Hunting is often justified as a necessary means of wildlife management. BS. What this really means is that wildlife managers like the money they get from hunters.
Cecil
For Cecil isn’t just any old lion. He’s one of Africa most famous and beloved lions, the star attraction at the Hwange national park, and a YouTube sensation for tourists.
He’s renowned as a gentle giant.
Such popularity cut no ice with Dr Palmer.
He and his fellow hunters tied a dead animal to their vehicle to lure Cecil out of the park, scenting an area half a kilometer away.
Cecil took the bait and strayed outside.
Dr Palmer pounced, firing his bow-and-arrow and striking Cecil.
He’s a great shot.
A New York Times profile of him in 2009 said he was ‘capable of skewering a playing card from 100 yards with his compound bow.’
But Cecil didn’t die.
Instead, he stumbled off, wounded and bloodied, for 40 hours before Dr Palmer and his hunters finally caught up with him and shot him dead.
They then beheaded Cecil, and skinned…
View original 585 more words