Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday

Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday

2008, Nature  -   111 Comments
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Ratings: 7.73/10 from 56 users.

Louis Theroux's African Hunting HolidayLouis Theroux journeys to the centre of the controversial South African hunting industry. It's big business, attracting thousands of holiday hunters annually. Keeping wild animals fenced in on farms has made it cheaper and easier to hunt than ever before, but Louis discovers that this industry, instead of endangering species, has actually increased animal numbers. Staying at a safari hunting lodge, Louis hears that each kill has a price. The potential shopping list is endless, ranging from $250 for a porcupine to $100,000 for a rhino. It's a hunter's paradise.

This is a very popular tourist attraction - particularly among Americans. Louis meets such visitors and tries to understand their motivation to kill for pleasure, joining them as they go hunting. He meets novice hunter Ann-Marie, who originally only came to accompany her husband but gets caught up in the excitement and decides she wants to try to hunt an animal herself. She tells Louis that, apparently, your first kill is a total rush - although she would worry about killing a zebra as it's too much like a horse.

Two of the local landowners, Piet Venter and Piet Warren, breed animals for hunting and have a perhaps surprising sensitivity towards the animals they've raised. They take particular care to try to ensure any animal is killed swiftly so they suffer minimal trauma. Former vet Lolly Fourie, who allows hunting on his land, explains how he no longer hunts as he gets no pleasure from it nowadays. Hearing their arguments in favour of the industry, Louis arranges to go on a hunt of his own. Unsure if he really can pull the trigger, as he looks at a wart-hog down the arrow of a crossbow he faces his beliefs head on and must make the decision.

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Edward
Edward
2 years ago

“You’ll eat the meat but you won’t kill it”, Louis is told. Was Louis planning to sit down to a warthog feast that evening? I think that argument is completely missing the point. These hunters aren’t satisfied by eating the fruits of their efforts, they are excited about the thrill of the kill. That’s what’s so distasteful about the practice. What would be an interesting & more valuable transgression would be to see Louis go to an abattoir, kill a pig and then sit down and eat that pork for dinner.

Michelle'sAcunt
Michelle'sAcunt
5 years ago

Easy to judge 3rd world countries trying to make money to put food on their plate when statically Americans are the largest food wasters in the world. 1st world perspective trying to solve a 3rd world problem. Also willing to bet all of you eat meat, wear leather shoes, have leather couches and chairs, leather purses and wallets, wear cologne made from the extracts of beaver glands, use products from walmart made overseas and tested on animals, or let alone have Apple iPhones made by children in Chinese factories who aren't allowed to get their id's back until they pay their living expenses debt.

Michelle
Michelle
5 years ago

Hope those scum yanks get cancer and die,least they deserve for killing those beautiful animals

Bob
Bob
6 years ago

F'ing lowlife human beings killing animals like this. This is one of the reasons the planet is in such dire shape. These people should be locked up and forced to survive by killing one another. Absolutely no respect for life.

CT
CT
7 years ago

Theroux's judgmental attitude disgusted me. (1) This kind of hunting trade has hugely increased the numbers of these animals, helping reverse their decline and keeping them off the endangered species list; (2) death by an arrow or bullet is far more humane than the way these animals die in the wild is horrific - most of them are literally eaten alive; and (3) we raise hundreds of millions of animals every year for the express purpose of killing them for some purpose (meat, leather), so it's ridiculous to wring your hands over this kind of hunting trade and ignore the farms you drive past to get to one of these game ranches.

Ryan
Ryan
8 years ago

I hunt and feed my family with it, going to Africa to hunt a game farm isn't for me. . That being said, if wildlife in Africa is going to survive, hunting will save it.

watchtheduck
watchtheduck
10 years ago

Blood thirsty savages!

Anat Umansky
Anat Umansky
10 years ago

Why can we not get this episode in Israel ? Please help !!!!
I saw it a while ago and now where ever i go to it says it's unavailable in my country :(

Whitebeard
Whitebeard
10 years ago

As usual Louis does an amazing job infiltrating the minds of people I hope are a very small minority, and that I would seriously avoid like the plague. BUT, As always I learned something very profound from Louis' work. That is, when we eat meat, we are directly supporting an industry, almost exactly the same as this, but perhaps billions of times per worse (in terms of the amount of real suffering). Louis said it well when he said he cant kill the animal but can eat the meat. Louis; should do a show on factory farming and abattoirs next so we can develop this idea further.

