hunting is different
because hunting's got
a negative attachment to it.
Listen, do it and after that
you'll know you like it
or you don't like it.
Because now you still don't know.
You have to pull the trigger
to know the difference.
RIAAN LAUGHS
Back at Shingani and Riaan's
arguments had made me question my
instinctive resistance to hunting.
I decided to take him at his word
and arranged to go on a
hunt of my own.
I booked in for a crossbow lesson
with a professional hunter
called Clint Taylor.
And is there pleasure IN
taking an animal's life?
That's what's hard
to get to grips with.
It's definitely not a pleasure.
It's, it's a goal you set yourself.
You...you're outwitting the animal.
You're the...I mean, we're the super
predator on the...on the planet.
But aren't the odds so stacked
in favour of the hunter
that the challenge
has been reduced a lot?
I mean, she's a good shot
but I saw Sharnay,
who's what, seven years old,
six years old,
shoot an animal, shoot
a warthog with one of these...
..which suggests it's quite easy.
I told you, the kill's
the easiest part.
It's to get there.
The kill is part of it,
so is it that the..?
There's something predatorial in
the nature of people that they...
..that we enjoy killing an animal?
Some people enjoy killing.
Some people don't.
Every individual
draws their own line.
So, every person's different.
CLUNK
For Ann Marie's hunting debut,
she had her sights set on an impala,
price tag 200.
She'd taken her crossbow to a
game farm belonging to Piet Venter.
The animals, as we were
driving through,
it seemed like there were a lot
of them, much more than
I was expecting.
Yeah, most, yeah,
I've got lots of animals.
They seemed almost tame. Hmm.
Well, that's because
we do bow hunting since '94,
only strictly bow hunting,
that's the difference between
my place and a rifle hunting area.
They're a lot more calm. Yeah.
Yeah, they are very tame. Really?
Yeah, sometimes you can drive past
them and they won't even look up.
Almost like the national parks.
Like Lolly, Piet had grown
fond of his animals
and he was concerned
that Ann Marie's weapon of choice
might not be powerful enough
to make a clean kill.
And what were you asking just then?
About the crossbow.
It's OK. They promised me
it will be OK.
What are you worried about?
We don't use crossbows for hunting.
Are you worried that she
might miss? Hmm?
No, I'm sure she's not going to miss,
cos it's easy, easy to shoot
from the blind.
Do you know, Ann Marie,
this will be her first hunt? Hmm.
In Africa or where?
Anywhere. Anywhere?
OK. Let's give it a try.
(Why is he worried about crossbows?
(I think it's just like he said,
first time he's had one on his farm.
(It's not something
he's trusted with.
(So, he thinks maybe it won't kill
the animal as quickly? Yes.
(It's all about...
(Because he cares about the animals.
Yeah, yeah.)
(OK, that's fine. Yeah? Yeah.)
(Impala...just about there.)
(That's the killing zone.
(On the leg.)
CRACK
(Did I get him?
(Yes. Made a good hit, lots of blood,
I saw blood, lots of blood.
(Lots of blood.)
(Lots of blood.)
(Did you see the blood?
Yes, I saw lots of blood,
excellent job. I'm shaking.)
Oh, yes. Excellent shot.
He was not going anywhere.
Nice length, you've got a very good
trophy there, well done. Thank you.
Excellent shot. Thank you.
For a first animal, you did good.
That's beautiful.
Great.
Can you move to the other side
to get it?
So, you can actually
see the blood,
it's like creamy,
so you could tell it was lungs.
BELCHING
What's happening?
Its lungs are deflating.
Oh, my word.
Is it possible
it's not completely dead?
No, no, look at its eye,
it's already glazed over.
Hmm.
How did you feel?
You look a little bit...
Overwhelmed still? Overwhelmed.
I mean, you look almost
a tiny bit put off a bit,
like a bit not upset,
but distasteful?
Like he said, this is the first
animal that,
I don't know, I'm still not saying
that I'm the huntress,
but it was, I mean, it was intense,
it was an interesting experience,
I would probably...
But what about now
looking at the animal?
Well, I feel bad,
you know, I feel bad,
but it's, I don't know about you,
it's like what we say,
you know, wouldn't you rather die of
a quick heart attack and get it over
with in a few moments
versus having a prolonged
suffering or death?
So, I'm OK.
I'm just still not... Just like
the other animals when Paul got...
They'll move it around
and then you pose with it.
I just can't move it around
and do stuff with it yet.
How quickly do you think
would have died, Willie?
First, how long does it take
an impala to run 75 yards?
5 seconds, 10 seconds
and he was dead.
It was my turn.
Clint and I were on our way
to Lolly's farm
where I would be taking my pick
from the range of specially
raised trophy animals.
Think you're ready for this?
I was feeling anxious,
but I felt I owed it to my hosts
to try and get in touch
with the killer in me.
It's hard not to think that
somewhere in these bushes there's
a little animal, maybe an impala,
maybe a...warthog that...
you know, might not see it
through the day because of me.
That's a weird thought.
I think people make a mistake by
giving a wild animal human feelings.
They don't have human feelings. No.
They have feelings.
They do, but not.. They feel nervous.
Not human feelings. Fear.
It's, you know, people tend to think
of Bambi when they go hunting and
stuff and compare it to that.
It's nothing like it, it's a
wild animal we've got here.
If we shoot it or a lion kills it
or a cheetah catches it,
you know, there's not much
difference really.
So, everything now revolves around
you, it's up to you to decide
what you want to do.
If you want to go through with it.
And, you know, forget the animal and,
and then it's you and the crossbow.
Makes me a bit nervous
thinking about it.
Shall we get in there? Yeah.
(Warthog?)
(Are you looking for a big trophy or
do you just want to shoot a pig?)
(I don't mind if it's big or not.
(Because if you want to shoot a pig,
(this is a young male, it would
be a good one to shoot.)
(Its tusks are not huge
but he's a young bloke. Yeah.
(You see on his body just behind
from where his elbow goes up
there's like a shadow?
(On the warthog? On the warthog.
(The top of that shadow,
that's where you want to aim,
(that's where you want
the arrow to go. Why?
(Straight in there, that's gonna
go over the top of his heart
and through both lungs.
(Finish him. Kill him.
