Knowlton and the Black Rhino: A Faustian Tale.

Remember this: A Fool and his money soon parts ways.

Disclaimer: This is a critique of humans acting badly and questionable deals that are made on the not so shady sly.

I recently read about the shenanigans of Corey Knowlton, the Dallas Safari Club Auction and the Namibia government. Out of general interest I wanted to look at certain aspects of this controversy. As for the animal in question I have seen it stated as a western black rhinoceros.

In the beginning there was a hunter who made a bid….then Hell broke loose. Down in Hell the devil was dancing a gig. The devil knew there was no chance of snow that day; or was there?

Corey Knowlton bid on a chance to hunt an extinct creature in South Africa. The devil’s minion was reporting on how well things were going. There was coveting, lust, dissension, and other things escaped from Pandora’s box and the week was not even out. There was more than one thing burning in Dallas and it wasn’t the death of JR Ewing or the oil rigs.

Online sources are publishing Knowlton is saying his family and life are threatened because of his decision to pursue such an activity with his winning bid even though there are online sources that state he realized there were others bowing out of the bid as the auction proceeded. This should have been the moment when the smell of sulfur came to his nose but he was seduced by a dream, a longing, an illusion of grandeur with a promise of doing good when in fact it would only do harm. A man could sale his soul for a moment and the bid was up to $350,000. The devil was about to punch his ticket and yet there was still more to come.

I didn’t want to bore the general read with black rhinoceros extinction facts or other biological details. You can clearly Google that and find what you want in detail or better yet talk to a biologist that works with them or conservationist. I have hunted the internet for some kind of conservation plan for the remaining members in South Africa for details but there doesn’t seem to be any as of yet but I will look on.

The pinpoint light that I would like to inspect, as always, at closer inspection or from afar is the behavior of Knowlton and the people that are involved or even yet the groups that are participating in this fiasco.

At first read the declaration that Knowlton was ‘outed’ on social media appears. Use of that term almost harkens to misdeed or wrong doing but not to take it literally someone was sitting on the fence waiting for that moist would be buffalo chip to drop. Your best publicist is always your enemy or better yet someone from your own camp.

Corey Knowlton spent $350,000+ for the chance to hunt a black rhinoceros in the southern African nation of Namibia. I really would like to see the end ticket for this because I can’t imagine that this is an all-inclusive hunting vacation without the other travel particulars. I see the dollar signs stacking up. Something like this you know he’s going to tape it and it will most likely land somewhere for public viewing. Where do you get that much money anyway to drop paperback like that for an excursion that is truly and blatantly an excessive guilty pleasure. People with money (not all) can do whatever they want. Not that I would be one to tell him how to or what to do with his money but that is a lot of frequent flyer miles. If you have been poor before and have that kind of swag lying around you are not going to waste it only to end up in poverty again. Unless you have become drunk with power and excess to think it would go on forever and start to abuse the privilege of a cushioned financial pocket. Keeping up with the Jones will do that to you. I can’t even buy tampons and this blows my mind. I am lucky to get a new pair of shoes every year. Personally I don’t hate him or his money but sometimes having too much is trouble because you start to misuse the money instead of using it wisely. You lose your ability to be humble.

Knowlton is a co-host on the Outdoor Channel called Jim Shockey’s The Professionals” and he is an avid hunter. I am sure Shockey enjoys all that publicity. If Knowlton is a professional I would speculate that he has online dealings and knows very well what kind of dark things are attached to high profile hunting. For him to now sit inside of a hotel and whine about his life being threatened and the FBI helping him is truly ridiculous. Why would you do that to your kids and wife? Doesn’t sound like he thought this little mission to Mars through.

This guy has either knowingly or unwittingly become part of the Anti-hunting and Hunting’s establishment’s three ring circus as the pivot monkey. My mind toyed with the idea of the sacrificial lamb because this is going to draw lots of publicity for these high profile hunters and the Outdoor Channel. Oh wait. We have two sacrificial lambs: Knowlton and the Black Rhino. Sounds like a shady children’s book.

Its public knowledge there has been online fights and instigation between Anti-hunting and Hunting groups since social media was installed and before.

**This is actually another Melissa Bachman except the name has changed and the animal is denoted as extinct. **

On to the animal in question: The ??? rhinoceros.

Let’s look at the animal. If the auctioned animal is alive how can it be extinct? Namibia has one to spare. Looking back there was a paper in Pachyderm where the last member was poached and so in 2011 was considered extinct. Namibia, you’ve been holding out on us. What else are you hording there in those lands? Is this really even a black rhinoceros, a subspecies, zoo animal, or park animal? Did this animal come from a Rhino Trust Camp or a national park? Is the media misrepresenting the true animal…….what a debacle!

Red flags are going off all over the place.

