Why Has The Killing Of A Lion Spawned Widespread Outrage?

[Keith Maitland]

Can someone please explain to me the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion by an American hunter in Zimbabwe a couple days ago.

I really don't get it...

[Owlswing]

Can someone please explain to me the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion by an American hunter in Zimbabwe a couple days ago.

I really don't get it...

If you don't get it then there is really no point in trying to explain the idea that killing endangered species for fun is unacceptable!

[Udayana]

KM ... How about you have a think and tell us why it might be?

[floo]

Can someone please explain to me the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion by an American hunter in Zimbabwe a couple days ago.

I really don't get it...

What a very SAD person you are!

[L.A.]

Can someone please explain to me the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion by an American hunter in Zimbabwe a couple days ago.

I really don't get it...

I think it is a perfectly reasonable question - there are plenty of things going on in the world that are causing tremendous suffering to human beings - while we are quite happy to kill animals for various reasons.

I suppose one reason might be that the perpetrator takes great pride in killing various 'trophy' animals for his own gratification. Another reason, because because this animal had been protected in a reserve until itwas lured out to be shot.

. . . and of course, because he was a dentist - and everyone hates dentists.

[Keith Maitland]

LA,

I think it is a perfectly reasonable question - there are plenty of things going on in the world that are causing tremendous suffering to human beings - while we are quite happy to kill animals for various reasons.

Bingo.

I would also remind a few here that the head of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, argued that the dentist who killed the lion should be “hanged.”

[Anchorman]

I detest hunting for sport.
However, I recognise that, whether I like it or not, there are vast tracts of land in some African countries where this is not only permitted, but encouraged and forms part of local economies.
Of course, this particular incident where a protected species appears to have been lured out of a nature reserve to be hunted is, of course, deplorable in every way.
But before we put a blanket ban on ALL hunting, we need to put alternate means of support in place for those locals whose livelihoods depend on the 'sport', detestable though it is.

[Harrowby Hall]

One problem is that lions are diminshing in the wild as a species. There are fewer now than there were twenty years ago. This animal was being monitored in a conservation study by scientists from Oxford university - so the opportunity to further learn about the behaviour of lions has been reduced.

I heard someone commenting on the payment which had been made to enable this man to engage in his passion. It was argued that Zimbabwe would have profited far more from the lion's continued survival from organised tourism and study trips.

A further problem is that another lion will now take over Cecil's pride. The first thing this lion will do is kill all the cubs in the pride. So this incident will not lead to the death of one lion, but perhaps half a dozen or more.

All with a single shot of a crossbow.

Speaking for myself, I cannot understand the mindset of a - supposedly - intelligent man who gets gratification by destroying members of other species.

Does he get a hard-on watching animals in their death thoes?  I wouldn't trust his dentistry.

[Shaker]

LA,

I think it is a perfectly reasonable question - there are plenty of things going on in the world that are causing tremendous suffering to human beings - while we are quite happy to kill animals for various reasons.

Bingo.

I would also remind a few here that the head of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, argued that the dentist who killed the lion should be “hanged.”

Bit late, alas.

Now, if he'd have been hanged before he killed a lion for absolutely no reason whatever, that would have accomplished something.

[cyberman]

killing endangered species for fun is unacceptable!

Spot on

[Shaker]

killing endangered species for fun is unacceptable!

Spot on

A sentence which also works if you remove the words 'endangered' and 'for fun.'

[Leonard James]

killing endangered species for fun is unacceptable!

Spot on

A sentence which also works if you remove the words 'endangered' and 'for fun.'

True! Killing from necessity is bad enough, but killing for fun is totally immoral.

[Hope]

Can someone please explain to me the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion by an American hunter in Zimbabwe a couple days ago.

I really don't get it...

Keith, for one thing, he killed the animal by luring it out of a safe area; secondly, he killed it after dark, which is illegal apparently; thirdly, he killed an animal that was part of a longitudinal scientific research project; fourthly, he killed an animal which was a favourite of locals and tourists; fifthly, he has killed endangered and other animals in the past; and sixthly, he seems to be using the profit he is making from dentistry to fund this.

[Shaker]

Can someone please explain to me the uproar over the killing of Cecil the lion by an American hunter in Zimbabwe a couple days ago.

I really don't get it...

Keith, for one thing, he killed the animal by luring it out of a safe area; secondly, he killed it after dark, which is illegal apparently; thirdly, he killed an animal that was part of a longitudinal scientific research project; and fourthly, he killed an animal which was a favourite of locals and tourists.

You forgot the main and worst reason: he killed the creature purely and solely for his own gratification.

[Hope]

A sentence which also works if you remove the words 'endangered' and 'for fun.'

Why is killing an animal always unacceptable?

[Hope]

You forgot the main and worst reason: he killed the creature purely and solely for his own gratification.

Thanks for that wording Shaker; I'd already amended my post before I saw this - but you put it better than I did.

[Shaker]

A sentence which also works if you remove the words 'endangered' and 'for fun.'

Why is killing an animal always unacceptable?

Because I can't think of any situation - apart from euthanasia/mercy killing (which also applies to human animals in my view) and the very rarest and most unlikely scenarios of immediate self-defence - where it's done for any valid reason. In almost every case it's done from a position of speciesism/anthropocentrism, for human convenience and entertainment, because some animals are deemed to be ours to eat, maltreat or simply because they're considered inconvenient and in the way.

[cyberman]

the main and worst reason: he killed the creature purely and solely for his own gratification.

Absolutely.

People give many reasons for killing animals (some more plausible than others) - food, research, self defence, pest control, conservation (! ikr), putting them down, accidents..etc etc.

This fella has none of these at his disposal. He killed it for a laugh, maybe to take his mind off his tiny penis or something. The man is an abomination.

[Shaker]

the main and worst reason: he killed the creature purely and solely for his own gratification.

Absolutely.

People give many reasons for killing animals (some more plausible than others) - food, research, self defence, pest control, conservation (! ikr), putting them down, accidents..etc etc.

Everybody draws their line(s) in different places - of these I would say only euthanasia and self defence are valid, legitimate and justifiable reasons. I can't see how accidents belong on the list given that this isn't something that people seek to justify or rationalise - an accident is an accident is an accident.

This fella has none of these at his disposal. He killed it for a laugh, maybe to take his mind off his tiny penis or something. The man is an abomination.

Quite.

[Hope]

... conservation ...

This isn't as daft a reason as it may sound.  For one thing, if a particular species is under threat, it may be that that species is being predated upon by another, more numerous, species; so killing some of the latter can help protect the former.

Secondly, there are animals whose continued existence in certain parts of the world is down to legal hunting of them.  Grouse are a slightly off-track example; if the moors on which they live weren't being managed in order to keep them available for shooting, those same moors could well have become heavily wooded over the past century or so, thus making then inaccessible to anyone or thing.  Furthermore, employing gamekeepers/reserve wardens often helps the local community value that group of animals more than it might otherwise have done and encourage them to help with the conservation programme.

Thirdly, it is sometimes necessary to kill a rogue animal - elephant/tiger/lion - that has attacked humans, as otherwise the group it has attacked may attack and kill more than just a single animal as revenge.

[Udayana]

the main and worst reason: he killed the creature purely and solely for his own gratification.

Absolutely.

People give many reasons for killing animals (some more plausible than others) - food, research, self defence, pest control, conservation (! ikr), putting them down, accidents..etc etc.

Everybody draws their line(s) in different places - of these I would say only euthanasia and self defence are valid, legitimate and justifiable reasons. I can't see how accidents belong on the list given that this isn't something that people seek to justify or rationalise - an accident is an accident is an accident.

This fella has none of these at his disposal. He killed it for a laugh, maybe to take his mind off his tiny penis or something. The man is an abomination.

Quite.

The abominable dentist, one assumes, sees killing for fun as an entirely valid reason. If it is just a matter of opinion or "drawing the line" in one place rather than another, would that really explain the reaction against him - given that there are obviously many other important issues for people to get on and deal with?

[cyberman]

I can't see how accidents belong on the list given that this isn't something that people seek to justify or rationalise - an accident is an accident is an accident.

Yes, you're right - I wasn't analysing that much, just trying to think of situations in which a person might kill an animal and say they weren't being frivolous

[Shaker]

The abominable dentist, one assumes, sees killing for fun as an entirely valid reason.

... a stance belied, I'd have thought, by the fact that he has practically bitten off his own tongue in his haste to apologise and has apparently gone into hiding. If killing a lion is entirely valid, why not hang around and defend his actions in public?

If it is just a matter of opinion or "drawing the line" in one place rather than another, would that really explain the reaction against him - given that there are obviously many other important issues for people to get on and deal with?

The number of issues for "people to get on and deal with," while not infinite, is vast. People deal with the issues that are important and significant to them.

[jeremyp]

All with a single shot of a crossbow.

This is not true.  The lion survived the crossbow shot and had to be tracked down and shot again but with a gun.  The procedure took over 40 hours. 

I honestly cannot comprehend the mentality that thinks a lion's head looks better hung on a wall than attached to a living lion.

[jeremyp]

if the moors on which they live weren't being managed in order to keep them available for shooting, those same moors could well have become heavily wooded over the past century or so, thus making then inaccessible to anyone or thing.

Bad example.  The grouse moors are totally artificial and are maintained so purely to give rich people the opportunity to shoot grouse.  As a result, in terms of biodiversity, they are practically a desert.