Former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler is taking warmth after posting Instagram pictures of himself with a sable antelope he killed on a latest South African hunt. The 12-season professional shared the picture with a easy caption: “Kicked off the Africa hunt with a magnificence. Sable down.” Now he’s within the crosshairs of on-line outrage, which is being fueled by misinformation on-line and within the mainstream media.
The backlash got here quick. Armchair critics lit up Cutler’s feed with the standard anti-hunting outrage, calling the hunt “cruelty dressed up as sport” and accusing him of capturing a defenseless animal that “had zero thought he was a menace.”
“Fairly unhappy that you’re proud to have taken down this lovely animal. Paying massive bucks to have somebody discover you a big, lovely animal that you may shoot at shut vary just isn’t searching,” wrote one commenter.
Sadly, lots of the hate has been fueled by inaccurate info circulating on-line and in some mainstream media shops which have accused Cutler of killing an endangered species. PennLive went as far as to name the animal “critically endangered.” However the antelope he shot in South Africa is definitely a common sable, which isn’t endangered and is listed as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It was not, as some have claimed, a giant sable. This uncommon subspecies is critically endangered, however it may well solely be present in a small part of central Angola, which doesn’t even border South Africa.
Hunts like Cutler’s are a key a part of conservation funding in lots of African nations. The searching trade there generates millions of dollars annually, with giant parts of that cash going towards habitat preservation and anti-poaching efforts. Cutler’s hunt, irrespective of how controversial, helped fund the very system that helps the species he hunted.
Learn Subsequent: Why Hunting Africa Has Nothing To Do With Trophy Hunting
However none of that issues within the court docket of social media, the place intelligent digs and humorous quips have a tendency to hold extra weight than details. Cutler hasn’t apologized or backed down. If something, he doubled down — posting extra pictures and a video from the hunt.
“One other nice day,” Cutler wrote within the caption.
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