How Much Would You Pay?

Yesterday I read a story on the BBC website about game hunting in Africa, South Africa specifically. We talked about this on our trip. I understand big game hunting is not allowed in Kenya but it is available on a limited basis in Tanzania. No one spoke about South Africa. But you can hunt big game in South Africa. Besides the cost of the trip and shipping your kill back home, here are the costs of some of the game. Quoted from the BBC: Everything is on offer, including porcupine ($250 - is it possible people really hunt these?), warthog ($300), on through a multitude of indistinguishable deer-like species, up to the big ticket items: $8,000 for a hippo, $14,000 for a buffalo, between $25,000 and $35,000 for a male lion, and between $50,000 and $100,000 for a rhino. End of Quote. These prices are not hunting for human consumption. When I was in Africa I asked about that. I was told no, they don't eat zebra - it'd be like eating a mule or a horse. No, they don't eat impala or gazelles. Those animals seemed like deer to me. People here eat deer. One Maasai man told me it's not legal but both giraffe and elephant meat tastes very sweet. So anyway, these hunters are not after food. They're after the thrill I guess. I don't understand the prices. I can see a warthog being a smaller animal and costing less. But lions are 600 pounds, much less than a hippo. And it's not entirely about the danger because the most dangerous animal to humans is the hippo. Why is the rhino so expensive? Does it look the best with it's head mounted on a wall? A rhino mounted on a wall would take up a lot of room. That protruding horn is long. You'd either have to have a lot of space available in front of the head or have a high ceiling so people could walk under it. Are they the least plentiful? I really don't understand the motivation. It's not that you can say it was kill or be killed. The hunter has a gun and the animal doesn't. The hunter comes into the shooting area with the purpose of killing. If I had that much disposable income - well, I can't even go there - the idea of having that much disposable income is preposterous. This whole concept perplexes me. I'd like to talk to one of those big game hunters and ask them a few questions.