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OVER A DOZEN framed photos of key milestones in Alan Kelly’s career are displayed on the desk in his office.
Standing proudly with his family, the pictures show his first day in the Seanad, his first day as an MEP and his first day taking his seat in the Dáil.
There are also a number of photographs of his children, Aoibhe and Senan, aged five and six, as well as one of “the college lads” from over 10 years ago.
No longer in government-reserved offices, Kelly now occupies former Labour senator Kathleen O’Meara’s old digs, located down a long corridor next to the Dáil bar.
Over his desk hangs an official, embossed letter about the 2015 marriage referendum being passed, while the wall opposite is adorned with an autographed Manchester United jersey.
As TheJournal.ie sits down with him for a pre-Christmas interview, the Tipp man wants people to know that there is a lot more to Alan Kelly than just Irish Water (though charges are an issue he refuses to let go of, despite being in opposition).
The Tipperary TD – nicknamed AK47 – is a Thin Lizzy fan, he likes to cook during his free time and the only TV he watches these days is Paw Patrol (although he is making his way through Luther on Netflix when he can).
He was born and raised in Portroe, near Lough Derg in Tipperary, which he describes as “absolutely the best place in the world” because of its sense of community.
House fire
The father-of-two was raised on a small, subsidised farm with about 15 odd cows, he says, though his parents also had to go out to work.
Their home burned to the ground in the mid-1970s when Kelly’s mother was pregnant with him – a hardship that he and his family remained conscious of throughout his years growing up.
“Things weren’t easy, but our family is a very united family. My grandparents, my uncles, aunts… we are all very close-knit.”
Prior to his political career, Kelly worked as an eBusiness manager with Bord Fáilte and Fáilte Ireland, setting up discoverireland.com and a tourism data system for the organisations.
So why politics?
I come from a Labour family, it’s been that way for generations.
My mother is involved in everything in the community. My father has a great sense of social justice, a great sense of fairness, very much driven.
While his only brother Declan Kelly (chairman and CEO of Teneo Holdings, which provides consulting services to some of the world’s biggest companies) headed off to live in New York, Alan set his sights on public office.
“It is very enjoyable. Politics is very worthwhile when you can achieve things. I was showing you a thank you letter there from Amanda Mellet and her representatives. It motivates you to help people.”
Last month Mellet was offered €30,000 from the government after the UN’s Human Rights Commission ruled that Ireland had subjected Mellet to “discrimination and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” because of its laws against abortion, which forced her to have to travel abroad.
But the political game hasn’t been plain sailing for the Labour TD.
Sharing power in the last government, the Labour party made big promises with many criticising that it failed to deliver and were railroaded by Fine Gael.
Images of the then-Education Minister Ruairi Quinn signing a four-foot pledge not to introduce student fees as well as Eamon Gilmore’s infamous election motto ‘Frankfurt’s way’ promise were difficult for voters to forget.
Irish Water
In his environment portfolio, Kelly was in charge of housing, local government, climate change and the most politically toxic – Irish Water.
While Kelly still maintains that Labour in government managed to achieve a lot (naming the marriage referendum and legislating for the X case as examples) he admits the party perhaps didn’t inform the public “just how bad things were”.
“In relation to how we communicated and related the decisions we had to take, we certainly didn’t do as well as we should,” he admits.
Does he think Fine Gael shafted him by giving him Irish Water? Kelly says he honestly doesn’t know, but he believes his predecessor Phil Hogan wasn’t fully prepared.
Phil Hogan didn’t have the eye on the ball for a substantial amount of time in that department in the sense that he knew he was leaving. He wasn’t crossing the Ts and dotting the Is in the sense that he wasn’t challenging certain things being put forward and certainly, in that sense, I was left a poisoned chalice.
“There was crisis after crisis. I mean it was endless. Everything seemed to be in my department. And then the cherry on top was we had flooding at the very end. It was a perfect storm of issues.”
But it was water charges that landed him in the most heat. With non-compliance from the public on the rise and thousands taking to the streets holding placards with the minister’s face on them, it’s safe to say Kelly wasn’t the most popular minister.
