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And the birders who do it??

I wasn't even thinking about bird sounds. I don't think that's a big issue. It's not like a hyena or lion is going to jump out of the bushes when you play a bird sound.... But when your are playing animals in distress sounds or hyena sounds to immitate a kill, with the hopes of getting other carnivores there, that's not on. And it's not natural. See now what happened with the cheetahs. The poor things that always comes second to hyenas and lions, and then an idiot goes and chases them away from their kill because of lions sounds.... Wasn't the cheetahs already enough to see.. That's just greedy, and stupid!!!

I am a keen birder Suss, but the size of the animal doesn't matter, the stress level does. Where do you draw the line? I am not in favour either.

Yes you are right. I just never before seen people actually playing bird sounds. But I've seen people playing animals sounds and it irritates the living ..... you know what out of me. Especially when you think about the fear those animals feel or the prospect of a meal, and when they get there, there's nothing. But I suppose it's the same with birds. Just never thought about it that way. I'm not a big birder you see.

And they actually sell a cd of animal calls and the camps.
Maybe they should just not sell the cd in the 1ste place

I think this topic will have mixed reactions but here is what happened. I was in Kruger about one year ago and noticed on more than one occasion people playing animal sounds for animals. They were not doing any harm. We were at a leopard sighting and no one could see the leopard any more. The one guy played a cd of a leopard sound really loud and within 2 minutes the leopard was back out to see who is in its territory. Do you think this is wrong? Do you think it is okay? Apart from doing that the guy obeyed all the rules, not out of vehicle etc and is there a rule against doing that?

I have seen the same thing with hyena's when someone played a hyena sound they all ''rise'' out of the bushes.
What is your opinion on this?

It is wrong. You are upsetting the animals, which is obvious from the leopard reaction.

Hi Mars
What ever it is it gets a reaction from the animals, Ive seen it many times. Sometimes though the reaction is not a positive one for us tourists.. We were once watching a cheetah that wasn't doing much ,just relaxing in the shade of a tree when some idiot decided to play the sound on a lion ,the cheetah immediately dropped itself and was no longer visible

Yes, my personal opinion of that is its very wrong as it can trigger an unnatural response or reaction from the animal and cause them mental and emotional harm.
an example is say a Lioness with young cubs suddenly hears a "foreign" Lion roar!
To her it could mean her and her cubs are in mortal danger ad she could react in many different ways, even possibly attacking the vehicle the sound is coming from.

It is definitely not the right thing to do. I heard a friend of my dad once tell how they played a tape of lions roaring to get a reaction from two sleeping male lions. The lions came up to the vehicle and started to look for a way in to get to the trespasser.

If it were OK to agitate an animal by playing sounds to get a reaction then it should also be OK to shoot an animal with a slingshot while sleeping.

Wrong, finish en klaar

In my opinion...not a good thing to do at all.

I once had a neighbor in the perimeter huts at Olifants that decided to play an African wildlife calls CD! At full volume from their BMW!!!

Luckily his father intervened and the boy went on to play a game on his iPad!

It seems very wrong to me to interfere with the animals in any way. Human beings can be a nuisance that is for sure.

If they are not dropping loo paper all over the place, or empty cans and cigarette butts, or knocking them down and injuring them, they want to "upset" the animals they are viewing, by playing the fake sounds of another animal, perhaps an animal they may fear, that is not even in the vicinity at all.

It is their home.

It is very wrong. Disturbingly wrong.