As I’m sure you’re quite aware Cecil the Lion, a protected lion at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe was killed in a trophy hunt by dentist, Walter Palmer of Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
The outrage of Cecil’s death has set the internet ablaze. People everywhere are angry over Palmer wounding Cecil with a bow and arrow after being lured out of the park. Cecil survived for 40 hours after being killed with a rifle which ended his 13 yr. old life.
After the guided hunt, Cecil was skinned and beheaded. Palmer and the guides attempted to remove the GPS collar which is what led authorities to the men involved.
Cecil was a beloved lion and people traveled from different areas of the world to see this beautiful creature with the black mane. I’ve always hoped to go to Africa to see these gorgeous animals up close and personal.
On Tuesday, The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said in a statement that Walter James Palmer paid at least $50,000 to track and kill the animal.
On Tuesday, Palmer said in a statement, “I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt,” CBS reported.
“I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt,” he said. “I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.”
Palmer’s dentist office is closed due to the outrage. The facebook page for the same office is unavailable after hundreds of angry comments were left by FB users. There are two planned protests outside of this office today.
I understand the anger that has filled peoples’ hearts over this senseless and brutal killing. I don’t believe in trophy hunting. In fact, I find it repulsive. To only want to kill the biggest and best animal so its head can be mounted on a wall is ridiculous to me.
What I don’t understand is the hypocrisy of those who condemn the killing of this animal but don’t condemn the mass killings of factory-farmed animals who suffer and are tortured so consumers can eat meat. How are the two cases different?
Factory farms kill 10 billions of animals for human consumption every year in the United States. Why aren’t any of the people who want to kill Palmer outraged over the slaughtering of these animals. Here are a few facts about factory farming:
- A “factory farm” is a large-scale industrial operation that houses thousands of animals raised for food—such as chickens, turkeys, cows, and pigs—and treats them with hormones and antibiotics to prevent disease and maximize their growth and food output.
- Animals are fed corn, wheat and soy that are grown through intensive industrial farming that use large amounts of pesticides, which can remain in their bodies and are passed on to the people who eat them, creating serious health hazards in humans. Ask your school to create Meatless Mondays in the cafeteria to highlight the hazards of overconsumption of meat. Sign up for Meatless Mondays.
- The beaks of chickens, turkeys, and ducks are often removed in factory farms to reduce the excessive feather pecking and cannibalism seen among stressed, overcrowded birds.
- A typical supermarket chicken today contains more than twice the fat, and about a third less protein than 40 years ago.
- 2 in 3 farm animals in the world are now factory farmed.
- Egg-laying hens are sometimes starved for up to 14 days, exposed to changing light patterns and given no water in order to shock their bodies into molting. It’s common for 5% to 10% of hens to die during the forced molting process.
- Worldwide, about 70 billion farm animals are now reared for food each year.
Celebrities are tweeting about the death of Cecil including Sharon Osbourne who wished “he loses his home, his practice and his money.” How can she be angry when she was/is the spokesperson for the Atkins Weight Loss Diet which incorporates protein as it main staple food? Where do you think protein is derived for this diet? From animals! So how can Osbourne be angry when she, herself, promoted the slaughtering of billions of animals?
Jimmy Kimmel almost broke down in tears as he spoke about Cecil on last night’s broadcast. I’d like to know if he is a vegan. If he is a meat eater, he, too, comes across to me as a hypocrite.
You cannot have it both ways. You can’t condemn this one man with whom I wholeheartedly am against what he did and does and then continue to eat meat.
For all those who have stood up against this hunter, why not stand up against factory farming? Do you want to see cruelty at its worst? Do you want to see animals skinned alive to be your food? Go to any YouTube factory farming video and see for yourself how your meat while still alive awaiting a cruel death. Learn more truth about how animals are factory farmed at http://www.earthsfriends.com/factory-farming-facts/.
I do not eat meat but I also do not push my views on others. I don’t condemn people for eating meat. I feel people need to be made aware first of the atrocities associated with this brutal way of raising animals to be inhumanely killed.
We will never live in a world where people don’t eat meat but I feel if people knew how that piece of neatly wrapped meat that was bought at your local grocery store made it from conception to the slaughterhouse, people may have a change of heart.
If people around the world can cause this much backlash over this trophy hunt, why can’t those same people pool their resources and fight factory farming?
Do you think people have been hypocritical over beloved Cecil’s death?
RIP Cecil.
Have a story, please email me at tevangelistaepp@yahoo. Like my tv page at https://www.facebook.com/ACloseUpLookAtAnimalWelfareIssues.
Do people eat lion?
Yes, people do eat lion meat.
I am a considered a trophy hunter. I wait for the right age, largest antlers, best representative of the animal iam hunting. This does not affect the gene pool adversely at all like I have heard thrown around from time to time. And I only hunt with a compound bow. By the time a trophy animal is killed it has procreated somany off spring to ensure its genes have been passed on . Remember with age comes many breeding seasons. The young also pass on those genes. A lot of good genetics is based on the female not the male. If she is in poor health her off spring will have not get off to a good start an might not make it. I am not defending this case. I think the guides knew the expectations of their client and illegally or unethically did what they did for the money. Whether the hunter was in on it is not yet known. He took a poor shot on a off limits animal.He doesn’t deserve to be called an Archer. Let me try to explain differently trophy hunting. You go to several stores spending hours an days in search for the perfect wedding dress. Passing on dresses that do not meet your requirements of what you see yourself getting married in. Finally you see and take the dress you pictured after passing on many. Congratulations your a trophy shopper,Or hunter.
Finally, someone who sees the bigger picture. The world is outraged over one animal while billions are murdered to be on their plates. Agreed.
This doesn’t equate to the same thing. Big difference.
I understand how they are related and I agree! Both are wrong and animals suffer either way.
I don’t understand how the two are connected.
Cecil was illegally killed and people don’t eat their meat.