American Dentist Pays $50G's, Kills Cecil The Lion

[Trifixion713]

This is pathetic, the dentist should be hunted and face the same fate as Cecil

Cecil the lion – the most famous creature in one of Zimbabwe's national parks – was killed by an American hunter who has boasted about shooting a menagerie of animals with his bow and arrow, The Telegraph can reveal.
Walter James Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, is believed to have paid £35,000 to shoot and kill the much-loved lion with a bow and arrow. The animal was shot on July 1 in Hwange National Park. Two independent sources have confirmed the hunter's identity to the paper, which has also seen a copy of the relevant hunting permit.

...“What he’ll tell you is that he had the proper legal permits and he had hired several professional guides, so he’s not denying that he may be the person who shot this lion. He is a big-game hunter; he hunts the world over.”
During the hunt – which the organisers later admitted was badly carried out – it was alleged that Cecil was lured at night about half a mile out of the national park using bait, and then shot with a bow and arrow. The next day he was found wounded by the hunters and killed, before being beheaded and skinned.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/11767119/Cecil-the-lions-killer-revealed-as-American-dentist.html

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[countryfree]

Shame on them! Such a beautiful animal, and so rare. And those 2 *ssholes posing with pride next to it. They are criminals who should be put in jail for a very long time. Hunting should be restricted to wild boars, rabbits and other animals which are plentiful. And it should not be a sport, hunters should only hunt for food.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF

And these people want to kill more....

[leopard2]

sorry what? as libertarians we should complain about the fact that only people with big $$$ are allowed to hunt; hunting should be open to everyone and not require a license (outside of the reservations of course).  

[zenitzz]

I do support hunting, the eat what you kill like rabbits,stag not rare animal like lion,tiger,etc

[TECSHARE]

Baiting animals is illegal in a lot of places and is considered cowardly even among hunters (except for maybe subsistence hunters who depend on the kills for survival).

[Karpeles]

Nothing wrong with hunting, but hunt rare animals is wrong. No way that the dude really thought that hunt lions would be legal.

He should be condemned to take care of the orphaned lion cubs and pay for the expenses to reintroduce him in the wild life, at least.

[Possum577]

I'm having a hard time picking a side on this one. I think hunting for sport is pretty pointless and wasteful, but this country allows hunting, right? They have guides and permits and tourism based in the wild game hunting. So is this really an outrage? This HAPPENS EVERY DAY in this country, no?

Why is this story so much more important?

[CoinBateman]

I'm having a hard time picking a side on this one. I think hunting for sport is pretty pointless and wasteful, but this country allows hunting, right? They have guides and permits and tourism based in the wild game hunting. So is this really an outrage? This HAPPENS EVERY DAY in this country, no?

Why is this story so much more important?

Its not so much that this particular case is more important than others, its simply impossible to report every single instance of these kind of incidents. Instead, it is easier to give people a story that touches them to make an example and a case to mitigate this kind of thing from happening again in the future.

[bryant.coleman]

No need to get emotional. Hunting is perfectly legal in many of the African nations. Hunting licenses are not cheap, costing at least $5,000 to $50,000 depending on the species. That said, a large part of the revenues from issuing these hunting licenses goes towards the conservation programs. Therefore, recreational hunting is beneficial for conservation.

[Possum577]

I'm having a hard time picking a side on this one. I think hunting for sport is pretty pointless and wasteful, but this country allows hunting, right? They have guides and permits and tourism based in the wild game hunting. So is this really an outrage? This HAPPENS EVERY DAY in this country, no?

Why is this story so much more important?

Its not so much that this particular case is more important than others, its simply impossible to report every single instance of these kind of incidents. Instead, it is easier to give people a story that touches them to make an example and a case to mitigate this kind of thing from happening again in the future.

I did a quick Google search for "lion hunt" and look at all the trophy pictures that come up -> https://www.google.com/search?q=lion+hunt&espv=2&biw=1517&bih=714&site=webhp&tbm=isch&imgil=Jvpvr7z7BwfzqM%253A%253BFUWwg4UBA0EihM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.discountafricanhunts.com%25252Fhunts%25252Ftrophy-lion-hunting-safari-in-south-africa.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=Jvpvr7z7BwfzqM%253A%252CFUWwg4UBA0EihM%252C_&dpr=0.9&usg=__DBsJJDb8FEnQUulPlpyWCTEbL4o%3D&ved=0CDAQyjdqFQoTCODrqeP3g8cCFVUtiAoddEwJXg&ei=eKm6VeDPHNXaoAT0mKXwBQ#imgrc=4WdJgMmsSNookM%3A&usg=__DBsJJDb8FEnQUulPlpyWCTEbL4o%3D

These countries need the money, people are willing to pay. Some of us may think it sucks but who are we to tell the country of Zimbabwe what to do?

This argument has a similar (although much more morbid) tone as the gas efficiency of vehicles debate - drive a hybrid vs. driving a gas guzzler. Perhaps the burden of acceptance should be whether the person doing the shooting is doing anything to give back to the community or natural environment that they've taken from for sport. Teddy Roosevelt hunted, a lot, and he also created five National Parks in the US...it feels like he earned his sport hunting. This Dentist, probably not, and he certainly didn't deserve some dumb "celebrity" sharing his home address (which I heard happened recently.)

[koshgel]

He has a history of breaking the law and then paying people off. A few years ago he killed a bear where he wasn't supposed to and then dragged the body to an area that was deemed acceptable but was caught and fined. Also in 2009 he was accused of sexually assaulting his receptionist and paid her 120k to drop suit.

As for the lion, there are certain permits that allow hunting of lions but those are lions that are outsiders of groups and likely to be killed or are going to die soon anyway. Cecil was a leader of a pack and as a result the 9 cubs of the pack will most likely be killed by another group leader since Cecil is no longer around to protect them.

[CEG5952]

He has a history of breaking the law and then paying people off. A few years ago he killed a bear where he wasn't supposed to and then dragged the body to an area that was deemed acceptable but was caught and fined. Also in 2009 he was accused of sexually assaulting his receptionist and paid her 120k to drop suit.

As for the lion, there are certain permits that allow hunting of lions but those are lions that are outsiders of groups and likely to be killed or are going to die soon anyway. Cecil was a leader of a pack and as a result the 9 cubs of the pack will most likely be killed by another group leader since Cecil is no longer around to protect them.

Yea I've seen the video on Jimmy Kimmel goes all out on the hunter. He said that this guy got 1 year detention on killing a bear I can't remember the exact details though. I feel sorry for the 9 cubs though.

[galbros]

– it was alleged that Cecil was lured at night about half a mile out of the national park using bait, and then shot with a bow and arrow.

This is the key part of the story for me.  I have no problem with hunting, and if you get off on paying 50K+ USD to shoot an animal and it's legal, go for it.

However, I do think it is poor form to lure the animal out of a protected area to kill it.

[White sugar]

There are hundreads of people being eaten every year in Tanzania and other countries, why care so much about a single lion?

[MakingMoneyHoney]

There are hundreads of people being eaten every year in Tanzania and other countries, why care so much about a single lion?

Because people need something to feel angry about even if they're displacing their anger. This shouldn't have been such a big story as it is.

[Cadence]

Why the **** do you need to kill a lion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqhJuwUukX8

Documentary : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlrJKfaVs2k

"They were told he was now the head of his own pride and as such was completely "wild" and would not remember them!"

[MakingMoneyHoney]

Zimbabwean baffled by foreign concern for killed lion

"It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?" said Eunice Vhunise, a Harare resident. "I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly the attention is just too much."

An economic meltdown over the last few years has closed many companies and left two thirds of the population working in the informal economy while battling acute water and electricity shortages.

Most people questioned in downtown Harare hadn't actually heard about the lion and said they were too busy trying to a living to care about it.

[koshgel]

Zimbabwean baffled by foreign concern for killed lion

"It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?" said Eunice Vhunise, a Harare resident. "I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly the attention is just too much."

An economic meltdown over the last few years has closed many companies and left two thirds of the population working in the informal economy while battling acute water and electricity shortages.

Most people questioned in downtown Harare hadn't actually heard about the lion and said they were too busy trying to a living to care about it.

I think some of the outrage stems from people sick of those that are wealthy getting away with bullshit because of money.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

Zimbabwean baffled by foreign concern for killed lion

"It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss, there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?" said Eunice Vhunise, a Harare resident. "I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly the attention is just too much."

An economic meltdown over the last few years has closed many companies and left two thirds of the population working in the informal economy while battling acute water and electricity shortages.

Most people questioned in downtown Harare hadn't actually heard about the lion and said they were too busy trying to a living to care about it.

I think some of the outrage stems from people sick of those that are wealthy getting away with bullshit because of money.

I'd still be way more upset that the wealthy passed a bill, to fatten their pockets, to keep us from knowing what's in our food, than one lion.

(remember I was outraged by the lion too)