Insert: It really pisses me off when the media rushes to expose a story with little or no details either than hearsay.

In all of this I have yet to see where the said black rhinoceros originated. Where does this auctioned off extinct black rhinoceros make birth for the American bidder to hunt? Who actually has this rhino? Why is that not being pursued? What was the deal with the South African government and the Dallas Safari Club? Someone had to slap old Horny up on the auction block but the media sensation is going completely to the hunter with the winning bid? Let’s blame it all on him. I smell camel shit; no way, bullshit.

There was the argument that this rhinoceros for trade (we give you shot at rhino-you give us big paycheck) was being done to help save the species or improve conservation in Namibia.  In brief what could this mean for the animal itself? Let us turn our eyes on why this one animal is no longer a breeding valuable past its bid fee. In a breeding program it would have to be old or something wrong about the animal to make it an undesirable breeder if it breeds at all.  There could also be a numbers of reasons to keep things at a certain herd number or standard. Either way this is pretty much a euthanasia mission at cost. If a man is paying $350,000 he better bring back something from that trip. I can’t see a breed-able animal in good health being sacrificed for someone’s fancy. I am sure there is something amiss here.

Why would Namibia take a known animal that is denoted as extinct and intentionally auction said animal out to a known safari club for money when the general consensus of the world at large is to rigorously conserve animals that are deemed extinct especially when its high profile on the internet?

Even though by standards extinct means when the last member of that species is dead; there are times when a species is considered extinct with living members. The numbers are extremely low and the hope the herd or species will recover is non-existent or extremely unlikely. There is also the possibility they are being hidden.

If you are going to conserve you have to have a plan.

I looked an only found, from the KOEDOE site, a proposed conservation plan for the black rhinoceros Diceros bicomis in South Africa. Surely if there is survivors that are hidden from poachers there has to be some kind of conservation plan. This should be part of their argument not just the mass believing in the words of a group of people that say, “Trust me I am a……..”.

Let us swing back over to Knowlton. There is a quote where Knowlton says per CNN’s post entitled Winner of Black Rhino Hunting Auction: My $350,000 Will Help Save Species, “I’m a hunter. I want to experience a black rhino. I want to be there and be part of it. I believe in the cycle of life. I don’t believe that meat, you know comes from the grocery store. I believe that animal died and I respect it,” Knowlton said Thursday night on CNN,’s Piers Morgan Live.”

Here I thought why drag meat into this. People knew immediately it had nothing to do with meat and here a hambone was being brought to a knife fight for protect. Come on?

The article states it is an “old rhino”. It does read that the money is not going specifically to rhinoceros conservation solely but to other species around the world.  Wait a minute? I thought this was the South African government. Since when do they take vital money and distribute it around the world? There is also the acknowledgement that it’s emotionally dire conversation so don’t cry foul when people threaten your life. He already knew what was coming. No virgin in the woods this one.

This is so Faustian. Knowlton is highly successful yet he makes a pact with the devil (aka the Dallas Safari Club and the South African government) to give a portion of his own soul in exchange for the worldly pleasure of killing a rare animal that is already considered extinct through money. To some degree his meditation could be suggested as surrendering moral integrity to achieve the power to do something other people do not get or want to do because he can. Also how money corrupts even the best of souls that on later reflection realize that maybe they themselves were hoodwinked by selfish desires or corruption from within because you hung out with people that whispered in your ear.

After all I have come to the conclusion for myself that this act was not one of hunting but more of a man trading in his hunting ethic, morals, and values momentarily to be the euthanasia guy while paying a hefty price tag out of his pocket to do someone else’s dirty work just so he could say he got to kill a black rhinoceros. On the other hand let this be a cautionary tale of how an organization can woo you with the fulfillment of a dream when in reality they are only taking advantage of your desires and sucking you for your money like a leech or tick sucks the blood out of you while getting fat. Slow and steady.

Then again the reality of life is the animal can die a natural death or someone has to be the bullet or ax man. I guess Knowlton acquiesced to the cheapness of being the bullet man and not a hunter. Overall I suspect he was willingly taken advantage of.

As for anyone threatening to kill women and children, crazy is as crazy does. The FBI should finally arrest people for doing such. There is no need for it. I heard a quote from the movie The Help, “All you do is scare and lie to try and get what you want.” People really should be ashamed of their behavior but the opening to Hell is wide and deep. Just look inward. It’s right there inside your ugly heart. Trading one cruelty for another is hypocritical.

A prediction: After this little shit storm is over. There will be this lovely well written piece on all the efforts being made, where the money will go, and why there is validation for such a thing. Until then let the media circus with its assorted clowns from both sides walk a tight rope of hoopla because there is no business like show business. Maybe this should be on E-Entertainment.

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth