Are CZ-USA, Kansas City, KS Made In USA Rifles The Top Gun Used To Poach Big Game In Africa?

Kathi Lee Austin of ConflictAwareness.org

Are CZ-USA, Kansas City, KS Made In USA Rifles The Top Gun Used To Poach Big Game In Africa?

Now that all the holiday food is settling into our fat cells for a long winter's nap, and Trump has pissed all over our country in the worst Christmas Day message I've ever heard, let me begin by saying that I did not just like the FB page for “CZ-USA, Kansas City, KS,” rifles, thinking that my closest friends might have a total meltdown.

If I liked the company, them this post would tag their wall, but then I would be bringing down a hornet's nest of gun lovers on my wall, and -- in retrospect -- I don't really want to do that. Elephant killer Donald Trump Jr -- or just 'Junior' as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls him -- would probably show up in person to give us all a big lecture on the thrill of killing wild beasts. Speaking of wild beasts, his father is absolutely behaving like one. Sorry, I digress.

However, this New York Times article How Did Rifles With an American Stamp End Up in the Hands of African Poachers? hit me between the eyes this morning, and they were barely open. NOTHING IS DEFINITE YET, and of course, the gun manufacturer 'CZ-USA' denies, denies, denies that they have anything to do with the reality that their rifles -- not the ones manufactured by their parent company in the Czech Republic -- are being investigated as being the #1 rifle poachers are using to kill the elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers -- you name it -- in Africa.

Like somehow “CZ-USA, Kansas City, KS,” got carved into the metal. It's a branding mistake. You know . . . like Trump makes major branding mistakes every day. This is just all about bad marketing.

While this is not a girl's only investigation, one lady in particular is in the lead: Kathi Lynn Austin.

How We Arrived At A $1 Billion Annual Price Tag To Save Africa’s Lions

How We Arrived At A $1 Billion Annual Price Tag To Save Africa’s Lions

By Luke Hunter, Chief Conservation Officer of Panthera, Research Associate, University of KwaZulu-Natal Research Fellow; originally published on The Conversation

A billion dollars. That’s approximately what it would cost, to save the African lion. That’s a billion dollars each year, every year into the foreseeable future.

The startling price tag comes from a calculation we did, starting with a new database we compiled of available funding in protected areas with lions. To our knowledge it’s the most comprehensive and up-to-date database of its kind.

Protected areas are the cornerstone of conservation yet we found that most of Africa’s extraordinary parks face grave funding shortfalls. Parks without funding often become protected in name only. Their staff, including the rangers and guards on the frontlines, simply cannot function without funds that pay for working equipment, rations, petrol and to keep the electricity running. Sometimes even salaries go unpaid.

Using the conservation needs of lions as a proxy for wildlife more generally, we compiled a dataset of funding in Africa’s protected areas with lions and estimated a minimum target for conserving the species and managing the areas effectively.

Tanzania's Southern Selous Game Reserve Is An Unexplored Safari Adventure Waiting For Us

Tanzania's Southern Selous Game Reserve Is An Unexplored Safari Adventure Waiting For Us

The Serengeti's wildlife sanctuary is a vast expanse over 5,700 square miles and its otherworldly animal migration is one of the New Wonders of the World, writes Vogue.com. According to the Tanzania Tourist Board, nearly 1.3 million people visit the country annually, with about two-thirds of visitors heading for the Serengeti. The others stick close to the north—the Ngorongoro Crater, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Lake Manyara—and also the island of Zanzibar.

This reality leaves the southern half of Tanzania perhaps the best-kept Safari secret with untouched terrain and the Selous Game Reserve, twice the size of the Serengeti. 

Comparing the two, Ruaha houses 10 percent of the planet’s lion population, as well as one of the largest elephant populations on our planet. Selous is home to the world’s largest population of wild dogs, is nicknamed Giraffe Park because of the density of these long-necks animals, and is home to some of Tanzania's last remaining black rhinos. Not only is nature's extraordinary wildlife abundant, but seeing it is an almost solo experience. 

GlamTribal 6" Art Tiles/Trivets Sets

Sets of 2 or 4 Coasters w/Art Tile $40 and $55

My GLAMTRIBALE Jewelry & Gift Collection is inspired by and committed to Africa, the ancestral home of humanity. 10% of our revenues support elephant conservation and The Kibera School for Girls in Nairobi. 

Our ceramic 4" coasters and sets w/6" art tile for flowers, a bottle of wine or wine bucket keep table surfaces safe while drenching our eyes with oil-painting-like images, printed on art canvas. Here's a sampling:

Cara Delevingne Uses Her Naked Body For Launch Of 'I'm Not A Trophy' Campaign

Cara Delevingne Uses Her Naked Body For Launch Of 'I'm Not A Trophy' Campaign

Super talent and model Cara Delevingne poses naked in a new animal rights campaign 'I'm Not a Trophy', dedicated to raising awareness that the Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years. Founded by artist and photographer Arno Elias -- a talent who has had significant impact on my life, moods and creative personality through his Buddha Bar recordings -- 'I'm Not a Trophy is focused not only on species decline and poaching  but also on trophy hunting. 

Delevingne is committed to saving all our endangered species, but lions are very close to Dara's heart. After Cecil the Lion was murdered last year by trophy hunger Walter Palmer, Cara auctioned off her watch to raise money for wildcru.org, Britain's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit.