South African Hunting

The hunting scene plays a big role in the southern part of Africa where the game is large and exotic.  Rhino and zebras and lions and other game all have valuable aspects, like their skin or tusks, which can be very profitable in the African market and other markets around the world.  The image below portrays a young boy on a South African plain, his face and hair covered in blood, and a young buck lying dead and bloody on the ground before him.  The photographer of this image could simply be capturing a sight common in the South African safari region of a boy going hunting but I think it is portraying to the viewer something deeper about the negative side of the sport of hunting. 

The boy is so young and he is looking at the camera with a face that looks like this is a normal thing to him.  His stare and the blood on his face and hair make him seem almost barbaric, like he is a herder and needs to hunt for his food.  But then you see the clothes he is wearing, modern jeans and nice jacket, and see that he is hunting just for the sport of it.  Hunting is a common occurrence, however not the kind that covers a young boy in blood.  And then you see the animal on the side of the image, lying dead and bloodied.  It makes you feel almost sad for it.  There have had to be many laws and regulations in South Africa about what you can hunt, where you can do it, and with what you can kill the animals with.  If there are so many regulations and endangerment of the wildlife, then it seems to be an issue.  I think this image captures the normality with which the South African hunters see in the game, but to a foreigner of the territory, the bloodied boy and the bloodied buck make is seem a barbaric act that makes you feel for the animals.