An American Dentist Killed Zimbabwe’s Famous Lion

yahoo.com ^ | July 28, 2015 | Taylor Hill

[grundle]

Cecil the lion, a famous black-maned resident of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, died at the hands of an American dentist, conservationists claim.

They say Walter Palmer paid $50,000 to hunt and kill Cecil with a bow and arrow. The incident occurred around July 6, with a professional hunting outfit reportedly luring Cecil outside the boundaries of the protected reserve using a dead animal as bait.

“Mr. Palmer shot Cecil with a bow and arrow but this shot didn't kill him,” Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, said in a statement. “They tracked him down and found him 40 hours later when they shot him with a gun. Cecil, who was known all over the world would have earned millions of dollars just from sightseeing. Walter Palmer apparently paid $50,000 for the kill."

It wasn’t the first kill for Palmer, who has multiple photos posted on the website Trophy Hunt America showing the Minnesota resident posing with dead lions, rhinos, water buffalo, warthogs, and other animals.

The Telegraph is reporting from two independent sources that Palmer was indeed the hunter listed on the permit documents, and a spokesperson for Palmer told the news outlet that Palmer believes he is the one responsible for the lion’s death.

[Zhang Fei]

Mom cooked those frog legs and my brother and I had to eat 10, each. My brother cried with each bite, I hated them too, but I pretended I liked them.

I think it depends on how you cook 'em. I had them at a Vietnamese restaurant in NYC. Cost me about $12 for 5 of 'em. Pretty tasty, but not much meat on them bones, and obviously way more expensive than wings.

[fso301]

I think it was just ego on one side, and profit on the other.

It doesn't matter. The hunter did nothing wrong (aside from taking a poor shot).

[Jamestown1630]

I first had them as a kid, in paella at a Spanish restaurant.

We didn’t even know they weren’t chicken, until we were told.

-JT

[softengine]

I’d say Wow, but I completely expect that kind of shallowness in today’s world.

[fso301]

Oh, so when animal herds were thriving prior to man being around there was a natural system for wildlife management?

Yes. Museums are full of such examples

[dragnet2]

Oh, so when animal herds were thriving prior to man being around there was a natural system for wildlife management?

Btw, did your history in middle school tell you when the first of the colonist started arriving from Europe they were literally stunned by the variety and massive numbers of wild life in America?

[rikkir]

I think we’re 100% in sync.

A predator, a pest, fall under the same category. If that Bobcat had charged my Grandson, I would have expected him to defend his, or any others safety.

Rabbits, Racoon, possum, anything eating my veggies in the garden, prepare to fertilize the garden next year.

[Jamestown1630]

If you think the hunter did nothing wrong, then I guess you’re a fan of the ‘unexamined life’.

I wouldn’t want this ‘dentist’ to treat me; I’d be wondering about his ethics in other areas.

This man was on a ‘pleasure’ hunt; and now he seems to regret everything:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33695872

-JT

[fso301]

Btw, did your history in middle school tell you when the first of the colonist started arriving from Europe they were literally stunned by the variety and massive numbers of wild life in America?

Actually, yes.

[fso301]

This man was on a ‘pleasure’ hunt;

Because he wasn't a professional hunter, or a wildlife manager, or a poacher, pleasure hunter is about all that's left.

and now he seems to regret everything:

Leave the story alone except for changing lion to whitetail deer and he would still regret everything. Who wouldn't regret it?

[crusty old prospector]

Or when the French eat horse.

[Jamestown1630]

I know people who hunt whitetail deer. My husband’s family survived, when he was a kid, on the deer his dad shot. They ATE them, and nothing was wasted.

That’s not the same as a rich man killing a famed lion in Zimbabwe, just for ‘fun’.

-JT

[crusty old prospector]

There are more whitetail deer in America now than when the pilgrims arrived. They prefer agricultural fields and clear cuts more than old growth forest.

[SgtHooper]

Actually, I hope he gets dumped in Africa near to a lion pride.

[dragnet2]

So it seems the wildlife thrived prior to “wildlife management”.

For some reason I am not overly surprised.

[SgtHooper]

Was that something displayed on this forum?

[Georgia Girl 2]

I personally wouldn’t do it but if the lion was pretty old and the guy had a govt permit well its not like lions are endangered species. Usually these big lions get killed or driven off by younger males and they die bad deaths anyway.

My one peeve is that the idiot shot the animal with a bow and arrow an did not kill him and let him suffer for 40 hours. That is really unacceptable.

[fso301]

So it seems the wildlife thrived prior to “wildlife management”.

For some reason I am not overly surprised.

Then along came a new top predator that was so successful that its population grew and grew until it began to recognize that it could be even more successful by managing its food sources rather than just foraging about killing and eating until an area had been depleted before moving on to repeat the cycle someplace else.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Hunting and fishing is an extremely spiritual thing to me, when I kill a deer, duck or turkey there is no celebration as you watch them die. There is no “Oh take a photo of me”. There is only thanks to God and the animal who is suffering and giving his life so that you may live, there is only honor towards him for being a better being than humans ever are. Anyone ever see how a deer dies? This is the reality...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV1CROorQV8

[Jamestown1630]

It seems to me that one’s level of spiritual awareness, and our collective level of civilization, can be measured - or betrayed - through our treatment of animals.

I’ve got no problem with people eating meat - I eat meat myself. But I think there really are spiritual issues involved - and I believe that eventually Humans will probably, largely, stop eating warm-blooded meat, if only for health reasons.

But when it comes to horses and dogs: civilization was built upon the backs of horses; and dogs have been man’s partner in survival almost forever. We should honor these particular animals especially. Not eating them is a way of honoring them.

It’s not for the animals’ sakes, so much as for ourselves, and our own edification. It’s a sign of understanding, and a kind of aesthetic.

-JT