I love animals as much as the next guy, and do not want to see them mistreated or needlessly killed. I have had dogs--and an occasional cat--throughout my life, and cherished their time with me. As the six regular readers of this blog know, I am very attached to my two large dogs who provide an endless stream of affection, mischief, and entertainment. I spend hours playing with and talking to them every day. Even as I write this, one of the boys is intent on knocking over my cup of coffee. Just. Because. It. Is. There.
I have read the press accounts of the Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe, and am sure all of you have, also. I have done a lot of fishing and hunting in Central America, South America, North America, and Asia, am certainly not anti-hunting, and, of course, am very pro-second amendment. I, however, never liked trophy hunting (here, for example). The beasts I killed, I ate or gave to villagers who did so.
The idea of paying huge amounts of cash to travel to a distant place to kill something "just because" is repellent. From what I have read--and who knows if that's accurate?--this Minnesota dentist, Dr. Palmer, paid a large sum of money to some guides in Zimbabwe, who might or might not be legit, to arrange for him to kill Cecil the Lion, an apparently well-known lion who resided in a national park. These guides tricked Cecil into coming out of the protected park, it seems, and Dr. Palmer put an arrow into him. The lion did not die, apparently; Palmer, et al, had to chase him for two days and then shoot him to death, before beheading and skinning him. That's what I have read; again, don't know how much is accurate. If, however, that's roughly true, it is a disgusting tale. The killing of this magnificent animal in such a cruel and protracted way, and for such a stupid purpose, i.e., bragging rights, does not endear Dr. Palmer to me. Being a Great White Snark, I must say that the pictures I have seen of the good doctor (here, for example) make him look somewhat creepy. He would make a good Hollywood villain. He is only missing the required British, Slavic, or German accent.
All that said, this story has turned into a progressive feeding frenzy. Progressives are whipping up their pet media and the lynch mobs in a way that is really quite remarkable. Palmer has a reasonable fear for his life, with even girly-man Piers Morgan threatening him--safely, out of bow range. It seems progressives have a license to incite to kill, and are not shy about using it. They, after all, incite the killing of police and of conservatives almost every day, and insist on putting violent criminal illegal aliens in our midsts.
Now, of course, progressives do not act for the reasons they claim (here and here). They are masters of misdirection. I, for example, find extremely interesting how the progressives can get themselves worked up over the death of an African lion, while remaining silent about the horror of Planned Parenthood's killing of tens-of-thousands of mostly African-American human babies, aka fetuses. Not much outrage in the progressive camp re the videos showing the ghouls at PP discussing how they "crunch" babies in a way that does affect the ability to sell their parts for profit. I have found it impossible to watch those videos all the way through; I have trouble fathoming such human depravity. The death of Cecil arrived in time to provide a smoke screen, a diversion from the revolting story of Planned Parenthood--and its highly racist origins. The only outrage the progs can muster is to go after the group that made the videos.
The juxtaposition of these two stories of death show in great and revealing detail the truth about progressivism--and it is ugly beyond belief.
Perhaps these same progressives might someday convince the gullible American public that black lives matter only after the thirty-third trimester?
ReplyDeleteI defy you to demonstrate that the American public is more gullible than the public of any other country.
DeleteI regret, however, that being no more gullible than the public of other nations is not much of a recommendation for a sovereign.
Once you've sold your Soul to the Progressive Cause and the work of PP can be justified to your Heart, its a quick and easy step to selling the remains for experimentation.
ReplyDeleteIts not that far of a step to then apply that to the old and infirm. Then the deficient (in whatever manner that may be decided). And finally to those who are ideologically impure.
Or for art.
Delete"The bodies of executed prisoners were categorically stated to have never been used in a BodyWorlds exhibition, according to BodyWorlds."
I am happy to hunt and kill feral animals that destroy agriculture and kill livestock (we have a real feral pig problem DownUnder), however that is where I personally draw a line. I could never kill a an animal like this lion; and I cannot understand a person who would, or derives pleasure from doing it.
ReplyDeleteThe media and social media storm here is an bad as elsewhere, and the hypocrisy is writ so large it is apparently too big for most of these twits to see that it the cause of shadow in which they are standing.
"Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto," says Publius Terentius Afer, and you have to admit that he sums up that view rather well.
DeleteBrett--you too, Diplomad--aren't you making rather heavy weather of how alien to you this lion-hunting dentist is? virtue signal much?
I bet in his whole life he has never killed a child, born or unborn, and may never have even voted to enable the same. That makes him a closer cousin to me morally than half the voters in America.
I can much more easily conceive of myself killing a lion with a crossbow.
Morally, that is. How many of his critics do you suppose would have the courage to face a lion with a crossbow? I wouldn't. And I do admire courage. You know, "mere physical" courage.
I can value preservation of species' facing extinction.. and even people's favorites as pets, to some extent... but killing those are crimes against the people who own/protect them. This whole concept of crimes being perpetrated against animals themselves is absolutely ludicrous, yet it's most certainly headed out way in terms of legal progressivism, or progressive legalism.. whatever...
Delete- reader #1482
a6z,
DeleteIn the pantheon of things wrong in the world, I agree that the death of the lion really doesn't rate; that said, I still don't understand why anyone would, or would want to, kill one. They are amazing creatures, and they are threatened; that's enough for me.
It is true there many people out there who do far worse, and are worthy of greater condemnation, but that still doesn't make killing the creature right.
Talking courage; you should try facing a feral pig in the Aussie bush; I feel vulnerable packing an SMLE .303 and a 9mm.
Brett, a sizeable feral pig 300-400lbs is deadly. A rifle, a side arm and a heavy duty long knife are used in these parts. Also it helps to have a couple of pit bulls and or a couple of Blue Heelers.
DeleteBrett, you have to understand that lions kill a great deal of livestock. They also kill more people in Zimbabwe than are officially reported. As of May of this year the government now requires visitors to Mana Pools National Parks to hire an armed game ranger to accompany them or face a fine. Too many tourists were getting killed or simply disappearing. And nothing can make you disappear faster than a hungry lion. The government, like the mayor in "Jaws," downplayed the threat and stressed that it was rare for a lion to kill a tourist. True. The locals are so much more abundant fare for the lions.
DeleteThe main problem, though, is the cattle killing. For the nearly 90% of Zimbabweans who don't have bank accounts cattle aren't just meat on the hoof. They're the savings and retirement account. The locals react to predators killing their cattle lie you might logging onto on-line banking and watching hackers clean out your accounts before your eyes.
In places like Kenya where there is no legal hunting the locals kill the entire pride in retaliation. Usually by poisoning the carcass of the dead cow so when the lions come back to finish their meals they die. Along with any other smaller predator or scavenger. Which is why the only question in Kenya r.e. lions is, will they go extinct in 5 years or stretch it out to almost 20?
In Zimbabwe and other southern African countries where hunting is legal the lions have a brighter future. In tribal/communal areas the locals get a portion of a tourist hunter's daily rate, license and permit fees, and more importantly the trophy fees. The outsize trophy fees for a lion will buy a lot of cows.
Hunters who legitimately hunt lions are actually doing the remaining lions a favor, as well as the people. Frankly the trophy fees for lions and/or elephants is so important that if either were to go off license tens of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat could no longer be set aside. It wouldn't matter that thousands of hunters would still be willing to pay to hunt non-dangerous plains game. All those thousands of trophy fees combined wouldn't pull in as much revenue as a relatively few lions or elephants. Which one is more significant in terms of revenue varies from country to country, and some it's a toss up. This is why even if the USFWS lists the African lion as threatened hunters will still be able to bring in legally hunted lion trophies. The main threats to the lion is loss of habitat, loss of prey, and conflict between the local populace and lions.
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/african_lion.html
And those threats will only get worse if nobody can or will pay the big bucks to hunt them. And don't let anyone tell you it isn't dangerous.
I understand that there are reasons for managed hunting of wild predators; but the lion in this case was a protected animal lured from a safe haven. These people clearly did the wrong thing; and it doesn't add to the case for managed hunting to defend their actions. The hysterical reaction by some is undoubtedly disproportionate, and reveals the leftist bent for hypocrisy and smear as a media tactic, but in the end they can do so because this particular lion should not have been hunted or killed. The door was opened because these people broke the law.
DeleteAll of that said; my personal choice would still be not to hunt a lion.
I'm not defending these people's actions, but I think we're getting our wires crossed. What makes these people's actions illegal is that the landowner had no quota for lion, and no one had a license to hunt a lion. What they clearly intended to do was to kill the lion on that property, they claim they had killed the lion somewhere else where there was a quota and a license available.
DeleteI don't think the hunter is an innocent party. He had done a similar thing in his neighboring state of Wisconsin a few years ago. In the US many if not all states have different zones, and you buy a tag or permit for a particular zone. To get a permit in the best zone you may have to apply to enter a lottery. Other zones are, for a variety of reasons, unpopular so you can buy a permit over the counter at a sporting goods store that issues hunting licenses.
