Thread by @AmyDickman4

A thread on Twitter abuse....when I spoke up in Science, with many colleagues, about the #conservation risks of banning trophy hunting (TH) without better options ready, I was totally naive about the backlash, especially on social media. Instructive to look at a little of it 1/12

There are common themes - the first is that anyone who speaks up must be corrupt. I had media coverage of our 0.8% of historic funding from TH orgs - hugely outweighed by funding from groups against TH, but why let truth get in the way of a good story? 2/12

Another common element, trying to tag or approach supporters/donors/employers to try to force them to distance from you. Total disregard for how this could affect real conservation work on the ground, of course, & happily we have great supporters so has not worked... 3/12

Another constant theme is the idea that we are puppets for the 'powerful TH lobby' and somehow 'alleged' conservationists, not real ones voicing our own, informed opinions - guess the real explanation is too threatening? 4/12

The lies (I really don't trash anyone on Twitter, even when sorely tempted!) & false binaries are extremely common - you have to be pro or anti TH, corrupt or pure, & conservationists apparently can't accept realities like killing. A real hatred of grey areas & realities...5/12

Some of it is just nasty abuse - here someone incorrectly labels me an ignorant killer, and 'wishes me the worst' - which charmingly gets multiple likes and retweets....6/12

Another example here, this is all too common, and often with sexist abuse thrown in for good measure....7/12

Sometimes people go as far as mocking up images and pretending they are you, trying to discredit you and your conservation work......alarming, particularly as there are quite a few of these.....8/12

Quite a few stray into threats of violence, some more overtly than others. This person would like to see lions 'play' with me, I have had plenty of people suggest worse....and so have colleagues 9/12

Not all bad - lovely when people try to speak out against this, though then they often get abuse as well 10/12

Overall all a bit depressing - we should be able to have informed & even controversial debates without abuse. I get asked if it is worth it, & the answer is always yes. We cannot be silenced by lies & abuse, speaking up for evidence based conservation is crucial. 11/12

But having said that, it sometimes requires quite a lot of wine to get through the nonsense - and sharing experiences with @AdamHartScience @Nikolaj_Bi @nscscience & many others who go through the same. Cheers to you all!