Abuse
When asked if he was unsettled by criticism, Kelly even seems bothered by the question, making it clear he doesn’t want to harp on about the death threats and abuse he received.
Kelly first revealed he had been warned by gardaí that there were threats against his life on RTÉ’s Saturday Night with Miriam last year.
“For me it was a very difficult time,” he said, adding that there were hundreds of thousands of abusive comments made about him.
Kelly said he wouldn’t be human if it didn’t perturb him, but that he was worried about his family and those who worked with him.
“You name it, I got it,” he says. “Did it worry me? Of course, it worried me. Like there were times when I would not walk the streets of Dublin. There were times when I had to walk into a pub or a shop just to make sure I was not being followed, or I was being followed.
I had numerous issues with people coming up to me, tonnes of them. I had some very scary moments.
“My wife, my parents, the lads in the office in particular, they had extremely scary moments and it was very worrying for them. I spent a lot of time worrying about personal security for them.”
While he thinks social media is “brilliant”, he also describes it as “very dangerous”.
I have seen everything. Anything that can be written about me probably has been written about me.
I have been named every name under the sun, they have said some of the most incredible hurtful things about my family. For me, that says more about them than it does about me and I will tell you straight out – I have one message you can get across, every single one them only motivates me more.
However, Kelly said he had to have a sense of humour at the time about it all.
On one day, there was a protest in Merrion Square with some 20,000-odd people in attendance.
“It was funny because I am big into The Frames and Damien Dempsey and they were singing there on stage and I said to the lads in work, ‘I think I’ll go out’. No, I don’t think so, they said.”
Despite not being in government anymore – and not being a minister – Kelly continues to speak about water charges. It’s no longer in his remit, so why take on the trouble?
I am not going to be a hypocrite. In fact I am the total opposite. I am more steadfast.
Water charges
Kelly says he has more sympathy for Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney in relation to the housing crisis, than he does for the Irish Water situation. He is also adamant that his water charges regime will be introduced, stating:
“I can absolutely guarantee you that this country will end up back with some version as to what I brought in.”
“Everyone talks about water, very few people talk about waste. And we all know what waste really is. That really nice stuff is going on to the beaches in areas like Lahinch, Ennistymon and many other parts of the country, where kids are playing.
They need billions of investment and yet people will be jumping up and down when a crisis happens or when they see that beaches are closed or rivers are polluted. Water and waste will never be on top of the list. It is never sexy enough in terms of political issues when it comes to hospitals, schools or investment in capital works.
While Kelly might understand the pressure that Coveney is under of late, he has never been one to hold the punches when it comes to his colleagues in the Dáil.
Earlier this month he had some stinging words for Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor.
“I had questions with her a few weeks ago and I said afterwards, I thought it was the worst I had ever seen. Now I have nothing personal against the lady, she is a sincere lady, I am sure, but I felt that her performance that day for me was very worrying,” he says.
When asked if there was an element of sexism at play in relation to the criticism O’Connor has been facing, he said no.
No, not for me, I could see how that gets thrown out there. I am a very straight-talking person. Gender is irrelevant. It is based on policy, competence etc.
Having spent a significant amount of his time as minister on climate change, it is not surprising he does not have kind words to say about Danny Healy-Rae’s climate change denials either.
You know the standard there, sure. It’s say something mad and get attention, have a good laugh and everyone’s talking about you. That’s what that is. He believes in Noah’s Ark. Lord God.
The Tipperary man also has a few scathing words for left-leaning parties in the Dáil, saying he hates populist politics.
This was also something he raised on TV this week – but it was pointed out that Labour had been guilty of something similar in the past. (Who can forget that 2011 poster which has been widely shared and updated).
“There are a number of people in other political entities and espouse a populist notion that everyone can have everything and no one has to pay for anything. That we just tax the wealthy and then everybody can have every service they want. That’s just rubbish, it is just complete garbage. It is utopian economics,” says Kelly.
