Shooting Wildlife?

1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Optics Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) Jan 2016
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1.2 Funding the pro-hunting debate
Companies that sold hunting optics were more likely to
have sponsored hunting organisations or initiatives. 76%
of companies that sold multiple hunting accessories had
sponsored hunting organisations whose mission statements
included “protecting hunters' rights”, and 59% were members
of hunting and conservation organisations such as The Boone
and Crockett club, Whitetails Unlimited and Safari Club
International (SCI).
A number of companies were also trying to engage new user
groups, such as women and children, in hunting through
education programmes, competitions and sponsorship of TV
shows. For example, Vista Outdoors sponsored the annual
'Daughters at the Range’ event, which aimed to introduce
families and their daughters to sport shooting. 10 Nikon was a
2015 partner of 'Raised Hunting', a US show that follows the
journey of an American family that “use hunting as a platform
to teach ethics and values to their family”. 11 Swarovski Optik
was listed as an International Sponsor of the Youth Hunter
Education Challenge, a challenge organised by the US
National Rifle Association. 12 And Barksa's twitter feed included
a re-tweeted image of a young girl holding a dead deer’s
antlers and the statement: “We need more kids holding deer
and less game controllers…”
These schemes fuel an ongoing culture of hunting, and fail to
discuss the ethics of killing animals for sport.
80% of companies that promoted the use of at least one
product for hunting also used images of trophy animals such
as elk, white-tailed deer and bighorn sheep in promotional
materials or on social media sites.
An extreme example of this is the 'Vortex Nation' section
of Vortex Optics’ website, www.vortexoptics.com, which
contained a 'Trophy Room' that displayed images of scenes
created by Vortex products: images of landscapes shot by
Vortex equipment, animals killed using Vortex products and
images of weapons used. The Trophy Room contained a
'big-game' section which displayed images of trophy hunts,
including images of dead elk, caribou, a bull moose, bighorn
sheep, black bear, mountain lion, roebuck, buffalo and brown
bears.
Similarly, Alpen, Berreta, Bresser, Zeiss, Leica, Minox,
Swarovski and Vanguard used images of animals such as
male lions and bears, where the potential negative impacts
of selective hunting have started to be evidenced – as
discussed in the literature review.
1.3 Who to buy from?
Recommended companies are Canon Inc., Fujifilm Holdings
Corporation, the Olympus Corporation and Kenko Tokina
Co., which were the only companies covered that could not
be directly linked with the sport hunting industry. The RSPB’s
own branded optics, supplied by Viking Optical, also do not
sponsor hunting or promote shooting equipment.
The other five companies with weaker links to sport hunting
may also be a good choice. The main brands in this group
are: Celestron, Opticron, Pentax, Visionary and Kowa.
Consumers who hold animal rights issues close to heart
may want to avoid companies committed to hunting. These
are: Nikon, Bushnell, Vortex, Meopta, Minox, Leica, Steiner,
Burris, Swarovski, Leupold, Vanguard, Zeiss, Hawke, Bresser,
National Geographic, Acuter, Barska, Visionking, Bosma and
Alpen brands.
If environmental issues guide your purchasing choices, then
you may wish to avoid companies that glamorise trophy
hunting. In particular companies whose images and footage
include animals such as lions and bears where the potential
negative impacts of selective hunting have started to be
evidenced. These include Alpen, Steiner, Swarovski, Burris,
Bresser, National Geographic, Zeiss, Leica, Minox, Vanguard
and Vortex optics.
If you’re going to change what you buy because of this report,
remember to tell the company about it and let them know why!
10. www.vistaoutdoor.com/2015/08/vista-outdoor-sponsors-daughters-range-event/ : viewed Nov 2015
11. www.raisedhunting.com
12. international-yhec.nra.org/yhec-sponsors.aspx: viewed Nov 2015