The Peter Hathaway Capstick Hunting Heritage Award Committee has selected Robin and Pauline Hurt as the 2020 award recipients. The Hurts will be presented with the prestigious award at the DSC Convention and Sporting Expo, Heritage, at the Saturday evening banquet on Jan. 11, 2020.
The Capstick Award honors the memory of a great man whose love of hunting and respect for wildlife fueled his desire to promote a hunting legacy that ensured the conservation of our wildlife resources. To pay tribute to Peter H. Capstick, award recipients have shown long-term support and commitment to our hunting heritage through various avenues such as education, humanitarian causes, hunting involvement, and giving.
This year’s award winners, Robin and Pauline Hurt, embody these values and set a fine example as stewards of our hunting heritage. In 1990, Robin founded the Robin Hurt Wildlife Foundation (RHWF), with the assistance and contributions of Joseph F. Cullman III, with the goal of developing linkages between Tanzania’s sustainable utilization of wildlife, poverty alleviation and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems. RHWF is committed to supporting local communities to become better stewards of the natural environment upon which they depend. This project, which has turned poachers into anti-poachers, has international recognition and is considered to be one of Tanzania’s greatest conservation successes.
In addition to supporting the conservation of Tanzania’s indigenous flora and fauna and the wilderness areas they inhabit, the RHWF supports the education of Tanzanian citizens regarding the value of conservation of natural resources and the sustainable utilizations of wildlife. In fact, the foundation has built 37 schools in the last 12 years, accompanied by 74 houses for teaching staff and 34 health dispensaries. This life-changing engagement is fueled by hunter/conservationist money and ideals.
Pauline was i nvited to address CIC in Madrid in 2018 on this very project. She is a veteran when it comes to anti-poaching patrols, care of staff members and their families and the endless work behind the scenes that constitutes a first-class operation synonymous with the Hurt name. The rhino project provides steady employment and community stability, especially now when prolonged drought is ravaging Namibia and feed has to be trucked in from South Africa to sustain the rhino and other species on the Hurt property. In 2014, Robin and Pauline also started Habitat for Rhino, a rhino conservation and breeding program on their ranch in Namibia. The main purpose of this project is to provide safe habitat for rhinos on private land. Pauline believed that one way ahead for rhino conservation could be to “spread the risk,” which means moving rhinos from areas with large rhino numbers and higher risk to new locations with smaller numbers and hopefully less risk. They currently have nine rhinos in their care. They have also hired a full-time, two-man anti-poaching team to patrol the bush daily looking for signs of unwanted human intrusion and to protect the rhinos’ well-being.
Robin was born in London in April 1945 and grew up on his family ranch on the shores of Lake Naivasha in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. At age 18 he became a licensed professional hunter in both Kenya and Tanzania. In 1984 he started Robin Hurt Safaris Ltd. in Tanzania. Robin has been a licensed professional hunter in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Central African Republic, Zaire, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia.
Robin and Pauline now live in the foothills of Gamsberg Mountain in Namibia. Robin has five children, Derek, Tania, Sasha, Hilary, and Roger, and two step children, Dan and Jessica Mousley. His sons, Derek and Roger, currently operate Robin Hurt Safaris Ltd. Robin continues to pursue his passion for hunting kudu, desert leopard and other game with old and new clientele.
DSC Executive Director Corey Mason said, “Robin and Pauline have left a significant conservation footprint across Africa, from Kenya and Namibia down to Tanzania. We are proud to honor their legacy with this year’s Capstick Award.”
DSC President Scott Tobermann said, “The Hurts’ dedication to wildlife conservation has extended over millions of protected acres and is best exhibited in the Habitat for Rhino initiative.”
For more information, visit www.biggame.org.
