Welcome to Safari Newsreel.

Welcome to Safari Newsreel: Voice of the Hunter.

The principal aim of Safari Newsreel is to recognize and promote conservation through utilization as well as provide entertainment, education, opinion, news, activism and interaction for the visitor to the website.

The conservation through utilization message has to be broadcasted to the general public in every way possible and the importance of arming the hunter with accurate information on this theme is immeasurable.

The role of hunting in wildlife conservation goes largely unnoticed and is certainly downplayed by anti-hunters. If it were not for hunting, a large proportion of wilderness areas across the globe would simply not exist.  Hunters pay more for wildlife conservation than everyone else combined and are more often vilified than recognized for their important role.                

The global conservation community needs to expand its methods and competence beyond the conventional field of conservation biology. Conservation is not just about animals and ecosystems. It is primarily a human affair. People must be factored into the ecological equation for it to work. Man will always exploit the natural resources that occur in his surrounds in one way or another whether " legally" or not.

Attempting to protect enclaves of animals and ecosystems without the co-operation and for the benefit of the surrounding human communities will not succeed.

If a value is not attached to a natural resource and if local human communities are not given a stake in that value, there is little incentive for communities to conserve. The challenge is to ensure sustainable utilization for the benefit of all.

The protectionist principal, which precludes any form of utilization, is an ideology whose time has come and gone. It does not work and we, quite simply, cannot afford it.

Sustainable utilization is one of the most powerful tools in environmental management. Unfortunately the anti-hunting lobby has trashed the concept and labeled it destructive, inhumane and counterproductive. They have done this for a very simple and profitable reason. An "enemy"(in the form of hunters) is needed in order to attack and blame for the state of affairs. Raising money becomes easy by presenting a single-solution answer to a complex equation: hunters kill animals therefore animals are endangered.

The anti-hunting lobby is extremely powerful and has the support of the influential media industry behind it. With this support it is easy to whip up anti-hunting sentiment very quickly across a broad spectrum of the general population.

But that does not mean we cannot attempt to counteract this in every possible way. As you explore Safari Newsreel you will see that there is video, audio, photo and copy content throughout promoting the same message. Hunters pay for conservation.

We at Safari Newsreel urge you to actively engage non-hunters wherever and whenever you can. Let them know how important hunting is to the conservation of our wildlife heritage across the globe.

In the words of Conservation Force’s John Jackson III in his video clip on his bio page:

“ If you are a hunter, be proud, celebrate. No one cares more; no one gives more than the recreational hunter. You are not paid to hunt, you are paying, and you have nothing to apologize for. You are responsible for the greatest conservation success story in the world ”.

Zig Mackintosh.

Safari Newsreel.