(He won't even know he's dead.
You've just got to wait for
him to move a little bit.
(Because the bolt will go
right through him,
(so it's harder to hit anything
behind him. Yeah.)
(OK.
(See if he comes toward...
WARTHOG GRUNTS
(OK, take it.)
(I don't think I can do it, Clint.
(I'm not feeling an urge to do it.
(I'm feeling an urge not to do it.
(OK, well, that's your decision.)
(I really don't think
I want to do it.)
(I'm sorry.)
About ten yards there.
I didn't want to kill the animal.
Hmm.
It feels a bit...it seems a bit
wet almost. You know?
There's a part of me
that feels like, well, yeah,
it makes sense to face up to the
gore of nature and be part of
that process...
But, erm, and I didn't...
I wonder if maybe also it was
a bit easy, if not quite easy?
Like I said,
not everybody's a hunter.
You'll eat the meat,
but you won't kill it.
That's fine.
People just have
to respect that, hmm?
Leave it to the professionals.
That's it.
Where are we going, Piet?
To the sale pens where the animals
are being kept for the sale.
I was back with Piet Warren.
He'd offered to show me his sable,
a species he'd helped bring back
from the brink of extinction.
And these are sable
you're selling? Yes.
I have too many bulls and erm,
the guys who own safari outfits
need bulls for the coming season.
For hunting? For hunting, yeah.
Yeah, so I select the bulls which I
know are not really up to standard
and they are moved to this facility.
You're not keen for us
to see the lions again?
No. Why not?
We've got two hours of footage,
you must just roll it back
and see it, it's all there.
The bottom, the top, the side,
all the sides of the lions.
Are you telling us
how to do our job?
Sort of, yes.
HE LAUGHS
I was now close to the end
of my time in the world of hunting.
I'd been swayed by
some of the arguments
but I was still troubled by the idea
of animals that have been bred for
the sole purpose of being hunted.
They look quite vulnerable,
don't they?
Would you like to get in and just
give him a chat, give him a touch?
I'd love to. Why, what would happen?
They would kill you.
Why? Because you've...
They're cornered.
How would they kill me though?
They would shove those horns
right through you.
They kill each other,
kill each other all the time.
LOUIS SIGHS
It's like, erm, you said,
if these animals didn't get hunted
they wouldn't be here, there's no
other reason for them to be here.
Never have been bred.
They would never have been bred.
Then you could say, erm,
to be bred just to be hunted,
you know, what kind
of a life is that?
No. Not much point.
Wonderful, because one tenth
of them is selected and becomes
a magic bull for ever,
and the other, the other..
Nine tenths.
Nine tenths have a place on the wall.
You won't even have a place
on the wall. They're gonna
have a place on the wall.
It's not like chickens where
chickens are bred for eating.
And we don't say that
we're going to hunt them, we just
breed them so that we can eat them.
Yeah. But these are being bred
to be killed,
for no other purpose.
But you don't understand.
The purpose is
for the sport of hunting.
Hmm. But is it a sport when
everything's being done to make sure
that the hunter will get his trophy?
Yes. Why? It's like tennis
without a net, isn't it?
If you want to put it that way.
If you want to put it that way.
Come and have a look.
I don't think this thing's
going to come off well.
Oh, no, I don't mean...
Your...your
your trend is wrong.
You've asked me that ten,
15 times you have asked me.
It's just to be killed.
Do you think that's right?
Do you think that's wrong?
You've asked me that 15 times,
and I've told you 15, 16 times
that's what we're up to.
I understand. That's why
I agreed to do this thing is
for you to see the other side.
Nothing of this, not one of this,
this would have been wasted,
all this would have been,
the trees would have been
chopped and made firewood up.
Now, all these
sisters are being bred,
we are creating better
and better sables, we are
creating better and better rhinos.
We have a rhino bull now of three
and a half years, he's got a
22 inch horn, it's unbelievable.
Because we've been paid per inch.
Understand that,
it's a different perspective.
Africa does not have computers
and people who are disciplined,
who give it a chance.
It's a fact because we chop down
everything and we eat everything,
and this is a way to make money
out of what there is here.
OK?
I didn't mean to upset you,
I'm sorry. No.
I mean, stop asking
the same question.
I hate fucking elephants because
they kill every good looking tree.
They don't eat the shitty bush,
they kill those big trees,
they just debark them.
Now, we can't get a permit
to destroy or remove these elephants,
because the public, the world public,
thinks that we are cuckoos,
because that question you asked me,
"Doesn't it hurt you to hunt it?"
It doesn't hurt me.
I grew up in another culture.
I mean, do you think it hurt...?
But you care about the animal,
you, you care about
the animals. I care.
You don't want to see
them all extinct.
That's why they're going to go
extinct if they don't
bring any money.
They're going to become
totally extinct.
What have I done with all the money
I've made out of sables?
Bought other sables,
created a natural environment
where they used to live and,
and I'm telling you,
if it's not for hunting, there
will be no species left in Africa.
A little later, I joined Piet
to watch a sable capture
on a nearby game farm.
This bull was one of the lucky tenth
that would be used to breed
other sable for hunting.
For me it was a last chance to get
close to some of these beautiful,
at one time endangered animals.
Do you like the animals, I mean,
do you like animals in general
as a vet?
I suppose you have to.
I love them, that's why I do it.
I still cry when they die.
Been a vet for 8 years,
I still cry every time.
Do you? Yeah, that's why we do it.
You wouldn't make
a very good hunter.
You see, most of the people
are not only there for the hunting,
the hunting is a business as well.
But a lot of them are there
for the love of nature as well.
And managing it,
seeing what you have.
I've asked Piet the other day when
we were working with his animals,
"How much fun do you
have out of this?"
Not do you have fun, how much fun?
And he said to me,
"This is oxygen."
What we're doing here, this is
oxygen to him, the passion of
working with these...
Who said that? Piet. Piet?
Piet Warren? Yeah.
Paul says you've got a passion
for the animals.
Passion? Yeah, OK.
I mean, erm, a feeling
for the animals, yeah.
I...I've never known life
without an animal.
After all my time in South Africa,
the urge to trophy hunt
still seemed strange.
But it has paradoxically
allowed exotic species to flourish.
By killing them, hunters
have also kept them alive.
