30/11/2020
The killing game: In praise of hunting
“I used to buy men’s clothes for hunting, but now ladies can find suitable clothes,” she said with a chuckle.
Last month, Kitshoff-Botha retired after almost two decades in the hunting and wildlife industries. Along the way she broke a few glass ceilings. In 2010, she became the first female CEO of the Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa (Phasa). In 2015, she left that role to become the CEO of Wildlife Ranching South Africa (WRSA).
Hunting has a decidedly male image and has been bound up in concepts of masculinity, for better or worse. In recent decades it has become a flashpoint of broader cultural conflict, the target of animal welfare activists offended on grounds of cruelty by the notion of hunting as a sport or legitimate outdoor activity.
Some activists are opposed to the “consumptive” use of wildlife for commercial purposes.
South Africa’s alpha female hunter reflects on conservation as she retires from the wildlife industry.