At the end of the day, at any given time there is a pie of money in this country and politics is about policies and choices and it is about making decisions on your priorities and your philosophy. You don’t miraculously create a bigger pie so everyone can have everything. You try and create a bigger pie by expanding the economy and trying to be fair, but these people that are going around and saying that you can everything for nothing … I despise it.
However, despite all the difficulties faced in government, Kelly finds himself sitting rather close to those he calls populist in the opposition benches.
The Labour party’s representation in national parliament was demolished in the last election, falling from 37 to just seven.
Which brings us to THAT image of the TD in the count centre, which was described by comedian Oliver Callan on this week’s Claire Byrne Live programme as the “sex face” photo.
The photo taken on count day during the last general election shows Kelly being hoisted by his supporters after the news reaches him that he retained his seat.
Broadcaster and former politician Ivan Yates told Claire Byrne that he had been “totally unaware” of the reference. “So was I,” said Kelly with a grin on his face.
When asked about the photo by TheJournal.ie, Kelly answers:
“No regrets. No regrets.”
He explains that a lot of his good friends lost their seats that day, and the image captured the relief he felt upon hearing he had been re-elected.
“Everyone knows Tipperary is an extraordinarily difficult constituency. Everyone knows the pressure I had been under in the years previous. I was out of the constituency a bit as well. There were some individuals that were taking part in some of the most heinous benign attacks and abuse on me and my party.
I suppose what happened to me in terms of my celebration was, despite all of that, we got there. All my supporters were there, my family were there and it was an incredible campaign. For me it was a kind of release and a feeling of success more for them than for me.
“What happened that day by getting elected, it was to celebrate that despite everything that was thrown at us that we got back in Tipperary and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
His fight to be leader
After getting elected, more controversy followed Kelly but this time it was from inside the party.
Failing to get any of his fellow party members to second him for leader of the Labour party, Brendan Howlin was elected. At the announcement in Dublin’s Royal College of Physicians, there was one notable absence in the room. Alan Kelly.
So why was he a no show? Was he simply in a huff?
“I didn’t think it was my role that day being honest with you,” adding that he has “moved on” from all that.
While he said the leadership contest is behind him, he also says it is in front of him. The Tipperary TD doesn’t blink when he says the leadership is in his future.
There’s nothing wrong with ambition. I think actually Irish people admire self-confidence and ambition but I think that some people try and portray in a way that is begrudgery. I think begrudgery often comes from those who maybe are afraid of going to achieve what they want to achieve or perhaps haven’t put their head above the parapet.
The 41-year-old also believes Labour will do quite well in the next general election.
I think people are starting to realise that this absolutely joke of a Dail, this do-nothing Dáil is just from one farce to the next.
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Ah Karma is great!!!
@Lorraine collins:
The biter bit….literally
@Lorraine collins: You are an example of the world gone mad, you actually think it’s great that a man was eaten alive? Be careful Karma does not catch up with you for being so evil.
@Tom&Gerry: he deserved it
@Tom&Gerry: Ah piss off, snowflake.
@Tom&Gerry: a poacher who maybe in cahoots with the likes of ISIS which funds their fun and games. Which brings more refugees/migrants which you moan about so much. So no I won’t cry false tears for him. You live by the sword you die by the sword.
@Tom&Gerry: Karma by Cat he was a suspected poacher. Horrible way to go but animals have to eat too.
@Tom&Gerry: ah bless! You have to admit it’s kinda funny!
@Tom&Gerry: I’m quite sure he wasn’t alive when eaten….
@Róisín Daly: ISIS are expanding operations into the poaching game now are they? FFS, claiming he may have been in cahoots with the lizard people and reverse vampires would be an equally valid statement.
@Tom&Gerry: I’d actually love to see it on you-tube.Nature fights back!
@Liam Doyle: i am not sure where I read the article national geographic maybe go and find out yourself. If you join the dots to most things it always comes back to power and money.
@Tom&Gerry: Yes, I’d rather see him eaten alive by lions, than be allowed to go on killing them.
Also, I think you don’t understand what Karma means.
@Róisín Daly: “who maybe in cahoots with ISIS”….you’re just making sh*t up now Roisin. At least try and be credible when posting click bait.
@Tom&Gerry: I too think it’s great that he was killed by the animal he was hunting! Now if that isn’t karma at its finest I dont know what is!!
@Tom&Gerry: absolutely hope it was horrific and he was in agony while been ripped apart
@DoshCof: I think the story is a mauling ..
@Róisín Daly: your comment is even more ridiculous than Tom&Gerry’s!
@Dean Sanders: No, he did not.
@Róisín Daly: You are an awful eejit.
@Lorraine collins: They like their humans poached
@MK76: go and find out. Stop reading sh*te newspapers which has no substance. Expand your horizons you might be amazed what you find out….
@Liam Doyle: here you go since you are too lazy to google https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/World/Africa/2017/1023/From-ISIS-to-elephants-the-tale-of-a-unique-anti-poaching-force
@Tom&Gerry: now start crying about that poacher now ye big silly sausage…. https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/World/Africa/2017/1023/From-ISIS-to-elephants-the-tale-of-a-unique-anti-poaching-force
@Séa Graham: you too I see. Another silly sausage today it’s Monday I suppose not the full shillin after the weekend….
@MK76: I read it’s seems you don’t.
@Sean: You piss off, stick man.
@Tom&Gerry: ohhhhh yes he did
@Lorraine collins: disgraceful comment
@Tom&Gerry: more’s the pity there wasn’t a few of his friends with him so they could be eaten as well. Jackass
@Lorraine collins: It’s not so bad, they left his head.
@Liam Doyle: it’s actually a well known fact that organisations like ISIS get in on organised crime as a means of fundraising and poaching and smuggling of illegal and high value wildlife products is part and parcel of that.
@Tom&Gerry: idiot
@Róisín Daly: blimey. That escalated quick!
@Tom&Gerry: delighted.. good on the tigers
@Tom&Gerry:
He wasn’t any man, he was a creep of the vilest sort.
Sayonara.
Excellent!!
@Patricia Dreemer: A man was eaten alive by a pack of lions and you think that is excellent.? You are a very disturbed person.
@Tom&Gerry: yes, he deserved it
@Tom&Gerry: it is excellent. One less a r s e h o l e on the planet
@Tom&Gerry: You are an awful troll, defending a poacher, troll more intelligently, not harder
@Tom&Gerry:
Sorry if you target lions ( an endangered species) illegally in order to cut off their paws to sell or to kill a Rhino for similar reasons and the lions kill you in the process
TOO BAD! That’s the risk you take when you perpetrate your appalling crime.
If a burglar came into your house in order to kill your dog and was shot by the owner do you think their would be any sympathy!!
@Tom&Gerry: are you insane ??? The poor lions didn’t drag him out of his house and eaten alive!!!! Yes, let me say it again loud and clear:EXCELLENT, it’s about time we respected animals rights.
@Tom&Gerry: He was killed by the animal he was illegally hunting! That’s a feel good story if ever there was!
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Coming from a dummy who thinks its OK for a man to be eaten alive. Imbecile.
@Patricia Dreemer: You are obviously deranged, and belong in a mental asylum. you really should have yourself seen seen to, you do know you are a raving lunatic don’t you?.Hopefully something similar will happen to you one day, but then with your crazy love for animals you would probably serve yourself up on a plate to them.
@Tom&Gerry: See that’s where you’re wrong. What if the lions had gone into an urban city to kill someone only to end up being killed and eaten by the people. Don’t be stupid, the lions were protecting themselves, it’s basic nature, the man lost.
@Tom&Gerry: still at it I see defending a muppet who was killed by wild animals he was trying to kill and make profit from…
@Tom&Gerry: if my comments sound deranged to you, then I’m incredibly proud to be deranged. You didn’t upset me one bit.
His condition has been described as satisfactory………
@Gordon Fitzpatrick: lol
@Gordon Fitzpatrick: I like it.
@Gordon Fitzpatrick: quick postmortem …
Nothing like a good story to start your monday! Cheers journal
@Warren Collier: No doubt that this man was doing wrong. But i find peoples reaction to his death more disturbing than his poaching. Its not good to gloat about someone being mauled to death by a lion. There is more sympathy for the lion who would do the very same to any one of us.
