Cecil

I usually try to stay away from controversial or emotionally charged events that cause national and/or worldwide outrage, but I can't get Cecil the African lion out of my mind. What happened to him (and all the other animals that have gone, and will go, through what Cecil experienced) is monstrous. A police officer where I work told me that people who hunt with a bow and arrow rarely kill their target. The fun of the hunt is following the trail of blood as the animal tries to escape, in great pain because these arrows can shatter bones and explode organs, and when the hunter finally finds the tortured animal, he/she gets to deliver the final shot by a rifle. And then, the ultimate coup de grace -- decapitate the animal and put that animal's head on the living room wall. This is called trophy hunting. The animal is not killed for food -- just whatever the hunter wants that he/she can proudly display in the home or office, to show everyone what a great and powerful person lives or works within those walls.

Such a hunter was interviewed on one of the evening news programs and he said -- I'll never forget this -- that trophy hunters think these animals like lions, bears, rhinos, gazelles, elk, and giraffes are beautiful and that the hunters respect them. How can you think someone (an animal is a someone because it is a living being who is part of a clan or an essential part of the environment) is beautiful and you respect this being, and then turn around and kill it inhumanely so you can put its head on your damn wall? On an other program, one of these trophy hunters said it wasn't so much the kill but the hunt. Of course, it's about the kill. If you just wanted to hunt an animal through the jungle or the woods or the savannah, you could do it with a camera. 

Cecil the lion's killer, Walter Palmer, is still in hiding, but his professional big game hunter guide Theo Bronkhorst appeared in a Zimbabwe court a couple of weeks ago. He thinks this whole thing is frivolous and he believes he did nothing illegal. Sure, Bronkhorst, you and the local guide only lured Cecil away from his protected reserve so the rich American could have his kill. Unfortunately for you, Palmer, and the local guide, you entrapped the wrong lion, one that was part of a British study and a favorite of tourists. Your statement that hunting is "an integral part of our country and it's got to continue. And if we do not use wildlife sustainably, there is will be no wildlife." What the hell does that mean? Use wildlife sustainably? Are you saying that if humans don't kill lions, rhinos, and other African animals, that there will be no wildlife to kill so the rich Americans and Europeans will have to take their money elsewhere? Does this even make sense?

Trophy hunting is incredibly inhumane. From what I read, Cecil suffered for 40 hours before he was finally shot to death, beheaded, and stripped of his fur. 40 long, painful hours. His pride is now left without a leader, and rogue male lions may come into his territory, kill his cubs, kill or run off his brother, and take the females for their own (although some lionesses have been known to fight back to try and and save their kittens). A whole family destroyed because a rich American paid $50,000 for the head of a lion.

What I'd like to know -- What does it feel like, Walter Palmer, to be hunted like an animal? There are people who want your head. Might be a nice trophy for someone's wall. 

I expect that if anyone reads this missive, I may receive hate statements. I don't care. In the U.S., we treat our most heinous murderers on death row better than these trophy-hunted animals are treated by supposedly intelligent human beings. 

I wish all humans would really start acting like the compassionate, spiritual, insightful, and loving beings that we are. Why someone needs to kill an animal in order to feel alive and powerful, to fill a deep emptiness, or to assuage an anger is beyond me.