Brendan Mays
Brendan Mays
10 years ago

This is a disgusting, terrible practice. Can we start 'canned' human hunting based on this logic? Worst ever Louis

Terrence Ashwill
Terrence Ashwill
10 years ago

It's amazing how people are so quick to judge others lifestyles. If someone doesn't agree with the homosexual lifestyle they are a bigot and wrong but if someone doesn't like hunting they somehow are are a prince of justice. The reality is that different people enjoy different things and we should judge other people less.

I love animals (I live with 3 cats & 1dog) but I also enjoy hunting. It is important for me to stay in touch with the origin of the meat we all so readily consume. I manage, hunt , and eat the deer on my land so that the meat in the grocery has meaning and I appreciate where it comes from. If you aren't willing to understand and kill the meat you consume then you are selfish and have no business eating meat. You want the benefits of meat without having to take any responsibility for it

Silver Christian
Silver Christian
10 years ago

Sick .. Everything beautiful is being flushed by these 2 legged monsters . I've noticed the US is now showing tabloid wildlife documentaries full of lies and half truths. You can't watch real wildlife , just sad , bored lonely penned animals .. and wildlife being killed by humans over and over. They are no longer teaching how these living creatures live and how they fit into the world.. so sad ! The new America , if it doesn't make you money .. kill it . If killing it makes you money kill it .. Welcome to the United States of ALEC .. America is dead

JCL2468
JCL2468
11 years ago

In nature animals tend to kill and eat, or are killed and eaten. It has been that way since the dawn of life it self, this is why we can roughly divide up the animal kingdom into preditors and prey. As a species, humans have developed agriculture to such a degree that we have radically altered the planet, destroying habitat after habitat and species after species and causing the extinctions of many hundreds of species even in modern times with what most who are opposed to hunting would consider acceptible farming practices. This is understandable since for virtually everyone who has ever complained about hunting, meat is something that comes from a plastic packet on a supermarket shelf. The disconnect between our food and where it comes from, what it once was, is not willful disregard for life, rather it is a result of moving away from the agrarian life style of our ancestors. The hunter tries to close that gap between what food is, and what it was. I see what is being done on these reserves in Africa as being just a different form of farming, a form which ensures the survival of native species, a form which connects people with the life and death struggle to survive that is nature. It is true to say that it is an artificial situation, a genuinly natural situation would be, for example more difficult to hunt however, the real complaint here is the desanitization of killing animals. Hunting connects people with the killing of animals, where as conventional farming keeps the killing out of sight, and therefore out of mind. Not sure I know of what I speak, ask yourself this question, if there was a rat in my house would I set a rat trap or put out baited poison. Now ask yourself if you found the killing of an impalla disturbing. If the answer to both questions is yes then perhaps you are judging the morality of hunting by how cute you find the animals being killed. Unregulated hunting can damage animal populations and conventional agriculture wipes out natural habitats and whole species, what I find astonishing is how a new form of agriculture can protect habitats and species, and all that is required for this new form of agriculture to survive is for those who wish it to be allowed to connect with the animals at the moment of death. The squemish need not involve themselves in this process, but just as hunters do not impose their views, perhaps it is not unreasonable to ask them to accept that their squemishness should not be imposed upon others? Just a thought.

doctorguitar
doctorguitar
11 years ago

The DC Sniper hunted free-range animals, too. Should he be considered a sportsman?

farkennel
farkennel
11 years ago

Hunting for sport is gods work.

Jess Pino
Jess Pino
11 years ago

Disgusting. The animals are not potatoes. Why are they being treated with such disregard for their lives?

madscirat
madscirat
11 years ago

Louie has a great talent for withholding his judgements on events and people whom the rest of us immediately judge. This allows him to get closer to his subjects and portray them in their habitat undisturbed. Although I still think his documentary on the Westboro Baptists is his magnum opus, this is also an insightful film.