@Sinead Hanley: he went out of his way looking for the lions, the lions were just defending their territory. Its not as if a pack of lions went round to his house and mauled him
@Donegal Doseofshh: haha dead right there. If you play with fire expect to get burned
@Donegal Doseofshh: The man should not have been there, i get that. And he “didnt care” about the lions, which makes him an a$$hole. But comments here show that nobody “cares” about him or his family. I just think their attitude isnt much better than the poachers.
@Sinead Hanley: The well go back to her snowflake safespace then.
@Sinead Hanley: No-one is going to cry a year after that @$$hat, and I have zero sympathy for his family (if he even had one), they knew what he was doing, so, tough luck.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: *tear, not year
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: You are assuming that they agreed with what he was doing. Maybe they did. But maybe they did not and were worried about him putting himself at risk (yes, while wrongly harming animals).
@Donegal Doseofshh: How do you know what drove the man to poaching lions? You know nothing about the man’s background, which is probably very poor if he is a native African. He would hardly be poaching lions for the fun of it and risking his own life. It’s beyond cruel to be celebrating the death of a person. I’m sure if it was a story of a man being killed by another man, you wouldn’t be reacting so passionately.
@Donegal Doseofshh: You don’t know that he went out of his way looking for them, neither does anyone else, the only evidence is a loaded rifle which i am sure anyone travelling in that region carries. That man is someone’s son, father or husband. I am so sickened by the horrible remarks from nasty evil simpletons as to the death of this man. Maybe Karma will come back to haunt all of you one day, Maybe it will be you or a member of your family who dies such a horrible death.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: You are one evil, horrible individual, i would even say psychopathic.
@Tom&Gerry: No one cares what you think or how sickened you are. The poacher had all the advantages of being armed. The lions didn’t. One less ar$3h0le on the planet.
@Philip G Roark: I care what he thinks. He does make a valid point. No one knows he was a poacher for sure. Seems a bit premature to be celebrating his death..
@Philip G Roark: Read the story again, nowhere does it say that he was a poacher it says suspected poacher. the only evidence is a loaded rifle, which i am pretty sure anyone travelling in a region where there are wild animals would have, I would hope that the world is not full of simpletons like yourself. so yes, i would say there are people who would care. The Planet could well do without psychopaths who delight over a man being eaten alive.
@Ania_on_coffee: I wasn’t celebrating. I couldn’t give a toss either way
@Tom&Gerry: it’s pretty clear that he went out looking to kill something. I didn’t make any bad remarks about him. I was just stating that he paid dearly for his bad decision making.
@Tom&Gerry: Sure. He just happened to be on a PRIVATE game reserve with a loaded rifle (he was trespassing) and he had no intention of poaching. I LOVE everything about this story.
Lions 1 – Poachers 0
@Frank Dowling:
Poachers are definitely beating lions
@Maurice Bourke: I’d say you’re great craic Maurice
Serves him right
@Níamh Hurleÿ: he was being stalked for at least a half an hour before the alpha pounced and he didn’t eve realise it .
Their domain-even more dominant at night .
Karma.
Good.
One back for the lions
It’s bloody high time Asian countries were subjected to economic sanctions for importing and/or trading in body parts of animals on a threat of extinction list published by the WWF. This will put an end to it. African countries found exporting should also be sanctioned.
@gregory: it’s hardly the government’s that are importing and exporting them?
@Pat Bateman: Enforcement. Corruption.
HON THE LIONS!!!!
I hope the lions are okay, and don’t suffer from indigestion
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: The lions will probably have to be killed now, because they have savaged a human.
ocupational hazard…….
Delighted. Hope he was tasty.
I hope they enjoyed him, Bon Appiete my feline friends.
Pure poetry!
Made my day there is natural justice in the world. Think this should be the punishment for anybody who is engaged in poaching. Result!
Ha,brilliant!!!!
Well done the Lions.
May he rest in pieces
@Ciarán Ó Dubhda: Most likely rest in faeces
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: haha, good one
RIP to the man. While I don’t understand poaching, I don’t think someone should pay the price of their life for their mistake. Hope his family are doing okay at this difficult time
@Pat Bateman: comic gold!
@Pat Bateman: he took the risk and paid the price , deserved what he got , it wouldnt have happened if he wasnt there
@Pat Bateman: He seemed to be making the same mistake(poaching) a lot!! Wouldn’t call it a mistake. Up the Lions
@martin dolan: He didn’t deserve to die for poaching. That lion has probably murdered countless antelope, zebras, wild hogs etc, does that not mean the lion deserves to die?
@Pat Bateman:
‘murdered’
Okaaaayyyy….
How do you expect to be taken seriously when you use language like that?
@Pat Bateman: why do you value him more than the lion? the lion had just as much right not to be killed! I’m glad he got what he deserved!!!!!!!
@Pat Bateman: Poachers aren’t hunting for food for survival. No tears should be shed for those monsters who kill for sport.
@Tom&Gerry: dope
@Tom&Gerry: dope
@Dean Sanders: Cause a human life is worth more than the life of a wild animal.
@Rochelle: So does every person who has eaten a burger deserve to die?
@Pat Bateman: they’d be doing better if he stayed at home.
@Pat Bateman: So he was on the business of shooting lions and sawing their heads and paws off for money and your sympathy is with the man?
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: You’re questioning why I’m not celebrating the death of a man? I think it’s pretty self explanatory. My sympathy is with the family of the man, yes.
@Pat Bateman: I don’t think people are ‘celebrating’ his death, I haven’t cracked open the champagne yet. But you surely see that what he was doing was so despicable and he knew what he got himself into.
@David Burns: I said I don’t agree with poaching. People expressing happiness at the death of a man is the saddest part of this article
@Pat Bateman: this is your counter opinion on this….lions are guilty of committing “murder”? Now I have heard it all. I’ll give you points for creativity. But you are a chock full of nuts.
@Pat Bateman: the stupid point you are trying to make is called a false equivalency. Another point for creativity, though. But you are still a chock full of nuts.
@Patty Cullinane: But is it wrong to kill one lion, in order to save numerous zebra and hogs etc? Is a lions life worth more? If so, why?
@Pat Bateman: You really have your ignorance on display for everyone to see, maybe educate yourself about what happens to the environment, when a population of prey animals explodes, because their main predator has been killed off? Then come back and spout that nonsense again, of killing a lion to save many zebras
@Pat Bateman: ok Pat…..you need to just stop talking now before you make an even bigger horses backside of yourself…if that is even possible.
@Pat Bateman: If you unintentionally approach a pride of hungry lions and they spot you before you spot them, you are going to die. People will have sympathy for you. If you deliberately approach them and die, people will say you’re a moron, but might still have sympathy. If you deliberately approach them with the intention of killing them, and they get you before you get them ? Sorry, but very few people would have any sympathy.
@Pat Bateman: not if your the wild animal.
@Pat Bateman: Do people eat burgers for sport instead of satisfying hunger?
@Pat Bateman: I certainly don’t rejoice in anyone’s death but when it comes to the survival of endangered species a lion’s life is, indeed, more valuable. A lion kills to survive and will target the old and sick in a herd, the ones who don’t have the stamina to escape. This leaves the herd intact with those of mating age continuing to produce strong offspring. It’s called the cycle of life and contributes to a healthy ecosystem and ensures no one species overpopulates. Poachers and hunters do the opposite as they target animals in their prime which causes imbalance in the whole environment.
Poachers 0, lions 1 lol
@Kevin Slater: I had better feed the cat!!
Animals world wide are being wiped out by poachers and while I am sorry the man was mauled there is a certain karmic justice to it
Live by the sword, die by the sword
Yay lions! =D
Well deserved.
