Hogan is Not a Hero

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced its new interim director — and who better to lead an agency whose “key objective” is “restoring endangered and threatened species to a secure status in the wild” than Matthew Hogan, a former lobbyist for Safari Club International.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the “33-year-old Safari Club — which is structured as a network of non-profits, lobbying organizations and tax-exempt charities — finances an influential political operation that works to ease endangered species laws restricting the importing of exotic animals slain overseas.”

As least we know Safari Club members aren’t underachievers:

SCI members shoot prescribed lists of animals to win so-called Grand Slam and Inner Circle titles. … To complete all 29 award categories, a hunter must kill a minimum of 322 separate species and sub-species — enough to populate a large zoo.

In February, a Tribune reporter visited the Safari Club’s annual convention in Reno. Here’s what you’ve been missing:

For four days last month, the sprawling Reno-Sparks Convention Center became a glittering shrine to the blood sport of the super-rich — big game hunters who crisscross the globe to make trophies out of lions, leopards and other exotic animals. …

They clustered around the booth of hunt guide Mark Sullivan, where three TV monitors played his hot-selling DVDs: “Death by the Ton,” “Death at My Feet” and “Shot to Death.”