As for me, I'll eat the meat,
but I won't kill the animal.
language.
MAN INHALES SHARPLY
(It's hard on me, man.)
(Why? I get excited.)
(Get the one in front of us.)
(Good shot.
(Good shot.)
(Great shot there, kid.)
(Nice stuff, man.
(Phew!)
# Hey-up! Ooh!
# A-wimoweh!
# A-wimoweh! #
I was in South Africa,
spending time in the world of trophy
hunters and safari outfitters.
Great shot, Nikki.
Here's the pig.
Right through the lungs.
Clever, eh?
Here's your first animal, Nikki.
Their practice of keeping
wild animals fenced in on farms
has made it cheaper and easier
to hunt than ever before,
and also proved
highly controversial.
Are you happy about your pig? Yeah.
Congratulations.
Well done, my sweet. Give me a kiss.
Still it attracts thousands
of budget hunters every year,
and I was joining them.
My journey had started
a week earlier
in South Africa's Limpopo Province.
Shingani Safaris is one
of a new crop of outfitters.
I'm Louis. Nice to meet you. How are
you doing? Nice to meet you too.
Its owner, Riaan Vosloo, caters to
hunters from all over the world,
but mostly from America.
We have clients here, Ann Marie.
And Louis. Hi, I'm Louis.
Nice to meet you. Thank you.
Nice to meet you. When did you...
Where did you just come in from?
Cleveland, Ohio. Really? Mm-hm.
He's dressed to hunt
and she's dressed to shop.
They don't have wild animals
in Cleveland?
Not wild animals like this. Really?
The wild animals in Cleveland
you're not allowed to hunt.
Paul and Ann Marie Potempski
were the first arrivals
of a group of 22 hunters from Ohio.
Paul had come for his dream
hunting holiday.
And Ann Marie was tagging along.
Ann Marie if you're not a hunter,
why are you here?
I'm here to watch him hunt. Yeah.
And they say that even
if you're not hunting,
the experience is
absolutely awesome.
Have you been out hunting
with Paul before? Never.
Never? No.
Why not? He doesn't take me hunting.
I'm not very much for the outdoors.
Really? Really.
But these guys are saying that
they think they may convert you?
That's what they're thinking.
What do you think? I don't know.
We'll talk you through it
step by step.
You just warn Paul, tell him we're
going to turn you into a monster
and he'll have to start skinning and
tracking to pay for your trophies.
Oh, great.
Do you have a list of animals
that you're after while you're here?
Er, a zebra and a kudu
are my big two.
And then any other,
other ones as well?
Oh, yeah, I'd really like to find
a baboon. A baboon? Yeah.
A baboon? I've never heard
of someone hunting a baboon.
A lot of people want it.
Er, it's a beautiful trophy.
Really? But they are tough to get,
because they are very smart.
They're very, very intelligent.
At the end of the day
it's also about money.
Cos he pays per trophy that he kills,
it's not just about shooting.
I mean, if money were no object
what would you be gunning for?
If money was no object, a rhino.
Really? A rhino? Yeah. Wow!
They just look fierce. Yeah.
And how much would a rhino
set you back? Wow!
You could shoot...
Rhinos now are very expensive,
because of the demand of the
rhino horn. The Chinese people...
Could someone come to Shingani
and shoot... Shoot a rhino?
If you want 20, I can get you 20.
20 rhino?
Yeah, easy. But it's the price.
You pay between 50 and 100,000 US
for a rhino now.
You hadn't met...Paul
and Ann Marie before?
Never met them. Had you spoken
to them on the phone?
Yeah, I spoke to them on the phone.
If you'd taken them down there and
then you'd seen them on the range
and he'd been a pretty
hopeless shot... Yeah.
..What would you have done then?
If you know he's a bad shot
you try and keep him on the
shooting range for the day. Hmm.
So we can tell them...
You can teach them? We teach them.
I also have a form where they
fill out their abilities -
can they walk, what operations
do they have, how's his eyesight?
So when a guy shows up
you know this guy is a 300-pounder,
he can't walk,
he can't climb off the truck,
and you adjust to his abilities.
But you have to talk him in.
Would you let him go out?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Cos you must make sure when
he pulls the trigger he's on it.
A little later
I joined Ann Marie and Paul
and their Shingani PH,
or Professional Hunter, Willie.
My lucky hat.
We're gonna kill today.
We had travelled
to a nearby game farm.
Twenty years ago all this land
was used to raise cattle,
now it was game fenced and stocked
with a range of trophy animals.
Paul was out for zebra,
price tag 675.
Do you know where
the zebras are, Willie?
Have you got a place in mind?
Yeah, I know in which area
they like to keep,
so what I'm doing is
we're zigzagging through that area,
see if we can find them somewhere.
I see a tree.
I saw the tree as well.
That's what I saw, the tree.
(Look, look, look, look! Over there.
Right there.
(Oh, wow!
Look even you can see this one.
(Yeah.
(Oh, my God, there it is,
there it is!
(My God, there's two of 'em.
(Oh, my God!
(Oh, my God!)
Oh, Jesus!
(I think I got him.)
But there was no immediate sign
of a dead zebra.
The trackers set to work.
(Are you nervous?
(A little bit, I think.
I'm excited for Paul if he got it.
(He's been waiting to get the zebra,
that's what he really wants.
(Could you do it?
(You know, I don't think so,
not like that.
(I mean, I wouldn't be able to take
a good shot from so far away.
(No, but, I mean, cos they're
like horses aren't they, zebras?)
(Right. I don't think I could.)
(Damn it.)
Nerves.
(What did you say?)
Nerves.
My heart was racing,
trying to breathe,
I'm shaky a little bit.
There was one I was watching
when they took off,
and I don't know which one it was
but it started to,
like, zigzag.
That's why I thought I hit one.
How have you found it so far?
Interesting.
Actually I find that I'm more
compelled than ever...
Than ever I thought I would be
to want to hunt.
So I don't know,
maybe it's like gambling,
like we were talking about
you're in the casino
and everyone else is doing it,
so you just want to try it.
I hear it's like a major rush
when you kill your first animal.
So, what about you? Do you think
you would ever kill an animal here?
Hmm, I don't think so.
No?
I think I'd feel bad.
See, and I would feel bad
if it was just killing the animal
just for the sake of killing it.
The fact that they, you know,
use the meat
and give it to people that are
in need, just like cattle,
they're raised to be slaughtered
for their beef, right?
Here you're giving the opportunity
for men and women that like to hunt,
give them that adventure,
and the animals are living freely,
they're not caged up,
and they're able to hunt,
and then the meat is still used
for the villages or sold to people.
So I don't feel bad
from that respect. Hmm.
Er, Paul, we can't get any blood.
So, er, and we've checked, Pietr
is making one last sleep...sweep,
but I don't think you got that one.
I'm glad there's no blood.
Yeah. Yeah.
What's the issue with leaving
a wounded animal?
Well, you don't want
to shoot something
and leave it in the bush,
not dead but wounded.
Yeah. Erm, so I think it..
In pain.
Yeah, it's an ethical thing.
And also if it's wounded
you've paid for it, right?
Yeah. Once it's wounded
and we've picked up blood,
then it must be paid for.
Er, then we must find it,
if possible.
I was on the far side
of Limpopo Province
to meet big game breeder,
Piet Warren.
Hello. Are you Piet? Yes.
I'm Louis. Pleased to meet you.
Piet raises exotic animals
and sells them when they're
old enough to be hunted.
He specialises in a kind
of antelope called Sable,
but today he wanted to show me
his lions.
Will we be travelling in here?
That's where you're
gonna travel. Yeah.
OK. So, this is what
you're feeding the lions?
Yes, these are unborn calves
from the abattoir.
We just... I buy them off the
abattoirs and we feed them...
feed them to the lions.
I'm not really used to being
around, um, dead animals.
Yeah. Yeah. You know?
No.
So, even, like, the idea of...
..unborn calves is odd to me.
Even the concept of it?
Yeah, a bit. Yeah.
Like seeing it
and I think the idea of slaughtering
a pregnant cow, to me is quite odd.
Yeah. But that's...
That's normal is it?
That's normal, yeah.
Piet also has
his own hunting reserve,
but filming there
was strictly off limits.
I mean, just for the record,
can I ask, obviously
you've made a decision
you would like us not to film
any hunting, is that right?
Yes, bec.. Why is that?
If you show hunting,
it's offensive to 98% of the people.
So that'll give the film
a negative taint before you start.
You don't even want us to film you
talking about hunting?
No, it's negative,
it's negative to the mind,
it's about farming.
What we came to do is farming.
There are just so many people
that want to do that.
What? Hunt.
There are just so many and they
want to hunt, that's what they like.
And there's a demand for it.
All this that you see here
was paid for by the Americans.
We had cattle here,
this was orange trees.
30 years ago this was all orange
trees, now it's just bush and game.
Because they pay us more money
than what we did with the cattle.
It's very simple.
They're very clean looking aren't
they? There's no scars on them.
Yeah, because if you don't allow a
lion to go hungry, they don't fight.
They only fight when they get hungry.
So these lions
have never been hungry?
Well, why would I
allow them to get hungry?
They might... There's a 120,000 rand
walking around there.
Why would you allow him
to get hungry?
That's...
That's 10,000 just about.
Why is he looking at us like that?
He thinks you are a plate of food.
He doesn't see you as anything else,
he doesn't see you as...
And you go and try and walk in there
and see what happens.
And all that will remain
is the top part of your skull
and your boots, the rest
they will eat everything.
And they will play with your clothes.
So these lions, will they be hunted?
Every one. They will?
That's the only value,
what other value is there to a lion?
Yeah. So you raise them for hunting?
I only raise them for hunting.
And, um.. If the hen doesn't
lay eggs we eat it. Yes.
We raise those chickens, the ones
that lay eggs, they stay one side,
they have an 18-month period,
and Miss Hen, do you know
this is your cage,
you lay one egg a day,
and if you don't lay one egg
a day we eat you, too.
LION GROWLS
How do you feel about your lions?
Do you love them? No.
Why? No, it's just because...
Look at his eyes.
You walk past him, walk past him and
feel if you feel any love there.
Walk past where?
Next to the walk area.
I'm not sure if I want to. No.
There's no love.
OK, let's go. What about Siegfried
and Roy, they love their tigers.
PIET LAUGHS
Yeah.
It's just a plain commodity.
Let's go.
But do you think, um...
No, now we're going, now it's time.
We've got to go?
No, sir, you're wasting my time,
let's go. Get in.
Do we get in here?
Yeah, we get in here.
We're definitely safe in here?
You have to come in here too,
though, Piet.
I'll just take you to the gate first.
They'll go for the...
They're not gonna eat...
Obviously not gonna eat us, but...
No.
Do we have a plan as far as how
we're gonna get out once the...?
Well, you don't get out.
No. You don't move.
Not out of this vehicle.
Yeah. Couldn't they reach
through the bars though?
It's all suddenly gone a bit..
OK? It's all suddenly gone a bit
Ernest Hemingway, hasn't it?
So what is that there?
That's your...?
That's just an ordinary shotgun.
Just a pump-action shotgun
and I've got seven cartridges,
so we've got lots of... Er,
if ever something did go wrong.
SHOUTS IN AFRIKAANS
If it was a human body
you must know how much pain
you would be suffering.
Shall I throw one?
Shall I... Shall I throw one?
About 20 kilos.
Backward, yeah.
Yikes!
Ohhh!
PIET LAUGHS
Does it seem a bit...?
I mean, you could say
it's a bit pointless
the idea of raising
an animal in captivity,
then releasing it
and then hunting it.
Is it sort of a...an artificial
experience, a little bit?
Yes, I would guess so,
but a bungee jump is also.
I mean, if you're going to jump
out of an aeroplane, well...
A bungee jump is an
artificial experience.
You know it's going to
catch you there.
Would it appeal to you,
the idea of hunting in that way?
If I had never hunted...
Maybe a bear or something,
which I've never hunted
or never been, I've never been
to Alaska, I would..
You'd do the so-called
canned option? Absolutely.
Because it's quicker and
more convenient and...?
No, and the adrenaline rush
is so much more
and the risk is so much more.
Lions like this in Tanzania
would cost you 40,000
US dollars to hunt.
You won't get a trophy that looks
like that for that kind of money.
