This article focuses on the relationship between conservation of the natural environment and sport hunting in Uruguay. Until 2017, large game hunting was common throughout the country, but with a very low degree of public awareness of the practice. From that year on, the activity became a subject of national discussion, gaining widespread notoriety in media sources. This work explores the processes, in terms of social actors, institutional design and discourses, that led sport hunting to become a topic of public debate. The approach was based on analysis of secondary information (websites, social networks, technical reports and the press) and primary information (interviews and participant observation). The main results suggest that hunting arises as a threat to a symbolic equilibrium between two conflicting perceptual models of the country that focus on conservation or productivity. Additionally, new sensitivities to animal rights have emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]