American Dentist kills Endangered Lion in Zimbabwe.

Post Reply New Topic

It's not clear yet that the dentist knowingly did anything illegal, but internet lynch mobs being, well, lynch mobs, don't care to wait for the facts before pillorying this guy and trying to destroy his livelihood. Animal stories are the worst for this, I'm convinced many of these people would be less offended by a video of a child being molested than by one of a puppy being kicked, and as this case demonstrates, often have no idea of the legal and/or ethical issues surrounding whatever has enraged them, acting purely on said rage without a single rational thought.

Here's an article on sport hunting that goes into some detail regarding the conservationist benefits of hunting, specifically elephant hunting, and the fact that African states that allow trophy hunting have had far more success in rebounding populations of endangered species, and less trouble with poachers.

http://www.gq.com/long-form/who-wants-t ... n-elephant?

Keep in mind this particular lion lives, typically, on protected land anyway. It was lured away. I think they need to go after the one who PAID the poachers because that's the only way they will send a message, it's unacceptable, think twice before you pay for something like this. Be careful and be sure it is a legal hunt. Ignorance is never a legal defense. If they don't take this opportunity to send out a strong message then it will just get worse especially with all this publicity. They will look at him and think, he got away with it, I can do it too! It will be a windfall profit for any future poachers. It will only encourage them unless the government can somehow stop them. So far, they haven't been successful at that or this lion wouldn't have been poached. This entire incident is an example of POACHING not a legal hunt.

And since old Cecil was born in 1960 and, judging from very impressive pictures of him, he is indeed a majestic old lion and might have even been targeted since he was old. He's old, they rationalize, so it's okay to hunt him! Plus, he's beautiful, no need for that beauty to go to waste. If this lion had died of natural causes, why couldn't the dentist pay for his pelt and head after the fact. He has stabbed at the hearts of a great many animal lover.

Oh wait, it wasn't the lion that was born in 1960, it was Walter Palmer. I was reading something that was a bit ambiguous hehe. Made it sound like they were writing about the lion with the use of a pronoun instead of a proper name but a Google search clarified that. Not sure what the age of Cecil is but he certainly is a nice looking example of the species.

In truth, in real hunting man has an exceptionally difficult time killing nearly anything but a tortoise, even with a gun, because he's slow and he's loud and he's not agile. Nearly all the animals are. He's not. So he makes up for his evolutionary lack by staging these types of scenarios so he can feel on par with these evolutionary blessed animals.

Even the most athletic, conditioned man is slow and weak compared to a cheetah, bear or lion. Don't be jealous of these animals. It's not their fault they have these evolutionary gifts. It's not man's current destiny to be as fast or physically strong as they. Mankind needs to accept it's weaknesses, not punish these animals.

With his history, Palmer has no leg to stand on when he pleads ignorance. He knew exactly what he was doing.

A lot of the money that goes into hunting goes back into conservation, many of these habitats would never be maintained unless there was money to be made off it. This is something a lot animal rights people don't understand, they also don't understand that the animal population needs to be maintained or else the whole ecosystem can go out of wack. I don't know about African safaris but I grow up in a deer hunting state, in the fall there are something like 600K hunters that take to the woods to partake every year back home. Anybody that has ever lived in a rural area with a lot of deer would understand the importance culling the herd. This is done for the people, the animal, and the ecosystem. Venison is also good to eat.

FWIW I wouldn't call these private reserves where they bait and corner the animal for you then drive you up to the animal to really be hunting, more like shooting fish in a barrel. Remember Dick Chaney shooting his friend in the face on one of these trips? This might be what it take to fund conservation but I don't liken what they do to what my family and culture has done for generations.

Personally I am not a hunter, I don't have the patience or material means to do it and I don't get any joy out of killing for sport. I've been thinking about trying it again tho as a way of spending time with my father and I definitely can use the food. Not much hunting out west it seems.

Consequences for Palmer:

CNN