Culture

Glenn McGrath Has Admitted To Big Game Hunting And People Are Not Very Happy With Him

Ooh. Aah.

by Meg Watson  21 February 2015

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Yikes. You know all those years that you idolised ex-Australian cricketer Glenn McGrath as a sporting legend and all-round good dude for the work he did with his eponymous foundation for breast cancer awareness. Turns out that he was also kind of into shooting animals.

More specifically, in 2008 — one year after he retired — he enjoyed shooting giant African animals. Today, a series of photos have surfaced on social media that showed McGrath posing with his various conquests and it caused quite a stir.

Though there were initial doubts about the veracity of the pictures, it’s now been confirmed that it is indeed McGrath pictured. The images were originally posted on the website for Chipitani Safaris, a company that takes tourists on hunting trips in order to kill “trophy” animals. But after a couple of hours they were removed from the gallery.

In case you would like to see for yourself, the original versions are pictured below.

If that sounds like something you would 100 percent like to avoid, then I suggest you close your eyes and make a violent downward scrolling motion right about… now.

mcgrath

Oh.

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No.

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No thank you.

While many labelled the photos “disappointing” or “disgraceful” some have even suggested a boycott of The McGrath Foundation; a group which have recently faced scrutiny over their relationship with Greyhound Racing Australia.

The Foundation has since suspended the relationship with that organisation, but have not yet made a statement on today’s events. They’ve also been contacted directly for comment.

Glenn McGrath however has taken to Twitter to offer his thoughts.

Regardless, this news doesn’t come as a surprise for long-time fans. McGrath has always been open about the fact that he likes shooting, and has been known to take fellow cricketers such as Brett Lee to his rural property to hunt. He is also a life member of the Sports Shooting Association of Australia NSW and has had a full profile in their magazine Australian Shooter. 

“I’m keen to get into trophy hunting, no animal in particular, but a big safari in Africa would be great,” he said during the interview. “I’d prefer to do the safari on foot, like they did in the old days and just take the camp with you, not driving around in 4WDs. That to me would be perfect.”

As McGrath says in his statement, the organisation he hunted with and the activity at large is totally legal. There are in fact a number of arguments surrounding the issue that suggest it provides economic benefits for African nations as well as a stimulus for ongoing conservational efforts.

However that logic does seem somewhat encumbered by the fact that these kind of hunters have been known kill some of the animals still very much at risk.

There’s also this whole thing…