File this under "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya":
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.
The StarTribune is reporting that Palmer will dispute some aspects of the allegations, so we will have to see how things shake out. Big game hunting appears to be Palmer's "thing" based on photos of him posing with various animals he has killed over the years. One thing for certain, the forecast for Walter Palmer today is 100% chance of severe shitstorm. And in this case maybe it should.
As I've noted here on several occasions, I'm not a big fan of the online outrage machine. However, if the poaching allegation is true then Palmer deserves a great deal of scorn. And if this is true he deserves even more:
The American is believed to have shot it with a crossbow, injuring the animal. The wounded lion was found 40 hours later and shot dead with a gun, Rodrigues said in the statement.
40 hours? That animal suffered for 40 hours? You know, if you're going to not only go all Great White Hunter, but also "Look at me hunting with a bow and arrow"(trust me, that's what most bowhunters do), then you damned well better be good enough to make the kill cleanly, or at least be able to track it down and dispatch it in a hell of a lot less than 40 hours.
I don't get big game trophy hunting, I never have. I'm okay with it though, when it's part of a hunt where the meat is taken. That is an ancient and honorable thing in my book. Or if that lion had become a danger to humans or livestock that might be another story. But taking an animal's head and skin simply for display is not an honorable thing as far as I'm concerned. There's an argument that says the people paying big dollars to legally do this sort of hunting are funding conservation efforts, and it's true. It still doesn't seem right to me.
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