He's scarred and he's buggered
and he's ugly.
But he's more real, I suppose?
He's more real, I suppose, yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
LION GROWLS
Back at Shingani and
there was a busy day ahead.
The rest of the hunting party
from Ohio had arrived,
and they were keen to get out
onto the game farms
and start claiming their trophies.
What's the plan today?
I'll just head into a blind
and hopefully we'll get a kudu.
Kudu? Kudu. And you, Rick?
I'd like a wildebeest boar maybe
and a...er gemsbok.
What do you guys do back in
your regular lives, if I may ask?
Erm, I own a trucking business,
so I pretty much haul asphalt
and...er we do roadways,
and when I'm not doing roadways
I haul stone and gravel.
So it keeps me busy. Yeah. And Rick?
I work at a recycling plant,
recycle books.
So kind of a good thing.
How did you choose kudu?
Well, that's the king
of African game, is kudu.
So... They're a big animal,
very big.
Anthony's kudu
would be costing 1,100.
He and Rick were shooting on a
game farm belonging to Lolly Furie.
Are you Lolly? Yes. I'm Louis.
How are you doing?
Who I'd heard had a surprising
second occupation.
Am I right in thinking you're a vet?
Yes.
A veterinarian?
I'm a veterinarian, yeah.
So you heal animals, you cure them?
Yes. Yeah, we try.
Do you look after the animals here
as well as a vet? In a way that's..
Yes. ..Almost like a conflict
of interest though. Yes.
You could say, because the animals
are getting hunted and killed. Yes.
Your profession is to keep animals
alive in a way. That's right.
So the game farming today
is a farming practice,
you've got to make a living out of it
one way or another. Yeah.
And the game, you know,
once a game fence is up
we feed them every winter
and they get fed very well,
so of course they breed very well.
So, you know, the amount
of space you've got,
you're limited to a certain amount,
so you've got to keep your numbers
down. Do you hunt yourself?
No. Not at all. Why not? Why not?
No. I don't enjoy it.
You used to do it? Yeah.
But not any more? Not any more, no.
Why doesn't he do it any more?
I ask the same thing of my dad.
My dad becomes more enjoying the
animals than hunting the animals.
I think it comes with age.
My dad said, "Wait till
you get older
"you're gonna slow down on hunting,
"you're not gonna have that
killer instinct all the time."
While we waited for news
from the hunters,
Lolly took me on a tour
of his 3,000 acre property.
This too had once been a cattle farm
and was now turned over
to a variety of trophy animals.
Like a lot of game farmers,
Lolly had formed an attachment
to his animals.
He told me he'd only
allow bow hunting,
as the noise of gunshots
causes them stress.
He seemed especially fond
of his giraffes.
You were saying,
that people are not allowed
to hunt these on your property?
Er, Louis, you see,
there's a time, you know,
it's just a matter
of one becomes attached to them,
you, you eventually get to know
each one of them, you know,
so we don't allow any hunting,
whether it be rifle or bow hunting
of the giraffe on the farm.
I suppose it's...
I wouldn't say it's wrong,
but there's always that
little bit of sentiment.
It's like cattle as well,
I don't shoot the animal,
the cattle on the farm as well
for own use,
I'd rather load him
to an abattoir or whatever
and get a butcher to...
to do the meat processing.
Why?
It's just, as I said, there again,
it's that close contact
that you have with the animals
and you get to know them and so on,
and I've just lost
all interest in it.
I don't enjoy shooting animals,
whether it be cattle
or game or whatever.
The giraffe, there's always
a sense of tranquillity about them,
they move quietly.
Late in the day, word came that
Anthony had shot his dream animal
and that trackers were trying
to find it before nightfall.
How was it?
Kind of, er...shaky. Why?
Cos it's a lot of animals
in here at one time
and I put a good shot on, I think.
It went off down that way.
Where'd you get him?
It was a kudu, right?
Kudu, got the kudu.
Oh, went right in the front
of the shoulder
through to the back
of the shoulder.
Went all the way in. Vitals?
Yeah, I think I got both lungs.
Maybe the heart.
A good shot.
So, what's gonna happen now?
We're gonna sit and track,
hopefully it's getting dark.
That's the bad thing
about night shooting.
Very windy today.
It was a calm shot though
when I took it, it wasn't windy.
What's the story, do you know?
No, it sounds like a good shot.
It was.
Showing quite a bit of blood.
Twenty to five, it came in.
Let's see if you hit him there.
That one?
Yeah. God, I'm still shaking!
This is it.
I think I got it,
I think I put a shot on it.
As the minutes passed
there was still no sign of the kudu.
Lolly seemed to grow anxious the
animal might be wounded and in pain.
What do you think?
Personally, I think
it's turning a bit awkward.
I'd prefer a shot if he could
take it behind the shoulder.
Yeah, he was a little... Yeah,
he was about like that toward me.
Yeah.
I hope they get him fast.
It's getting dark quickly now, hey?
SPEAKS AFRIKAANS
Uh? They've found it.
What's that? Yeah, they've found it.
Did they?
Yeah, it's just a little...
They got it?
LOLLY SPEAKS IN AFRIKAANS
Ah, they got it.
Oh! Oh!
Is that good?
Oh, no, he's dead. Well done.
Oh! Oh! Congratulations. Well done.
Where is he? Right here. Oh, wow!
He didn't go far.
It skidded and you hit this bone
here, but then..
Yeah, that's where I hit it
right there, it went through.
It must have ricocheted
and hit a bone. Yeah.
And veered off. Yeah.
No, that's wonderful.
The horns are holding its head in
quite an eerie position aren't they?
Yes.
How long would it have taken
that kudu to die, do you think?
You know, this animal took off there
at one hell of a lick.
So this is fast.
Would he be in his prime
or in his old age?
He's not old,
so he's got eight years.
What...?
Anthony, what's happening now?
Well, my heart's thumping.
But what are you doing?
We're doing trophy shots right now.
Is this an important part
of the whole thing?
This is the very important part.
After you kill a wonderful beast
like this, this is the time.
Very good.
Back at Shingani
and the Ohio hunting party
had brought back
a massive haul of animals.
Including Anthony's,
there were three kudu, one gemsbok,
four impala, two warthog, one nyala,
one blesbok and a blue ball monkey.
Nice, man!
You got it? Yes, I did.
The atmosphere was jubilant,
but I was still struggling
to share in the excitement.
Come here!
Dude, that's huge.
I've got a big warthog
sitting out there. Giant!
They come in, he's like,
"I'll try it."
I'm like, I threw that arrow off,
I'm like, "I'm shooting this one."
Look at this beast.
Nice. Wow! What an animal!
It's beautiful.
I've waited and waited.
I mean, it was...
I don't know, it's like, erm..
What do you want to say?
I don't know, I'm just
trying to think about...
Cos like, people who watch that and
they're still not gonna understand,
like, how you would explain why,
why it makes sense to do it.
You've got to have a passion
for hunting.
If you have the passion for hunting
and you come to a state like this
and you take an animal like that,
dreams come true.
This is a dream.
This is a dream.
Huge.
Very huge.
Big animal.
It's a great day.
What do you think?
I mean, I can...
The idea of preserving game
in private game farms, you know,
makes sense. Mm-hm.
And I know that's done a lot to
increase the numbers of rare species
and exotic species
and at the same time,
the idea of actually shooting one
doesn't appeal to me.
I mean, I think I'd feel guilty
and upset if I did it.
I understand. Yeah. I understand.
I didn't feel guilty.
I didn't feel guilty.
Are there animals
that you wouldn't hunt,
because they're sort of higher
up the food chain, as it were?
Well, it's all in the cost.
The cost is a big thing. Every...
Not the intelligence or the
sensitivity of the animals?
No, it's all in the cost.
You would hunt an elephant, say?
Um... If you had the money?
If I had the money, yes.
If I was very wealthy I'd take
every animal you could get.
A lion? Yeah, not a problem.
It's all in the money. Really?
Yeah. You can only afford so much.
You afford...
You could take it, go for it.
No matter what state it's in
or what country.
Cos you might never, ever get
that opportunity to do it again.
The following day and after
all the activity at Shingani,
I've heard that Ann Marie
was now thinking seriously
about hunting an animal herself.
What's the thought process
that's taken you here?
Well, the last couple of days
I've been in the blind with Paul
and it's been, I mean, it's been
very exciting watching the animals
and seeing the animals
and it's been exciting,
but in the same breath,
I'm excited, but also worried.
So, I think it's just...
I think it's peer pressure.
We're here at a hunting lodge
and everyone is talking
about the hunting
and I've experienced it first-hand
and it's been exciting.
And Paul got three animals,
didn't he?
He got a kudu, a zebra,
a gemsbok and then a warthog.
And how was that for you
seeing that?
I was OK with all of them
except the zebra.
I think maybe because it's too much
like a horse, that was very...
That was an emotional one for me.
Was it? Yes. Was that
emotional for you, Paul, too?
It wasn't.
I felt bad for her,
she was teary eyed and,
and wasn't real happy with it.
So it's...I think it's just in
the evolutionary process
of Ann Marie.
She's evolving.
The evolutionary process?
A little later, I joined Riaan
for a tour of his latest venture,
a recreated wilderness that he
was in the process of building
on 2,000 acres.
There's a water hole I built.
Up until now, the sight of dead
animals and the relative ease
of the hunting
had left me feeling unsettled
about the industry,
and I hoped this might be a chance
to share my misgivings.
And so the water's piped in?
I've got a pipe. Can you see
that little black pipe
sticking out? Really?
This keeps it filled
and I pump it once a week.
And so this is more, more natural.
Animals like it more. Yeah.
And then I've built a blind, erm,
where we shoot for hunting out
in the antler shape.
And you built this? Yeah.
It doesn't look unnatural
for the animals, also.
It's...it's like
animal-friendly. Yeah.
Do you ever feel like...you
grew up in South Africa hunting
in the old style. Yeah.
And there'd be wild animals,
you'd track them, no-one owned them,
it's changed a lot. Much easier.
It's much easier.
You have to cater to what
the clients want really, don't you?
Yeah, you basically...
You basically get adopted of the
client's, erm, abilities, number one,
and then what he needs.
And if he says I'm here for five
days and I want to get a kudu
and a zebra and a wildebeest
and X, Y and Z, and then you
sort of have... You're obliged
to kind of deliver that really?
Yeah. Because
that's how we make our money.
That's how we make a living,
so you have to get him his animals.
When I was a boy if I shot one animal
in the whole hunting season,
which was three months,
that was great.
Now you can shoot five,
six a day if you want to.
That's just how much...how much
the change with the management.
If you go to Zimbabwe tomorrow and
go try and shoot a kudu, good luck.
Poached out because
the people were hungry,
the government, there was no food
and they killed out the animals.
They're now poaching in South Africa
already. Those animals are gone.
Five, six years ago in Zimbabwe
we have one of the best animal
countries there was,
game everywhere,
but there was no control.
Poaching took over. Now you have,
here you have private land, people
take care of their private land,
they take care of the animals, that's
why the numbers are so much more.
How do you see your role, then?
It's very difficult because
there's...there's a lot of pressure,
on hunters because people
don't understand it.
I've tried to explain to you.
If you don't pull the trigger
you don't know, "Why does this guy
like to kill animals?"
Because it basically comes to the
point, man, you kill animals.
The hunting part
nobody listens to that,
this is like that guy's a murderer,
he kills animals, look at
all the blood.
Like, hey, go to...do you eat beef?
Do you eat lamb?
How do you think they get killed?
That's worse than you
ever can believe.
The killings we do are clean
compared to how domestic animals,
horses, cattle get killed
in the slaughtering houses.
These things get...
What do you call it when you've
twisted a guy's arm and break legs
and they go through hell.
Tortured. They get tortured, yeah.
These guys go into
the slaughtering houses,
the meat gets exported and people
eat it, they've got no idea
where this meat comes from.
This piece of beef grew on
a farm and if somebody killed
it with a little pin,
shot it in the head and while
it was still kicking,
somebody cut the vein, cos the blood
needs to come out of the meat
to get it clean.
But this is the things that nobody
sees, so nobody can relate and say,
"Oh, it's bad to shoot cows or it's
bad to eat beef, because beef are
being slaughtered."
But hunting is different
because hunting's got
a negative attachment to it.
