Hunting for Artefacts and 'Fun'

Arsenal football club’s owner, Stan Kroenke, has launched a new UK TV Channel called My Outdoor TV (MOTV). Viewers of the channel can watch trophy hunting programmes featuring the killing of animals such as elephants and lions for ‘sport’ [...] “The channel claims to show ‘ethical, fair chase and legal’ hunting. Most people won’t agree that trophy hunting is in any way ethical, and studies have debunked claims that most of the blood money goes towards supporting conservation. I’m not sure in what way an idiot with a gun against an elephant is a fair chase.

Collection-driven exploitation of the archaeological record is legal too in the UK. Whether or not it actually is a good way to treat the archaeological record is highly debatable. Not, though, that you'll see any real debate about it in British archaeological circles... and why not? Do they not really care all that much about the archaeological record unless as a source of goodies to look at?