The dentist bought a tag for one zone, then killed a bear 40 miles away, and then he and his companions lied and said they killed the bear where he was permitted the hunt. He has a pattern of behavior. Hunt and kill an animal one place illegally, then claim he hunted and killed the animal where he could have legally done so.
The problem was the radio collar. It made it impossible for him to claim he had killed the lion where he planned to say he killed it.
People seem to have many misunderstandings about what made this hunt unethical and illegal. There is no such thing as a protected lion in Zimbabwe. Any lion, including a radio-collared lion, is fair game outside of a National Park or other government game reserve. So "Cecil" was not a protected animal. There is not such thing. "Luring" is a meaningless term. A lion is either some place where it can be hunted, or some place it can't be hunted. And lions freely travel between both types of areas, so you don't need to lure them anywhere as they come and go as they please. Now it is truy that they used bait. Which is perfectly legal. Lions and leopards are almost always hunted over some type of bait. In the case of cattle killing cats, the best bait is the last cow they killed.
One thing you must understand is that "Cecil" was popular within the boundaries of the park because he wasn't afraid of people and would let them get very close to take pictures. That is exactly what makes lions like "Cecil" dangerous when they leave the park. They aren't afraid of people, and outside the park the people they run into aren't nice and safe in a steel-bodied Land Rover.
None of what is emphasized in the news is what makes this hunt wrong. It's the fact that they didn't have a license to hunt a lion on that private concession, and that's because the concession had no quota for lion. As I said, clearly they intended to claim they had hunted and killed it somewhere else that had a quota for lion, but no lions anything like "Cecil."
I'm the last person to defend this dentist as people like him ruined the problem animal control hunting program. I thought it was a great deal. Someone like me who just likes to hunt, but doesn't care about trophies, can hunt an elephant that must be eliminated because it's a danger. We're better shots than the Zimbabwean rangers because they never have enough practice ammo and they chronically wound elephants rather than kill them, turning them into very foul tempered and dangerous animals who are a lethal threat to any person who runs into them, and the villagers get the meat to make up for their lost crops.
But people like Dr. Palmer tried to cheat the system and turn it into a cheap trophy hunt. They abused the privilege, so the government shut it down.
I'm never going to make excuses for this guy. Some people think he didn't know what was going on. There's no way he didn't know there was no lion license. You know what licenses you paid for. You get there and you sign all the documents. He knew. He was in on it. He did the same thing in the US.
I think he was just putting the lion out of the agony of embarrassment at being called Cecil. "Cecil, King of the Jungle": I'll bet even the jackals laughed.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had thought of that . . . I might steal it, though.
DeleteThat is hilarious ----in a disturbing sort of way. Not so much that it prevented me from stealing it with reckless abandonment..
Delete"Being a Great White Snark" Heh, and a pretty good one too. Hunted most of the younger part of my life, then just sort of lost interest in it. No ethical questions involved just lost interest. Maybe being being in the military was a reason, who knows?
ReplyDeleteJames the Lesser
Some people are easier to shoot than some defenseless animal I'll wager.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWhitewall,
Delete"Some people are easier to shoot than some defenseless animal I'll wager."
Strangely enough you're quite right.
Now I can add the Lesser. Am always forgetting to do that.
James the Lesser
I too am an avid fisherman. Never have been much for hunting. As our host has laid out in comparing the butchering of human babies and selling off parts vs the deliberate killing of this lion--I believe it makes the theme of "animal rights" more clear than just the innocent sounding protection of the pet dog or cat. As always with the "progressive", there is always something else behind what is being sold.
ReplyDeleteThat guy is going to have to go into witness protection or something. He certainly is going to have to change his name and relocate, likely going to have to change his appearance as well. I think it would be appropriate for the U.S. to honor an extradition request, should Zimbabwe wish to have him as their guest for a few years.
ReplyDeleteThe abortion issue is a bit trickier than killing a lion. Planned Parenthood should be offering to install a free IUD for every women that comes in for abortion services. Because abortion is birth control, just an ex post facto form. It is not an effective means as it is expensive and risky to the woman, as well as being quite painful. Getting scraped out is nothing to look forward to.
The idea of PP developing a revenue stream off the aborted baby is disgusting. While I understand they say it is for “medical research” the revenue incoming becomes an incentive for the executives to encourage acquiring as much stock as possible to increase cash flow, and may even provide bonuses to incentivize this. This would be contrary to compassion for the woman and their unborn.
The congress intervention should be in the form of prohibiting the sale of human remains. They may be donated, but not sold. This would take the profit out of the procedure and remove the incentive to harvest. This is a way to get it through congress and signed into law. Going after PP budget only gives ammo to the army of ugly, angry lesbians screaming about their right to an abortion being taken away by Republicans.
I understand that a fourth video came out today and it is really bad. I watched the first and then part of the second. That's where I stopped. I get it, these people are monsters, no need to see any more.
ReplyDeleteIt actually reminds me of the constant stream of head chopping videos. How many of them does anyone really need to see?
i cant defend the dentist because i dont hunt and he had to expect that corners would be cut after he waved a lot of money around in a third world rat hole. in his defense, it seems that he did use a legitimate guide and as a bowhunter he is putting his safety more on the line. that said, the left is doing a hatchet job on the hunter of lions, while the 5-times deported, illegal alien hunter of defenseless americans, in another game preserve, the disarmed sanctuary of san francisco, has largely fallen off the headlines.
ReplyDeleteIt's not my fault.
ReplyDeleteI just read about it in the news.
Oh, hey, the Knicks game is on.
Whew! I thought you were going to blame Bush . . .
DeleteGreat post. Frankly, I can't wait to see the aptly named PP defunded. Not only do we have these recent revelations about selling baby parts, but also Margaret Sanger herself was a hideous hag of a Hitler in skirts who thought that non-white people were vermin who needed to be reduced in numbers and swept away. That her legacy has become a "progressive" icon boggles the mind.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet that any Leftist trolls here can't fathom how Uncle Kepha can both cheer your recent post on White Dudes AND find Sanger's racism repulsive.
As for hunting--
Long ago, a friend brought my wife and I a couple of venison steaks from an animal he had shot on a hunting trip with some other out-doorsy types. Being Chinese, my wife made an excellent stir fry of venison slivers atop some peppers, which made (a) an excellent meal and (b) us eternally grateful to our friend for turning us on to venison.
Also, when Uncle Kepha was a little guy, his uncle in Norse Dakota used to send us smoked pheasants from time to time (can't really tell them from smoked chickens, frankly). Hence, I also cannot condemn hunting willy-nilly, especially by those who eat what they kill or dress the hides for a useful purpose.
As for trophy hunters, some of them actually do eat the non-display parts of the animals they shoot. Hence, I won't despise them, either. There's a great tradition in parts of the USA to use a head or antler mount of Odocoileus Virginianus or Cervus Canadensis or Odocoileus Hemionis for hat racks.
Finally, while I fault the dentist for shooting a Zimbabwean tourist attraction, I also think that the mass murder of American babies and the cavalier attitude our government takes towards criminal illegal aliens are infinitely worse.
Some 10 y/o girl in Nigeria blew up 16 people the other day. Do you think it was because she was upset about Cecil? I only read the WSJ ("If it's not in the WSJ, either it didn't happen or it was not important") so I don't know if the lame-stream media mentioned her path to paradise as much as Cecil's untimely demise. If not about Cecil, what could possibly have been her motive?
ReplyDeleteOne of the few things worse than this thrill killing dentist is the rabid pack of dogs that's tearing him apart. Beyond that, the white house received a petition of 100k+ signatures and has promised that they'll do everything they can, including having it referred to the US fish & game department.
ReplyDeleteYes, our criminal justice system is now driven my popularity.
If this dentist had been a hip hop star, it'd be a done story by now.
Seriously... this dentist's behavior is *nowhere* near as bad as those lambasting him on social media. He killed a lion. An animal. I wouldn't say it's a great thing to do for no particular reason like his, but it's just trivial, regardless of whether one grew up watching too much "The Lion King".
We may have already chosen to abdicate the top of the food chain, but this is just going too far.
- reader #1482
I really think the 82's must share DNA with the family z.
Deletehttp://neveryetmelted.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CecilisDead.jpg
ReplyDeletethere is a great interview with a hunter by Joe Rogan found here http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/corey-knowlton. kind of gives a different perspective on trophy hunting. i couldn't do it but it has a place in conservation.
ReplyDeleteIn every county with legal big game hunting there are more animals than in the countries without it. In those countries animals such as elephants and rhinos have been taken off of the endangered species lists while in countries where they are "protected" their numbers continue to dwindle. In South Africa alone, the white rhino population went from fewer than 100 to over 11,000 once trophy hunting was allowed. Same with elephants. The area under management for elephants in Zimbabwe doubled. When no one has any interest in *actually* protecting the animals, surprise!, no one does. Now there are so many elephants the number of permits are increased every year to keep them from wandering off the reserve and eating already starving Zimbabwean's crops (of course getting rid of Mugabe would help them more than getting rid of a few more hungry elephants).
ReplyDeleteWant to help the Siberian tiger and the African lion? Legalize hunting. It's basic economics.
Amen James!
DeleteJames the Lesser
I see the Zimbabwe 'government' is calling for the dentist's extradition to that jewel of a country.
ReplyDeleteThe world should be calling for the extradition of Mugabe and his government to the world court for what they have done to the people of Zimbabwe.
with the exception of accepting any kind of 'world court' as legitimately able to prosecute the leaders of a country, I'd agree... (which means I mostly don't, except for the rhetorical aspect)
Delete- reader #1482
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2015/08/scapegoating-101.html
ReplyDelete***
I've hunted Africa a few times and have killed an elephant along with antelope and zebra..
ReplyDeleteI haven't hunted lion but don't think many of you are aware of the incredible benefits lion hunting provides. Many if not most of the Zimbabweans living on the outskirts of national parks used to live or are descended from people who lived within in the park boundaries. But they were evicted so the paying tourists wouldn't have to look at impoverished villagers while enjoying their game viewing.
This created a great number of resentments. They resent that they were moved from what was good land to marginal lands, they resent that they can no longer hunt or harvest the plants in protected areas, and they have to put up with the depredations of the animals that freely travel outside the park looking for an easier meal. The elephants and smaller animals eat (and trample) their corn and the predators eat their livestock. And sometimes their children, parents, husbands and wives.
This is especially true in the case of cattle, as cattle is wealth. 87% of Zimbabweans have no bank accounts. If they have money they buy cattle. This shouldn't be hard to understand as it was once the same in Europe. When large predators start killing their cattle, it is a very big deal. Which is why the lion in Kenya may be extinct in 5-15 years. Kenya banned hunting in 1977, and as a result lions, leopards, and other large predators are worthless vermin, and poisoning is a very efficient way to eliminate them. The small isolated pockets remaining in Kenya's parks simply won't be viable populations.
In southern Africa, though, the locals tolerate the depredations of the large, dangerous animals because hunting is legal and they see revenue from them. In Zimbabwe they have CAMPFIRE, or Communal Area Management Program For Indigenous REsources. The local people decide how they will manage the wildllife for the benefit of the entire ecosystem, including themselves. Hunting provides 90% of their revenue. So unlike Kenya, a lion is worth considerably more than many cattle.
I wasn't hunting a trophy elephant but a crop raider (and possibly a killer) but they still got a portion of the daily rate and license fees and more importantly the entire elephant to eat. They small tusks went to the government.
The thing is, to afford to set aside all that land for wildlife somebody has to pay the freight in the form of the trophy fees I wasn't willing to pay. And even though a small number of lions are shot in some countries the fees from those few dozen or at most a couple hundred is far more important than the fees generated by thousands of antelope or zebra. Lions are especially important to Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia. In other countries the trophy fees from elephant are more important. The thing is, if either one of those comes off license, thousands of square miles of wildlife habitat can no longer be preserved.
If lion hunting were banned, than all lions would go the way of Kenya's as they would all be liabilities rather than assets.
This assumes that everyone book legitimate hunts and makes sure the fees go where they're supposed to go. To conservation, not to line the pockets of a few corrupt officials which is what this dentist seems to have done.
http://www.africanhunteronline.com/
The top story should be "Lion Conservation Under Threat - Cecil the Lion, The Facts"
&
Delete"Why are the Americans more concerned than us?" said Joseph Mabuwa, a 33-year-old father-of-two cleaning his car in the center of the capital. "We never hear them speak out when villagers are killed by lions and elephants in Hwange."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/30/us-zimbabwe-wildlife-lion-idUSKCN0Q41UW20150730
***
Dead villagers do not usefully distract from blood-dripping ghouls at Planned Parenthood.
DeleteI can promise that if they did, you would hear us speak out.
"I love animals as much as the next guy. . ." What a great opening line. For some reason it brings to mind "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."
ReplyDeleteBut what I really wanted to remind readers is that Rhodesia was named after Cecil Rhodes. Cecil the Lion, Cecil Rhodes. Get it?
I'm driving home from work (near Vancouver, Canada) last week while Cecil the Lion is in the news. I turn on traffic/news radio and I hear this, as verbatim as I can remember:
ReplyDeleteAir Canada has announced that it will no longer transport trophy animals. A spokesman specified lions, rhinos, and giraffes as cargo that will no longer be allowed on flights.
[one beat pause]
The spokesman acknowledged that Air Canada does not fly to South Africa and has not had any routes to Africa for many years.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete