The illegal killing of Cecil – the 13-year-old lion that had been part of an Oxford University research project since 1999 – by an American tourist is a prime example of what is wrong with America. It epitomises America’s obsession with guns.
Walter James Palmer, the dentist from Minnesota, is believed to have lured the lion out of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe on 1 July in the night before shooting him with a bow and arrow [sic].
The most galling part of this heinous act is that the poor lion was left to live and suffer for 40 hours after he was shot with a crossbow before finally shooting him with high-powered rifle.
It baffles me that someone can fly more than 14 000km and pay a bribe worth R692 386.65 to kill an innocent animal just to have its head hung in their home.
There is no difference between the senseless mass killings and gun violence on the streets of the US and this miscreant killing of endangered species for pleasure. In view of the high levels of poaching of rare and endangered species in Africa, this doctor’s hunting practices are loathsome, obnoxious and totally detestable.
Cecil is said to have sired about 24 cubs. This now means the next lion in the hierarchy will most likely kill all these cubs so that he can insert his own bloodline into females, which is a standard procedure for lions.
Dian Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist aptly stated, “The man who kills the animals today, is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow.”
Only a small person needs to kill magnificent animals to make them feel big.
