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Supermarket Managers Forced To Quit After Hunting Photos Emerge

By Anastasia

Two French supermarket managers have just been forced to quit following some images emerging of them posing with animals they’d killed while on safari. The pictures depict the married couple – who manage a Super U grocery store in the French town of L’Arbresle – posing with the bodies of various animals such as lions, hippos, alligators, leopards, ostriches, and zebras.

There was major backlash directed towards the couple, as well as Super U, after the pictures surfaced Thursday, July 11th. The managerial couple has been forced to resign from their positions.

According to Euronews, these photos can be partially traced back to a 2014 safari, which was organized by an unnamed South African.

There are other pictures that are linked to a 2016 interview the wife gave, which was posted on a pro-hunting website, as reported by Euronews. At the moment though, the article itself isn’t available.

The images in question depict the couple posed beside various animal trophies, along with others who’d also participated in the hunting expeditions.

As per The Local, the couple have reportedly even partaken in a “captive hunt” back in 2015. For those that don’t know the terms, a captive hunt is a cruel practice where trophy hunters are able to shoot animals being kept in an enclosed space, guaranteeing a kill.

There is still no solid knowledge of how the pictures surfaced. Regardless, The Local reported that copies were released by French animal welfare charity 30 Millions d’Amis, which in English translates to “30 Million Friends.”

The photos have sparked an outcry amongst French animal rights advocates, many of whom called for a boycott of the L’Arbresle store run by the pair.

The Super U store has released a statement following the controversy:

“These images go against the values and commitments upheld by the U retail cooperative. We firmly condemn them, even though they relate to private activities by the supermarket owners. In light of the condemnation raised by these activities within the cooperative and the legitimate emotion among the public, the shop’s managers have decided to immediately leave the chain and their shop in L’Arbresle.”

Super U have stated that they will now be looking to hire new managers at the L’Arbresle store to fill the positions. They will reportedly reopen for business on Thursday, July 18.

Head of Policy at Born Free, Dr. Mark Jones, offered the following statement:

“It’s clear from this story that general public opinion on trophy hunting is still one of disgust however it still remains legal to this day and so much more needs to be done. Trophy hunting is a cruel and damaging relic of a colonial-era that causes immense animal suffering and disrupts wildlife social groups and populations while doing virtually nothing to help wildlife conservation or local communities who live alongside wild animals. In the last decade alone almost 300,000 trophies from threatened wild animals were exported around the world. Born Free campaigns tirelessly with airlines, travel and shipping companies to ban the transportation of trophies, whilst putting pressure on governments around the world to introduce a ban on the import of hunting trophies, to bring this archaic activity to an end.”

According to statistics put out by the Humane Society International, 200,000 endangered or threatened animal species are killed every year by trophy hunters.

Not only is trophy hunting harmful to conservation efforts, but it also contributes very little to local economies. Out of the eight key African countries that engage in trophy hunting, the trophy hunting money only contributes just 0.03 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the very most.

Wildlife-watching tourism is actually a much more profitable enterprise for such countries, generating loads more income, which can then support conservation efforts while also providing more employment opportunities for the local people.

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