Posted on 08/02/2015 12:29:43 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Walt Disney’s got a lot to answer for.
I blame Bambi and all the anthropomorphic drivel that followed, like the Lion King.
That unfortunate part of the culture, more than anything else, seems to “inform” the view of nature held by effete urbanites who rarely venture out of doors.
So, let me weigh in on the Cecil the Lion controversy.
It was just another animal — and the outrage generated by its death is unreasoned, sentimental nonsense.
People who claim to “love” animals more than people are emotionally damaged individuals incapable of weathering the difficulty required in a real relationship with something that can talk back.
You think your widdle puddy-tat loves you?
Is that why if you leave the door open your widdle snookums heads for the hills and you spend the next month teary eyed, putting up posters begging your neighbours to assist in its return?
(Helpful household hint for Calgarians who have lost a cat: Save yourself the printing costs. A coyote already ate it.)
The guide who took Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer hunting told the British newspaper The Telegraph that they set up on a farm next to Hwange National Park. There is no evidence that Palmer — an experienced big-game hunter — knew anything was amiss. He paid his guide $50,000. It’s reasonable for Palmer to conclude it was just another legal hunt, conducted by a guide who has been in the business since 1992.
Reuters interviewed a guy selling used clothing on the streets of the capital, Harare. Tryphina Kaseke told the news agency: “Are you saying all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country. What is so special about this one?”
I dunno.
Cause this one made Jimmy Kimmel tear up on TV? (I guess it has been a long time since The Man Show.)
You know what didn’t make Jimmy Kimmel tear up on TV?
The estimated 1,200 Africans who are killed by wild animals, including lions, every year.
Or the fact that 10 times as many babies die at birth in Zimbabwe as do in Canada. Or that only 30% of the population has a job. Or that the average wage for those lucky enough to be working is $253 a month. Or that the country recently suffered hyperinflation, that in one month, was estimated at 231,000,000%
And no, that’s not a typo.
Some sources put the cash injection into Africa by hunters at $200 million a year … not including economic multipliers.
That’s big money for those folks. And it’s a lot of protein on the table when the hunt is done.
Lions attack humans when they get old and their teeth decay and need easy prey. Before they starve to death.
And speaking of elderly lions, how old was Cecil?
He was 13. Average life span of a lion in the wild? Around 12-15. That lion was already on borrowed time.
A trophy animal is, by definition, near the end of its life span.
Finally — and here come some of those pesky and annoying things called “facts” — here are a couple from a renowned conservationist and expert in endangered wildlife management.
Guy works out of Cambridge University and his name is Nigel Leader-Williams.
He’s the farthest thing from a trophy hunter. And yet the University of Washington’s Conservation magazine points out that in The Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, Leader-Williams noted that legalizing the hunting of white rhino in South Africa resulted in a jump from fewer than 100 to more than 11,000.
Why?
Because when the animal was monetized, private landowners reintroduced the animals onto their lands.
Leader-Williams also, according the the university publication, noted that allowing hunting of Zimbabwe’s elephants doubled the amount of habitat under wildlife management. Again, because privately owned lands were made available, thus “reversing the problem of habitat loss and helping to maintain a sustained population increase in Zimbabwe’s already large elephant population.”
Gee. Is there anything capitalism can’t do?
Name the countries that have banned hunting — Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia — and you’ll see an accelerated loss of wildlife and habitat not seen in jurisdictions that allow hunting.
That’s known as an inconvenient truth … but it oughta take precedence over the feelings of pampered North Americans raised on a diet of Disney flicks.
Oh good grief.
I do not believe for one iota that this seasoned big game hunter just thought this was another “legal hunt”.
Who wrote this article? A defense atty? Talk about something not passing the infamous “laugh test”.
Why not?
I agree with everything in this article and thought that FR had turned into the Sierra Club for awhile. The lion was old and too many city folk here on FR don’t know squat about hunting.
Don’t like the fact that the guy baited the lion, but if the authorities thought he was that valuable why wasn’t that area fenced off?
I don’t hunt anything that I am not going to eat, so that pretty much takes all predator animals off the list.
That being said I will kill any bear, mountain lion or other critter that becomes a danger to my family or my live stock.
When I have to do that, I use the meat from predators as dog food.
I’m not buying it either. The dentist knew what he was doing. You’re in a foreign country shooting at something. You better know what you’re shooting at. He knew. The people who helped knew too. I hope theirs butts are in a sling too.
It isn’t fair to blame Disney.
I wish I had a dime for every time I've thought something like that. Kudos to the author for putting it so succinctly.
Exactly. His excuse is right up there with “I only had a couple of drinks officer” and “I was jut holding it for a friend”.
Of COURSE he knew what was up. Prosecuted too many liars to not know a BS excuse when I hear one.
I think they did arrest the guides.
Blame Rousseau and his concept of the NOBLE SAVAGE.
That concept is the basis for not only leftist politics, but also leftist entertainment.
LOVE this article.....has loads of truth...ESPECIALLY the line quoted above.
I say the same thing. Loving animals instead of people GUARANTEES that you won't have to compromise, fight, struggle or examine your own faults and shortcomings. In short, it ensures that you'll never ever truly learn how to love.
Oops. Wrong video.
Nice to see a sensible article on this matter.
Re: Simba’s death.
Walt Disney gave me MANY pivotal, Life Lessons through his films. My kids, too. When they’d find a dead bird or a squished raccoon or rabbit on the road, their first comment was usually, ‘Circle of Life, My Friend.’
Don’t even get me STARTED on the lessons learned from watching TV’s Lassie, LOL!
“Don’t even get me STARTED on the lessons learned from watching TV’s Lassie, LOL!”
Timmy should stay away from the well?
That's my view. I support hunters, and even big African beasts have to be put down at times. But this hunting experience sounds screwy. Like when LBJ tied up a deer on his property and asked Hubert Humphrey to shoot it. Humphrey refused.
However, at the same time many of the people not only criticizing the dentist but threatening to kill him sound like people who love humanity but hate humans.
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