The Dallas Safari Club (DSC) has announced they learned of allegations that certain outfitters exhibiting at sporting shows and expos across the U.S. are offering “child sex tourism” as part of their international hunting and fishing excursions.
DSC announced today that it will aggressively enforce zero tolerance for those participating in these types of activities.
Outfitters shown to be involved will be banned from DSC membership and all club events.
“Our club has a well-established track record of banning outfitters for hunting ethics violations, but this deplorable activity goes beyond ethics and into criminal liability. Dallas Safari Club will not stand by while human decency is assaulted, either at home or abroad. I cannot overstate our condemnation of this appalling exploitation of minors,” said Ben Carter, DSC executive director.
It makes me proud as a hunter to know DSC has made such a powerful and bold stand.
It is not easy to admit that such horrors are taking place in the worldwide hunting industry and I am sure there are those who would rather DSC sweep this under the rug.
Kudos to them for having the guts to do the right thing and expose this horrible, tragic and unfortunately widely known dilemma.
I’ve been in this business for 17 years now and have heard second and third hand stories of this kind of thing going on.
Once it involved Africa and another time a lodge in Argentina that allegedly provided girls from a brothel where the oldest girls are 15. There has never been any details of which lodge or which outfitters but these kinds of rumors have been frequent enough to raise suspicion.
These kinds of things turn my stomach and the industry as a whole should adopt DSC’s zero tolerance policy and throw anyone engaging in these kinds of activities the hell out of the businesss. Turn them into authorities and hope justice is served so they can rot in jail.
This issue goes beyond the reputation of the industry, wildlife conservation or anything of the sort. This is about protecting children from exploitation and if that means ruffling some feathers good.
I hope some people are offended.
That is offended enough to take action and if they know of anyone doing this turn them in. I certainly will if anyone divulvges this kind of sick, perverse activity to me.
Thanks to DSC for doing the right thing. You just earned major respect from this outdoor communicator and lifelong sportsman.