I am currently staying in a lodge that is really a glorified trophy room (the link in not to our place, but a pretty similar vibe). My Dad's side of the family got a free trip here through a friend of a friend. There are literally hundreds of animals here, including a full sized giraffe over the fire place, zebra, crocodile and grizzly bear rugs, two black bears, a male ostrich, New Zealand goats, warthogs, hundreds of deer, gazelle, monkeys, a hippo head and a full sized male lion guarding the doorway. And that really is just a few.
I have never been in an atmosphere I found this disturbing. And we're here till thursday.
I'd like to say that I can't imagine how someone could have the nerve, the desire, to personally hunt—the owner of the lodge shot every 'kill'—such beautiful animals. And they really are beautiful. They've been preserved so immaculately that they really do look like they'll pounce on you at any minute. But I can totally see the guy who calls 'big game-hunting' his hobby.
I have never been somewhere so inherently macho. Even the cabinets have handles made of bones. All of the lamps have shades made out of animal hides. The chairs have deer skins on them. All of the bottle-openers are made of horns and bones. The lightbulbs are covered with ostrich eggs. It's disgusting. There is NOTHING humble or subtle about this place. The place reeks of violence and smells faintly of embalming fluid. It is all in your face, I-shot-these-and-i'm-proud-of-it. He has photos of himself with the recently shot animals, completely covered in blood. He has two daughters under the age of 8. There are pictures of the girls shooting rabbits in New Zealand.
I condone hunting when it is 'necessary.' Deer populations are out of control and I'd rather eat some delicious venison than see it splayed across highway 94.
But this is just so vain. There is nothing 'majestic' about a moose head mounted on a wall or a kangaroo right outside the kids' 'playhouse.' They are not 'preserving' these animals, they are slaughtering them just so they can fill up some wall space.
I truly have tried to wrap my mind around this person's perspective, but I have nothing positive to say. I just want to get out of here.
.... and I'm scared shitless that the carcasses are going to pull a Jumanji and attack us all in the middle of the night.