Hope the lion didn’t get food poisoning
Good stuff love them lions
Great news
Looks like kama came back to bite him….literally. Just rewards id say
Gutted
Great news! He deserved it! Maybe other poachers would think twice, sadly i doubt it. The sanctions should be put in place. Sadly, can’t believe one or two of the comments here. Thankfully just one or two people. Especially the comment about lions murdering zebras. Absolutely Braindead.
Poaching out of control in South Africa wildlife parks…Rhinos almost gone thousands of elephants are being killed every year….Having a corrupt government does not help either….
@Anne: Have you ever had a burger, Anne?
@Pat Bateman: Don’t tell me you don’t understand the difference between a farmed animal being slaughtered for food, and a wild animal being poached for some superstitious ‘medicine’, you’re a grade A eejit
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: there are differences, but there are also certain comparables ie; unnecessary killing of an innocent animal. You either support it or you don’t. So enjoy your burger, killer
@Pat Bateman: you seem a bit confused. That burger you keep mentioning comes from an animal bred to be eaten and for every part to be of use to us. That’s part of why people say a prayer before dinner. Animals that are poached are often killed for just one part to be used and the rest left to rot. There’s a big difference also in necessity vs greed
@Dave O Keeffe: So it’s not the killing of an animal that’s the issue, its what happens to the carcass. Most people don’t say prayers before dinner, you seem a bit confused
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: No difference they are both animals.
@Pat Bateman: it’s not the killing of the animal that’s the issue it’s the purpose. To feed people or just purely for a souvenir. There’s a massive difference. I never said all people say prayers before meals. I don’t. But I am certainly mindful of the food that I eat and often go get it myself, legally.
One being endangered to the point of extinction by poachers for trophies and the other bred for food to feed billions of people around the world…… great point
The level of ignorance and hipocrasy here as usual . I’ve worked in this Provence in South Africa. The poachers are fathers and brothers of families who are so so dirt poor and do this in order to feed their starving families . They are well aware they may be mauled but hunger and poverty over ride this when you are trying to survive . It doesn’t make poaching ok but it does show the levels that some people are forced to go to to feed their families (the money paid for animal parts not the animal) . Also I’m pretty sure most who wrote ignorant comments have no problem tucking into their slaughtered animal dinner and lunches today . Think before you post uneducated drivel
@Inny Ginny: Learn the difference between poaching and slaughtering a farmed animal for food, then come back and let’s have a discussion, there’s is no excuse for poaching animals that are endangered, or on the brink of extinction, if wealth was the issue, then why doesn’t every poor African farmer start killing and cutting off the heads and paws of lions? Get off your moral high horse, or out of your Ma’s basement
@Inny Ginny: I agree. I’m shocked by the cruelty of the comments here too. I think if people from 1st world became poor and had no opportunities, they would do to illegal things in order to feed their families and survive somehow.
@Inny Ginny: Blah blah blah!!! C’mon the lions!!
@Inny Ginny: That was the best post so far, thank you for that information.
@Inny Ginny: Thanks for that information. The comments here are pretty shocking i have to say. Trial by social media, jumping on the bandwagon etc etc. I cant understand it.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Inny has worked there and has just told you of the struggles that these farmers have to feed their families. Is it possible for you to reply to Inny without an insult?
@Sinead Hanley: yeah, right, blocked Facebook troll account states something, other troll account accepts it as gospel
@Inny Ginny: and what about the lives of the dozens of wildlife rangers murdered by poachers each year? The ‘poachers have no other option’ claim doesn’t hold up as statistically more money is brought into an area through tourism where the attraction is wildlife than through hunting and poaching where the real profits are made overseas.
Karma karma karma karma karma mealforlion
RIP.
The mane course!
So nice of the lions to leave his head for identification purposes don’t you think,
Nice to start a Monday with a good news story
Self defence … simple as that
So proud of the lions
Very happy about this!
It’s great to hear a bit of good news for a change
He shouldn’t have poaching if he wasn’t there he still be alive so no I don’t feel sorry for him but I do feel the family and friends left behind
Lion A to Lion B: “Victoria did you order room service?”
Lion B to Lion A: “No Charles. But let me round up the girls and we can have dinner.