Listen, do it and after that
you'll know you like it
or you don't like it.
Because now you still don't know.
You have to pull the trigger
to know the difference.
RIAAN LAUGHS
Back at Shingani and Riaan's
arguments had made me question my
instinctive resistance to hunting.
I decided to take him at his word
and arranged to go on a
hunt of my own.
I booked in for a crossbow lesson
with a professional hunter
called Clint Taylor.
And is there pleasure IN
taking an animal's life?
That's what's hard
to get to grips with.
It's definitely not a pleasure.
It's, it's a goal you set yourself.
You...you're outwitting the animal.
You're the...I mean, we're the super
predator on the...on the planet.
But aren't the odds so stacked
in favour of the hunter
that the challenge
has been reduced a lot?
I mean, she's a good shot
but I saw Sharnay,
who's what, seven years old,
six years old,
shoot an animal, shoot
a warthog with one of these...
..which suggests it's quite easy.
I told you, the kill's
the easiest part.
It's to get there.
The kill is part of it,
so is it that the..?
There's something predatorial in
the nature of people that they...
..that we enjoy killing an animal?
Some people enjoy killing.
Some people don't.
Every individual
draws their own line.
So, every person's different.
CLUNK
For Ann Marie's hunting debut,
she had her sights set on an impala,
price tag 200.
She'd taken her crossbow to a
game farm belonging to Piet Venter.
The animals, as we were
driving through,
it seemed like there were a lot
of them, much more than
I was expecting.
Yeah, most, yeah,
I've got lots of animals.
They seemed almost tame. Hmm.
Well, that's because
we do bow hunting since '94,
only strictly bow hunting,
that's the difference between
my place and a rifle hunting area.
They're a lot more calm. Yeah.
Yeah, they are very tame. Really?
Yeah, sometimes you can drive past
them and they won't even look up.
Almost like the national parks.
Like Lolly, Piet had grown
fond of his animals
and he was concerned
that Ann Marie's weapon of choice
might not be powerful enough
to make a clean kill.
And what were you asking just then?
About the crossbow.
It's OK. They promised me
it will be OK.
What are you worried about?
We don't use crossbows for hunting.
Are you worried that she
might miss? Hmm?
No, I'm sure she's not going to miss,
cos it's easy, easy to shoot
from the blind.
Do you know, Ann Marie,
this will be her first hunt? Hmm.
In Africa or where?
Anywhere. Anywhere?
OK. Let's give it a try.
(Why is he worried about crossbows?
(I think it's just like he said,
first time he's had one on his farm.
(It's not something
he's trusted with.
(So, he thinks maybe it won't kill
the animal as quickly? Yes.
(It's all about...
(Because he cares about the animals.
Yeah, yeah.)
(OK, that's fine. Yeah? Yeah.)
(Impala...just about there.)
(That's the killing zone.
(On the leg.)
CRACK
(Did I get him?
(Yes. Made a good hit, lots of blood,
I saw blood, lots of blood.
(Lots of blood.)
(Lots of blood.)
(Did you see the blood?
Yes, I saw lots of blood,
excellent job. I'm shaking.)
Oh, yes. Excellent shot.
He was not going anywhere.
Nice length, you've got a very good
trophy there, well done. Thank you.
Excellent shot. Thank you.
For a first animal, you did good.
That's beautiful.
Great.
Can you move to the other side
to get it?
So, you can actually
see the blood,
it's like creamy,
so you could tell it was lungs.
BELCHING
What's happening?
Its lungs are deflating.
Oh, my word.
Is it possible
it's not completely dead?
No, no, look at its eye,
it's already glazed over.
Hmm.
How did you feel?
You look a little bit...
Overwhelmed still? Overwhelmed.
I mean, you look almost
a tiny bit put off a bit,
like a bit not upset,
but distasteful?
Like he said, this is the first
animal that,
I don't know, I'm still not saying
that I'm the huntress,
but it was, I mean, it was intense,
it was an interesting experience,
I would probably...
But what about now
looking at the animal?
Well, I feel bad,
you know, I feel bad,
but it's, I don't know about you,
it's like what we say,
you know, wouldn't you rather die of
a quick heart attack and get it over
with in a few moments
versus having a prolonged
suffering or death?
So, I'm OK.
I'm just still not... Just like
the other animals when Paul got...
They'll move it around
and then you pose with it.
I just can't move it around
and do stuff with it yet.
How quickly do you think
would have died, Willie?
First, how long does it take
an impala to run 75 yards?
5 seconds, 10 seconds
and he was dead.
It was my turn.
Clint and I were on our way
to Lolly's farm
where I would be taking my pick
from the range of specially
raised trophy animals.
Think you're ready for this?
I was feeling anxious,
but I felt I owed it to my hosts
to try and get in touch
with the killer in me.
It's hard not to think that
somewhere in these bushes there's
a little animal, maybe an impala,
maybe a...warthog that...
you know, might not see it
through the day because of me.
That's a weird thought.
I think people make a mistake by
giving a wild animal human feelings.
They don't have human feelings. No.
They have feelings.
They do, but not.. They feel nervous.
Not human feelings. Fear.
It's, you know, people tend to think
of Bambi when they go hunting and
stuff and compare it to that.
It's nothing like it, it's a
wild animal we've got here.
If we shoot it or a lion kills it
or a cheetah catches it,
you know, there's not much
difference really.
So, everything now revolves around
you, it's up to you to decide
what you want to do.
If you want to go through with it.
And, you know, forget the animal and,
and then it's you and the crossbow.
Makes me a bit nervous
thinking about it.
Shall we get in there? Yeah.
(Warthog?)
(Are you looking for a big trophy or
do you just want to shoot a pig?)
(I don't mind if it's big or not.
(Because if you want to shoot a pig,
(this is a young male, it would
be a good one to shoot.)
(Its tusks are not huge
but he's a young bloke. Yeah.
(You see on his body just behind
from where his elbow goes up
there's like a shadow?
(On the warthog? On the warthog.
(The top of that shadow,
that's where you want to aim,
(that's where you want
the arrow to go. Why?
(Straight in there, that's gonna
go over the top of his heart
and through both lungs.
(Finish him. Kill him.
(He won't even know he's dead.
You've just got to wait for
him to move a little bit.
