Cecil the lion and some inconvenient truths for North Americans raised on a Disney diet 1

Calgary Sun ^ | 08/02/2015 | Ian Robinson

[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.

[cripplecreek]

Most of the trophy hunting in Africa feeds people both with the meat that is harvested and the cash the hunting provides.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I don’t blame the hunter so much as the guides and the government of Zimbabwe for allowing the hunts in the first place. And I have no sympathy for the nutjobs threatening this guy. But the dentist should stick to hunting non-threatened species - that lion apparently controlled a pride and was fathering cubs in coalition with another male lion. That pride is now a target to be taken over by young males which will kill the cubs to bring the females into heat. A lot of unneeded death of a threatened species for no good reason.

[virgil]

He may also have fallen afoul of Zimbabwe’s game regulations, but that seems irrelevant to the internet outrage:

I don't think breaking the law is irrelevant.

[Hot Tabasco]

Prosecuted too many liars to not know a BS excuse when I hear one.

And how much hunting have you done? Tell us about the hoops you had to jump thru on your last safari to Africa........

How many animals did you have to apply for to hunt and what was the cost of each of those permits?

For each of those hunting permits, did you deal with the government itself or did you rely on your professional outfitter to handle all that paperwork?

How about these pictures, how would you prosecute the killers of these animals?

Animal #1:

Cougar #2:

Sorry bro but if you were indeed a "PROSECUTOR" then you were nothing but a hack. No prosecutor in their right mind would even attempt to cast judgment on an individual based solely on unsubstantive and biased reports in the MSM..............

[MileHi]

I do not believe for one iota that this seasoned big game hunter just thought this was another “legal hunt”.

Burst your tree hugger bubble, did it?

[dfwgator]

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.’

"It's a 'bug-eat-bug' world out there, Princess....It's one of those 'Circle of Life' kinda things." - Hopper (A Bug's Life)

[Bodleian_Girl]

I just don’t get all the hysteria over a dead animal.

[driftless2]

I don’t think I’m missing any point. I don’t think you understood what I wrote. I support hunting, and I’m not a hunter. But because some animals are food doesn’t mean you get to go around and kill every animal you see.

[Dr. Sivana]

It’s become a stock gag any time someone is trying to non-verbally communicate with you (like Lassie), that you guess that Timmy has fallen down the well (again).

Yes, I know. Heaven knows it COULD have been a Lassie episode. Sort of like "Play it again, Sam" never being said in Casablanca.

[jwalsh07]

Wth is so special about this damn lion?

[Jan_Sobieski]

Are you saying that the hunter in this case “killed every animal he saw”? The entire hunt looked like a controlled 1 animal harvest.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I remember 42 years ago when Chief Dan George shot a legal bison. Then a few years later a legal hunter also shot a lion in Africa, and got a photo op in a major newspaper.

The letters to the editor were filled with vicious hate mail for a while.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Back in 1900, this state had less than five hundred deer in the entire state.

Then came limited licensed hunting and deer became a valuable asset to the economy. Now we are overrun with deer everywhere!

[Tzfat]

Perhaps you need to change your handle? How about “LeftwardHo”?

Africa is more wild than you can possibly imagine. It is a lawless and corrupt cesspool. Any semblance of normality would be greeted by an American as not only valid, but on the up-and-up to the highest degree.

The dentist paid a lot of money (too much), and expected that he was getting first class service. Too bad he paid so much. If he had gone cheaper, it actually might not have been “legal” (a definition that changes every moment in the corrupt country of Zimbabwe) - but it would have been better to keep him out of the limelight.

[driftless2]

The guy was trophy hunting. He certainly wasn't hunting for the meat. As I stated in a previous comment, sometimes big game has to be taken down. This case doesn't sound like it.

[Tzfat]

There are laws against killing animals classified as endangered or threatened.

And the African lion is not endangered or threatened.

[Tzfat]

Trophy hunting to put something on your wall to boost your ego is pathetic.

You made the point of the article. Too much Disney. You need a diet of 100% red-blooded American books and movies from now on. Time to man-up.

[Morpheus2009]

Well, I would think that less wolves or mountain lions would be a big contribution to the high deer population. At least that is how it is in Pennsylvania.

[Jan_Sobieski]

Ok. My understanding in most controlled big game hunts is that the animal meat is given to local villagers. Regardless, he is exercising his legal right to hunt. It is an animal and he is harvesting it. Is that wrong?

[Palio di Siena]

she didn’t cry when old yeller died....