I’d hope those are the actual lions in the picture, but very highly doubt it; with their look of complete satisfaction of a great meal.
They just left his head lion there
That’s just made my day
Good for the lions. Serves him right.
@Sinead Hanley: why all the “fluffy” stuff about his family and what they knew? He put himself in harms way in an attempt to kill an endangered animal. He was attacked and eaten. I have absolutely no feeling about that whatsoever except a sense of gratification no lions were killed. We’re part of an ecosystem and don’t always come out of every encounter with a wild animal. Conjecture about his personal circumstances is pointless. If he killed the lion would anyone have thought if there cubs left behind ? Not a chance. Horrible way to go but easy to avoid. Don’t illegally hunt lions!
@Gerard Smith: don’t hunt them at all
Good.
Those lions sent out a loud & clear message to future poachers
Not good, they are after getting the taste of human flesh and will all have to be culled.
@Jim73: nah, they won’t.
@Jim73: That will devastate the evil minded bunch of sub humans who laugh at and take pleasure in a man being eaten alive by a bunch of wild animals.
@Danny Gibson: Yes they will, they are on a reserve, where humans visit every day.
@Tom&Gerry:
It’s a private game park – how do you know it has daily visitors?
@Tom&Gerry: You’re making a scene. I hope it hurt.
@Walt Jabsco: It would be very odd if it didn’t is that not how the game parks are funded.
I just hope it was slow!
Good!
“I immediately regret this decision”
I wonder if he did a risk assessment.
Hope they didn’t choke on him
Yay!!!!
Hang on folks….suspected poacher! Not definite, to say the person deserved it is a bit strong. I in no way agree with poaching but remember some bit not all are driven into poaching to earn money to feed families.
The real enemy is the person at the end who buys and creates demand.
He should not have been poaching if he wasn’t there he still be alive I feel sorry for his family and friends left behind
hopefully he died screaming
I am not happy a man died but won’t cry for him . When it comes to survival it was either him or lions..which have family and feelings too . Guy think they are powerful with guns and for once lions were able to win. Nobody forces him to go on a hunt and illegally. Can’t understand that mankind find pleasant To kill animals sorry but this is the dark side of mankind
Best news today
He was also trespassing
Hahahahahahaha
Poached human anyone?
Hope the lions are okay
He won’t be doing that again.
Looks like he was well done. Never knew lions don’t like heads
Wonder did they have any father beans and a nice Chianti to go with him……KARMA
When the hunter becomes the hunted :-/ lesson to them all
We don’t have any big game poachers here in Ireland, but we do have some prominent poachers who go after small game…including guys who capture animals and feed them live to dogs in training sessions in our wonderful greyhound industry. One of them trained a greyhound that scooped a prize in the so-called National Hare Coursing “festival” earlier this week.
The same gentleman was filmed back in 1994 in one of his “training” sessions”:
Poachers in SA are normally very poor and from countries like Mozambique. They have absolutely nothing. I’m glad he didn’t succeed in poaching but I’m not happy he was killed like some on here. It’s never simple. Life has grey areas. The big issue is the demand for poached animal products.
I wonder was that poacher on the gluten free menu
Vets put healthy animals down in Ireland everyday of the week. Should vets be fed to a bunch of wild animals?
@Bobby Daly: Are they putting them down for the craic?
Nice one! Well done lads! Hope you filled your bellys.
Good that poacher gets eaten! And also good it seems that it was a game reserve and more than likely rich people pay to shoot these animals! Which is ok! Bonkers
I believe in Karma! Delighted
Good enough for him
Pity it wasn’t a large helicopter gun it would take 2 of them to carry it,,,,,,,
All these wild cats need to be wiped off the face of the earth, they serve no purpose
@Gerard Burke: clearly you have not the slightest idea about what you are talking about.lions are essential to the environment ecosystem humans lives in. Lions not only preserve a balance of flora and fauna but also spare humans from having animals eating their crops.
This is most perfect Journal.ie story ever, the editor literally wet herself when she saw this article in her inbox. You are being trolled people, it’s mostly fake news.
Shame!!
.
Lovely
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