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Is a camera company sponsoring poachers?
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One ad campaign for Canon shows pictures of wild animals and/or someone taking pictures of wild animals with the slogan “leave nature as you found it.” Last week, it appeared that Nikon had also gotten interested in wildlife. However, by looking at what the company was associating itself with, their slogan might as well have been “take a piece of nature home with you.”
Last week, some photographers were up in arms over a “predator derby” sponsored by, among other companies, Nikon. What is a predator derby? It is a mass hunting event that only lasts a day or two where hunters are given free reign to shoot as much predatory animals as they can. Each animal has a point value and whoever gets the most points wins. Needless to say, many people consider this type of hunt poaching.
A lot of people in the photographic community were outraged. Bob Atkins, who runs a large Web Site devoted mostly to Canon gear called that hunt “detestable” and “morally repugnant.” and further commented that “I'm glad I'm a Canon user” on a Photo.net forum thread. Other photographers were of the same sentiment on Digital Photography Review , Luminous Landscape, and the members only forum at Nikonians.org. Some said they would pull Nikon ads on their web pages, send emails to Nikon, or even stop shooting Nikon altogether.
Whatever the reason for its decision, the end result is the same: Nikon pulled its sponsorship of the hunt late last week. A forum thread on Predator Master gives the confirmation. The ad is no longer visible on the Idaho Predator Derby Web Site.
So any animal loving photographers out there can rest easy tonight.
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