After watching the doc and seeing these people acting normally, not under the duress of argumentative questioning, I feel far more assured in my initial judgement that their activities derive not from a spirit of conservation but a perverse and arguably evil impulse that derives pleasure and shallow ego gratification from killing. As per usual evil cites its ends to justify its means, but conservation is an accidental outcome and you can not cite an accidental outcome as proof of your ethical intentions. That is like calling yourself a hero when a bullet you fired haphazardly into the air happened to kill a wanted terrorist on it's downward trajectory.

These people see themselves as noble savages carrying on an ancient sport, but there is more sport and honor in your average videogame.

robertjamesselby
robertjamesselby
11 years ago

be worth paying t hunt that bloke who owns the farm

Marzuk Syed
Marzuk Syed
11 years ago

Hunting out of necessity is the only reasonable hunting; Not for sport, not for fun, not for pleasure, not for a thrill, not for a high, and not for a rush.

I do disagree with many of the comments I have read about these people, the hunters in question, are being considered evil--they are not evil, they are simply shallow and in need of something to fill a void within them that will allow them to brag later to others so they can come off as interesting.

The breeders who are maintaining the live stock for hunting are correct when they make the claim they are preserving the species, as humans tend to dominate everything in nature.

We would all be wise to reserve our judgments on these people before getting a first hand experience on who these people really are. A silly documentary with a timid host isn't going to be enough to provide us with the information necessary to properly evaluate and assess the situation.

Jobs Mail
Jobs Mail
11 years ago

These guys are visionaries and coming from a family with a 50 year history in East Africa and eastern Congo I REALLY enjoy outdoor sports people who haven't seen the levels of illegal poaching and the reality of living in Africa really have no logical argument for why this is wrong. It is a bigger crime to mass produce chickens, batter,fry them and then advertise it on children's television, it really makes me laugh at how UN educated most of the general public from a western society is. Peace ;) and always stand up for what you believe in no matter how many think your wrong

Donna Wade Wiedrich
Donna Wade Wiedrich
12 years ago

I am completely appalled by the mere concept of this movie. The level of evil and inhumanity of these people is beyond belief. To put a lion in a fence so you can shoot it and then call it hunting is absolutely ludicrous. These people do not deserve to be called human. I would challenge anyone who tries to justify this as a means to increase animal populations. It sickens me to my core. These poor animals have no way to protect themselves and absolutely no chance of survival. That is not hunting, it's pure evil. I would like to put these people in the fenced areas with the lions with no weapons and see how brave they are then.

Herald
Herald
12 years ago

Nothing but devils. Sickening

123sickened
123sickened
12 years ago

To think that grown adults would kill a defenseless lion trapped in an enclosed area and call it hunting. The people who provide these farms for canned hunting are obviously only out to make a profit. How dare you raise a lion for 5 years and then take money so someone can shoot it. A real hunter does not have to hunt in an enclosed area and call it hunting. To hunt just for trophies to show off is rediculous, but then again man is always looking for a way to boast his ego!!!!!!!! So, what's next. Will man come to the point where they can confine a human and receive money so someone can hunt them. So, those of you with trophy rooms that are supplied by canned hunting, how proud can you really be!!!!!!!!!

Michael Taylor
Michael Taylor
12 years ago

I'm from Australia and feel that it is a product of Western Society to demonise hunters. It is irresponsible to make an negative impact on nature and then disclaim responsibility by not taking the required steps to fix the problems that we as a society are responsible. American, Chinese, Australian or wherever we are from.

For example, wild pigs were released in Australia as game but the population has now exploded and the native flaura and fauna is being destroyed as a result.

Are hunters who hunt pigs in Australia "sick twisted sociopath's" for taking responsibility for societies past mistakes and making a contribution to rectify the problem? Or are the people who stand by and point the finger at people who doing something to help the real sickos?

As Albert Einstein said "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

puyol888
puyol888
12 years ago

How can a FATHER teach his children to do that???????

so sick, why don you stay there and we shoot you???

Don´t buy or promote products derived by these animals or others like whales, seals etc.

I don´t see the excitment to shoot a defendless animal staying there eating or just resting.

American people so greedy and take advantage in Africa.

Jeremy
Jeremy
12 years ago

Pleasure hunters are sick twisted sociopath's this is a known fact, why people are so ignorant to this fact is beyond me. If you're killing to eat, cool, if not, you have mental problems, sorry, but 99% of logical people would agree with me.

Working
Working
12 years ago

@Richard Hollis...Is that all you got from my comment was to point out that I said country instead of continent? My bad. St*pid me...oy my god arent I the id**t and you're just sooo smart. I suppose the rest went right over your head and all you could focus on was my geographical error. Would it help for me to repost with the word continent put in instead of country or would that not garner your time and efforts to post a contructive reply as there was no need to correct someones error...

Working
Working
12 years ago

Does anyone care about Africa as a country and what is going on there? Game reserves? Get the meaning of a GAME RESERVE??? South Africa is a SMALL portion of Africa. The rest of Africa is in poverty, starving and dying, lawless, corrupt...so many have no food water or animals to feed themselves. The endless poaching that goes on for horns for cultural remedies or rituals ect... or just prized possessions. Ethiopia and famine!! no food!! then someone with money from a prosperous gluttonous country can come over and shoot African wild life for the thrill or a trophy or just to say they shot a certain type of animal, what ever sick pleasure they get from it while the rest of the country starves. Male hunting my arse...Look at Africa and the humanitarian aspect of it. Do you feel okay going into a country with hundreds of thousands of starving people, mostly children and killing food that they dont have, basically taking out of their mouths?? If you do then your part of the problem with this world. Educate yourself on Africa! The senseless killing(people and animals) and exploitation of this country needs to stop before there is nothing left. Before you pull the trigger perhaps think about someone taking food from your child or relatives mouth, just for pleasure.

Gwank
Gwank
12 years ago

Anyone who eats meat because it tastes good (other than for sustenance) is indulging themselves at the same expense as a hunter. The hunter is forced to be at peace with this, are you?

Ofarrakhan
Ofarrakhan
12 years ago

As a male. I must say that the male ego is the scourge of the planet. This is a documentary of animals shooting animals for fun. Back in dying Europe and America, the male is under assault from all angles. This is perhaps a necessity for the survival of the world.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
12 years ago

What if you just wound the animal terribly and it runs off and suffers horribly for a week until it dies? Get a clue Paul. 'Major rush' that is what serial killers feel when they kill animals and people. it's disgusting. To the people there; find another way to make a living.
And keeping animals caged from birth until they are released to be shot by American psychos is no kind of life.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
12 years ago

how can anyone kill an animal like this just for sport? It is needlessly cruel. I wish just for once that the hunters could become the hunted and see how they like it.

mike200494
mike200494
12 years ago

where do you get that from, rachelnico?

Rachelnico
Rachelnico
12 years ago

South Africa seems like a horrible vacation spot...unless your white

mike200494
mike200494
12 years ago

hunting contributes 83% of all funds to the timbavati, ecotourism only contributes 3%. the timbavati pay to have the fences surrounding it and the kruger repaired and maintained, they use things money to employ people who wander around with semi-auto rifles to find the spore of poachers, hunt them down and arrest them (when all the rhino poaching happened, not a single rhino was poached in the timbavati because of these guys), the money is also used to support entire communities who would not be alive if it was not for the hunting being allowed on the timbavati, the trophy hunter buys the trophy and all the meat is used to support communities and keep families alive, there are some families who can only afford 1 mug of stampmeilies a day, this meat is given to them along with a job and they are kept alive. some of the money has been spent to build a school for kids in these areas because they have none, you take it for granted that you have a school near you and cant even begin to understand what this means to the people there. the animals do not suffer, whenever a trophy hunter comes, they are not allowed to shoot alone, a professional hunter will go with them and WILL NOT allow a person to go hunting unless that person can kill the animal with one shot and without the animal suffering. if you cut off hunting, you will be responsible for the death and destruction of entire communities and families of both humans and animals. and remember, the only way that you can have a say in this world is if you have money to back it up and ecotourism does not provide enough money to have a significant say, the only reason that the kruger does well is because it is government subsidized meaning that the government pay to keep it open, not the ecotourism, and the fact that the timbavati helps it so much. there is also a huge difference between hunting, culling and poaching. hunting is sustainable if it is done correctly, culling is a method but not the best it is traumatizing for survivors and does not benefit the communities as much if not at all and poaching is cruelty.

mike200494
mike200494
12 years ago

and yet fishing is perfectly acceptable...

??????
??????
12 years ago

Absolutely disgusting!!! They even teach children to murder animals!!! I
couldn't watch it any longer because this activity disgusts me and makes me angry! I hope these "proud hunters" suffer and die of ass cancer, these a--holes are less worth than dogshit!
Like other say, hunting should be for getting food and not for fun!
Anyone that goes hunting for entertainment and to boost the ego is mentally sick! Lots of mass murderers started off killing animals because they get ecxited. First small ones and then bigger ones, and after they killed the biggest one, they go after humans...
Teaching children how to gun down an clueless animal for fun is like raising a potent killer. Also weapons don't belong in the hands of children! A child should learn to respect animals. A person that doesn't respect animals, doesn't respect humans!
All these pathetic excuses for a human should watch the doc "Earthlings"!
But I guess their souls are already so rotten that they even will enjoy watching suffering and dying animals!

DeeJay Pickles
DeeJay Pickles
12 years ago

hunting deer in Scotland is no different, its actually a big industry so is the salmon fishing. I know because I worked for an estate as a water bailiff in the highlands a few years back.

Andrew Darowski
Andrew Darowski
12 years ago

That is what the national parks do, they allow people to take photos of animals. But it is not enough, they do not raise sufficient money to be self sufficient. A lot of state funded national parks are dependent on the breeding programs and stock replacement of hunting concessions. So yes I accept that photos are certainly a less bloody affair, but you can't charge £100,000 for a photo. So your issue is that money talks, sadly that's the way of it, and yes, its shite. Also there are pretty much no Rhino left in national parks because they are too easy to get at. Private concessions care about every single individual, yes that might be due to profit margins, but at least those rhinos are breathing.
Hunting is also healthy for a population, only the best trophies are taken which means that they are allowed to live to a ripe age before they are killed, thats a much better way of doing things than raising a cow for two years, giving it steriods so that it grows at an accelerated rate, quickly outstripping the natural capabilities of their bone structure. The animals in the bush live a more natural life than pretty much any animal bred for produce.
Take Kruger for example, there are huge herds of elephants and buffalo that used to be cropped (Whole herds were shot). These herds are destroying their own natural habitat (by putting a fence around an area one has to act as god), the act of culling allowed rejuvenation of huge tracts of land. Now with public pressure to stop the culling Kruger is being damaged much faster than any human process can cope with. Elephants will turn Kruger into the kalahari. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but I am a conservationist, I have been in gunfights to protect animals. Unless we start culling elephants again there will not last much longer. The same can be said of the hunting concessions. They essentially sell licenses to crop their herd, that is all they do.
If you really want to get shitty at someone that kills animals have a go at trophy poachers. They are the ones that don't give two shits about animal welfare, they are the ones that killed all of krugers big tuskers and brought the southern african White Rhino population to the brink of collapse for the sake of ancient remedies. Private hunters and their concessions are on our side of that fight and try to put right the wrongs of poaching.

Debra Ann Trewin
Debra Ann Trewin
12 years ago

I see from your comment Andrew that this is an acceptable way to keep a species from becoming extinct. I believe that maybe in some cases it just might be the only way but that is only because of some humans desire to hunt for sport. I cannot see how someone can take an animals life in the name of sport. Animals feel pain, have families, some very similar to us. How can you say that the hunters have love for their kill. How can you love something and then shoot it for so called sport. A solution would be to educate and show hunters that what they are doing is not acceptable at all & hopefully they will see their ignorance & start shooting with a camera instead of a gun. That would show love. That is what we are trying to do, create awareness and try to show the hunters that because they like to kill does not mean it is right or humane.

Andrew Darowski
Andrew Darowski
12 years ago

I lived and worked as an anti poaching ranger in Kruger national park for a while. Hunting has proved to be the most sustainable way to conserve Africa's great game. Without the fences most of these animals would have been hunted to extinction and the magic of Africa lost forever. Many of the owners of private hunting concessions use the profits from hunting to buy and rear endangered stock which they will never allow to be hunted. They perform a service for the rest of the world, yes it may seem gruesome to many, but the alternatives are far worse. I personally am not a fan of the "canned hunt" idea, but it is a means to an end, an end that we all want to see. The preservation of a world that would have been lost to us if it weren't for the work these people do. This is not the same as the days of the great white hunter, when species were hunted until they were no more. These animals are given the opportunity to live a life in as natural an environment as is possible with a finite amount of land. I know some professional hunters personally and I assure you that their love for animals is paramount in their hearts. So please, don't judge them as monsters, you could not be further from the truth. If you have a better solution, let's hear it.

Morsie
Morsie
12 years ago

Can't watch anymore because it's making me feel sick. I really like Louis Theroux' programmes, but not this one. She said, 'they're not caged in'. No dear, they're fenced it. Killing pregnant cows and feeding the unborn babes to lions. Gruesome.

LISA MONROE
LISA MONROE
12 years ago

Dean, I respect your point.
Sparkke, The trophy hunters are not the ones eating their kill. They are not interested in the meat at all. They are interested in the trophy.
This is off topic, but in response to you…I have not eaten meat in 15 years and I have done research on slaughter houses. Humans have enough resources (food and vitamin) to survive healthily without meat.
I do not like that some people hunt their food, however if the animal is not near extinction and the entire animal is going to be used, then that is a different story than “hunting” in an enclosed area so you can put the head of a beautiful life on your living room wall.

sparkke
sparkke
12 years ago

All you people who are disgusted by hunting, let me say this, how do you think the meat that you eat in anything gets on your plate? It doesn't drop dead for you. You might want to watch how slaughter houses kill the animals before being haters about this.
To Louis buddy, you need to harden up, ham dinner doesn't fall from the sky.

dean abr
dean abr
12 years ago

Without hunting in SA there would be no game, some facts for you, today in SA there are more antelope then previously in South african history per square mile, there are more leopard per square mile than before, hunting in south african brings around 5 billion US $ to the country, which further provides funding for research, development and protection of endangered species. Hunting is a natural culling process though i dont agree with the way they hunt in this program, hunting provided you eat the meat is perfectly fine, if you could think of another constructive way to bring 5 billion US $ around 50 billion rand to south africa, please be my guest and speak to them in SA. Hunting helps the entire community in SA where there has been no control of hunting in other parts of africa, you will find no game to hunt, in South africa, hunting is controlled and produces results.

LISA MONROE
LISA MONROE
12 years ago

The fact that this “game” is so popular among Americans is an embarrassment to America. A game should have two equal and willing opponents. These animals are fenced in. A paid and almost guaranteed win, should not lead to the accomplished feeling trophy hunters appear to experience. It’s like feeling good about yourself for acing a final exam that you purchased the answers to. Why don’t trophy hunters find someone else with the same passion they have for hunting, grab their guns, and head to the woods to hunt each other? I would think the “rush” from winning a fair game would be even greater.

Patrick Robinson
Patrick Robinson
12 years ago

lots of blood i saw lots of blood lots of blood .. did you see the blood i saw lots of blood (haha what a psychopath, at 4o mins)

Eniki520
Eniki520
12 years ago

pathetic, there is nothing hard or impressive about hiding and shooting things with high powered rifles. Go out and hunt things with a spear like a real man and then i might be impressed.

kam johal
kam johal
12 years ago

i think this is horrible. though, i am a meat eater.. and i respect people's passions for hunting..

PlaygroundPolitician
PlaygroundPolitician
12 years ago

louis finds the ignorant of the ignorant its ridiculous. lol