Fragile Bird Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 On July 1st, an American big game hunter shot one of the most famous, and protected, lions in Zimbabwe, and in all of Africa for that matter. The hunter insists he thought he had a legal kill, that he relied on the guides he hired to find him a lion. Cecil, who was tagged and collared and had been studied by researchers for years, was lured half a mile out of the protected park he lived in with bait, and then was shot by bow and arrow, but not killed. He had to be finished off with a gun the next day. I have so many emotions roiling around me about this event. I know that responsibility for hunting, for game management, has been handed over to communities so that they can both benefit from the big dollars hunters spend and control a resource very important to them, but what has gone on here is truly shocking and very sad. But most of all I can't understand why someone, in this day and age of vanishing species, still wants to go out and kill animals like lions and rhinoceros. Yup, this guy has killed a rhinoceros, ffs. And his previous conviction for lying about killing a black bear in an allowed hunting area doesn't convince me he is telling the truth about his end of the story. Surely if he is such a great hunter (very well known, apparently) he would have noticed the collar? And I have heard interviews with people pointing out the questionable aspects of his story. I have been appalled by the viciousness of the internet towards people who have done some stupid thing: all the participants in the infamous dongle joke event, the woman who tweeted she hoped she wouldn't get AIDs in South Africa, but no, she's white, the two friends who took selfies of themselves disobeying signs and hit a hard wall at Arlington Cemetery. But I have no sympathy for this dentist. I'm not talking about those who have over-reacted, sending death threats, but boycotting his services is certainly something I would do if I lived in Minnesota. This topic is wide open. What do you think about this event? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tyrion I Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I'm sorry for Cecil. =o(( (And no, I don't say this because I support House Lannister.) Did he still have his collar when the guy shot him? Gosh. That's really, really gross. I think it's the sense of adventure why people still go and hunt "for fun". Man has eliminated most of his natural enemies - except on the battlefield. In a way, I can understand that. Because I'm a hobby archer, and we have those stuffed animals we shoot. But lying is a very bad thing. A very bad thing. That's also very bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I'm on the same page as you FB. Deeply saddened and angered by what the dentist did. Death threats and remarks about his kids are going way too far but he deserves to be ostracised by the community as far as I'm concerned. Jail time or extradition should be considered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamSongs Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I've been pondering this on and off all day and reading articles as they come out. Initially, I felt the weight of the blame belonged on the local guide and professional hunter he hired. Dr. Watson's lack of honesty in a prior case has convinced me that he had to know something was wrong. It isn't like he hadn't been big game hunting before. I think the best that can be hoped for is that Zimbabwe will put better controls in place to prevent corruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkhangel Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I'm totally in favour of this guy getting dragged over the social media coals. His family should be off limits, but anyone who would blow $50,000 in order to kill a beautiful, wild animal - or any animal at all, because holy hell, how much do you have to like killing to spend that kind of money on it - deserves what they get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Northman Reborn Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I am saddened by this event. I am a hunter myself, but cannot understand the appeal of trophy hunting. I hunt for meat, and view it as no different - in fact more humane - than eating the beef sourced from an abattoir. Nevertheless there is always a sense of sadness when I look at the animal that was alive a few moments ago, and is now a lifeless piece of flesh. I comfort myself with the knowledge that in nature it would have died a more horrific death by way of predation, starvation, injury etc, and that it would be hypocritical of me to balk at shooting an animal myself while happily buying a steak at a butchery. When it comes to trophy hunting, however, I have a very different view. If you aren't going to utilize the animal for nourishment, as nature intended, then shooting it in order to manufacture some macabre decoration out of its dead body parts comes across as creepy and wasteful to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Northman Reborn Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 DP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdyphillip Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I am saddened by this event. I am a hunter myself, but cannot understand the appeal of trophy hunting. I hunt for meat, and view it as no different - in fact more humane - than eating the beef sourced from an abattoir. Nevertheless there is always a sense of sadness when I look at the animal that was alive a few moments ago, and is now a lifeless piece of flesh. I comfort myself with the knowledge that in nature it would have died a more horrific death by way of predation, starvation, injury etc, and that it would be hypocritical of me to balk at shooting an animal myself while happily buying a steak at a butchery. When it comes to trophy hunting, however, I have a very different view. If you aren't going to utilize the animal for nourishment, as nature intended, then shooting it in order to manufacture some macabre decoration out of its dead body parts comes across as creepy and wasteful to me. I understand this sentiment completely, and feel likewise. I have absolutely no problem with hunting at all, and even have participated in it. With that said, hunting for trophies is one of the most disgusting things that we as human beings do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relic Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 This guys deserves to be kicked out of a jeep in the middle of a wildlife reserve in Zimbabwe with a steak securely attached to his testicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elder Sister Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I have a FB friend who went big game hunting several years ago and her whole family posed with dead animals they had killed while in Africa. It was stomach turning. Don't misunderstand me; I own guns. I believe in hunting, because if nothing else, when animals like deer and wild turkey aren't hunted, it causes problems for the animals as well as for the people living around them. I still live in an area where people hunt regularly, and eat what they kill, but there is also a lot of respect for nature, the environment, and the animals themselves. There is an appreciation for all of the above. Big game hunting is repulsive to me for so many reasons, but the biggest one is that it seems the pinnacle of selfishness and destructiveness. I just don't get it. I've always wanted to go to Africa and see the animals in their habitat. I would never want to shoot one. I don't actually enjoy shooting anything, which is why the rabbits have taken over my garden. It's just sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I have no problem with hunting for food. Trophy hunting, particularly for animals that are endangered or threatened is just wrong. Prosecute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I don't have any sympathy for the bastard at all. I honestly don't. Trophy hunting is disgusting in my opinion. He lured a protected animal from a park just to kill it and left its corpse skinned and decapitated. He murdered this animal for nothing. What do you think is going to happen to that lions family???? All of his cubs???? There's pictures of him smiling near the corpses of lots of animals for his ''trophies''. I think he should have spent that 55k he paid to murder Cecil on therapy to determine why he needs to murder protected animals to feel like a man. Disgusting. Honestly believe he deserves every little piece of backlash he gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Lord Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I am a fan of hunting. I don't do it myself these days, but I have in the past and much of my family still does so. We have done so in law-abiding, conservation-oriented ways. No harvesting excess numbers, no going on posted land, etc. This guy participates in a disgusting habit that has no purpose but to make himself feel strong. It's something I will never understand, hopefully. That said, when one travels to a foreign country, one must obey all laws, even if ignorant of them. As he did not do so, it seems that he is guilty of having broken a law in Zimbabwe and should be extradited to face trial. The veracity of his claim of ignorance should be determined in court. In Zimbabwe. And he should be extradited as soon as possible to await trial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Lord Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 le sigh. dp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercenaryChef Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 A lot of vitriol here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I think he should be extradited as well. As a vegetarian and likely one day vegan, I obviously don't like the eating of meat or killing of animals in any circumstances but I understand hunting for food and using every bit of the animal so that it's death is not in vain and although I don't like it I often think hunting in certain circumstances is a lot less evil than the horrors of factory farming. But trophy hunting can't be defended, to me, it's psychopathic. It's murder. Only murdering the animal to display its head as a trophy??? or its fur???? Disgusting. And smiling brightly in to the camera as you're photographed next to its corpse??? WTF?? just evil to be honest, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 A lot of vitriol here. Because it is deserved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanteGabriel Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I think the guy should be lured out of his house, shot with an arrow and left to run for 40 hours before being put down, like what he did to the lion. Well, not really, but fuck him right in his ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Lord Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 A lot of vitriol here. True. I don't think he's the worst person since sliced bread, but it seems that he broke a law. If I break a law here, I don't get out of it just because a local person did it, too, or told me it was okay. That said, I think he's got a sick hobby. Being from Minnesota, I can assure folk that there is plenty of legal hunting available. He just wanted to kill a lion, not go hunting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercenaryChef Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Because it is deserved. As much as you would like it to be killing an animal is not murder. I like your passion. But, wowsers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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