(Because the bolt will go
right through him,
(so it's harder to hit anything
behind him. Yeah.)
(OK.
(See if he comes toward...
WARTHOG GRUNTS
(OK, take it.)
(I don't think I can do it, Clint.
(I'm not feeling an urge to do it.
(I'm feeling an urge not to do it.
(OK, well, that's your decision.)
(I really don't think
I want to do it.)
(I'm sorry.)
About ten yards there.
I didn't want to kill the animal.
Hmm.
It feels a bit...it seems a bit
wet almost. You know?
There's a part of me
that feels like, well, yeah,
it makes sense to face up to the
gore of nature and be part of
that process...
But, erm, and I didn't...
I wonder if maybe also it was
a bit easy, if not quite easy?
Like I said,
not everybody's a hunter.
You'll eat the meat,
but you won't kill it.
That's fine.
People just have
to respect that, hmm?
Leave it to the professionals.
That's it.
Where are we going, Piet?
To the sale pens where the animals
are being kept for the sale.
I was back with Piet Warren.
He'd offered to show me his sable,
a species he'd helped bring back
from the brink of extinction.
And these are sable
you're selling? Yes.
I have too many bulls and erm,
the guys who own safari outfits
need bulls for the coming season.
For hunting? For hunting, yeah.
Yeah, so I select the bulls which I
know are not really up to standard
and they are moved to this facility.
You're not keen for us
to see the lions again?
No. Why not?
We've got two hours of footage,
you must just roll it back
and see it, it's all there.
The bottom, the top, the side,
all the sides of the lions.
Are you telling us
how to do our job?
Sort of, yes.
HE LAUGHS
I was now close to the end
of my time in the world of hunting.
I'd been swayed by
some of the arguments
but I was still troubled by the idea
of animals that have been bred for
the sole purpose of being hunted.
They look quite vulnerable,
don't they?
Would you like to get in and just
give him a chat, give him a touch?
I'd love to. Why, what would happen?
They would kill you.
Why? Because you've...
They're cornered.
How would they kill me though?
They would shove those horns
right through you.
They kill each other,
kill each other all the time.
LOUIS SIGHS
It's like, erm, you said,
if these animals didn't get hunted
they wouldn't be here, there's no
other reason for them to be here.
Never have been bred.
They would never have been bred.
Then you could say, erm,
to be bred just to be hunted,
you know, what kind
of a life is that?
No. Not much point.
Wonderful, because one tenth
of them is selected and becomes
a magic bull for ever,
and the other, the other..
Nine tenths.
Nine tenths have a place on the wall.
You won't even have a place
on the wall. They're gonna
have a place on the wall.
It's not like chickens where
chickens are bred for eating.
And we don't say that
we're going to hunt them, we just
breed them so that we can eat them.
Yeah. But these are being bred
to be killed,
for no other purpose.
But you don't understand.
The purpose is
for the sport of hunting.
Hmm. But is it a sport when
everything's being done to make sure
that the hunter will get his trophy?
Yes. Why? It's like tennis
without a net, isn't it?
If you want to put it that way.
If you want to put it that way.
Come and have a look.
I don't think this thing's
going to come off well.
Oh, no, I don't mean...
Your...your
your trend is wrong.
You've asked me that ten,
15 times you have asked me.
It's just to be killed.
Do you think that's right?
Do you think that's wrong?
You've asked me that 15 times,
and I've told you 15, 16 times
that's what we're up to.
I understand. That's why
I agreed to do this thing is
for you to see the other side.
Nothing of this, not one of this,
this would have been wasted,
all this would have been,
the trees would have been
chopped and made firewood up.
Now, all these
sisters are being bred,
we are creating better
and better sables, we are
creating better and better rhinos.
We have a rhino bull now of three
and a half years, he's got a
22 inch horn, it's unbelievable.
Because we've been paid per inch.
Understand that,
it's a different perspective.
Africa does not have computers
and people who are disciplined,
who give it a chance.
It's a fact because we chop down
everything and we eat everything,
and this is a way to make money
out of what there is here.
OK?
I didn't mean to upset you,
I'm sorry. No.
I mean, stop asking
the same question.
I hate fucking elephants because
they kill every good looking tree.
They don't eat the shitty bush,
they kill those big trees,
they just debark them.
Now, we can't get a permit
to destroy or remove these elephants,
because the public, the world public,
thinks that we are cuckoos,
because that question you asked me,
"Doesn't it hurt you to hunt it?"
It doesn't hurt me.
I grew up in another culture.
I mean, do you think it hurt...?
But you care about the animal,
you, you care about
the animals. I care.
You don't want to see
them all extinct.
That's why they're going to go
extinct if they don't
bring any money.
They're going to become
totally extinct.
What have I done with all the money
I've made out of sables?
Bought other sables,
created a natural environment
where they used to live and,
and I'm telling you,
if it's not for hunting, there
will be no species left in Africa.
A little later, I joined Piet
to watch a sable capture
on a nearby game farm.
This bull was one of the lucky tenth
that would be used to breed
other sable for hunting.
For me it was a last chance to get
close to some of these beautiful,
at one time endangered animals.
Do you like the animals, I mean,
do you like animals in general
as a vet?
I suppose you have to.
I love them, that's why I do it.
I still cry when they die.
Been a vet for 8 years,
I still cry every time.
Do you? Yeah, that's why we do it.
You wouldn't make
a very good hunter.
You see, most of the people
are not only there for the hunting,
the hunting is a business as well.
But a lot of them are there
for the love of nature as well.
And managing it,
seeing what you have.
I've asked Piet the other day when
we were working with his animals,
"How much fun do you
have out of this?"
Not do you have fun, how much fun?
And he said to me,
"This is oxygen."
What we're doing here, this is
oxygen to him, the passion of
working with these...
Who said that? Piet. Piet?
Piet Warren? Yeah.
Paul says you've got a passion
for the animals.
Passion? Yeah, OK.
I mean, erm, a feeling
for the animals, yeah.
I...I've never known life
without an animal.
After all my time in South Africa,
the urge to trophy hunt
still seemed strange.
But it has paradoxically
allowed exotic species to flourish.
By killing them, hunters
have also kept them alive.
As for me, I'll eat the meat,
but I won't kill the animal.