It seems like everyone is in a tizzy over the killing of Cecil, a lion that happened to be one of the main tourist attractions of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.
Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who payed for the hunt, is in hot water for slaying the big cat. Apparently, Cecil was a protected animal and the guides who orchestrated the hunt for Palmer broke the law and were subsequently arrested for poaching.
Palmer, who allegedly paid upwards of $50,000 for the hunt, claims he was ignorant to the status of Cecil.
“I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt,” Palmer said in a statement issued Tuesday. “I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt.”
“I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion,” Palmer said.
Palmer hunted the lion with his compound bow. However, his first shot wasn’t lethal and the two Zimbabwean guides had to track the animal for 40 hours before killing it with a gun, according to reports. The lion was then beheaded and skinned.
The death of Cecil went viral and put Palmer in the eye of the storm. Soon, celebrities began weighing in on social media:
It's not for food. It's not the shooting, or tin cans would do. It must just be the thrill of killing. Mental. https://t.co/0fjtXoC1ML
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 28, 2015
…When he dies, I hope someone mounts his ugly ass head to the wall. #WalterPalmer is a COWARD.
— Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne) July 28, 2015
Good RT @Vagabionda1: Backlash Forces Killer Of Famous #CecilTheLion To Close His Dental … https://t.co/KmUAePQNYf
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) July 28, 2015
Used to hate my dentist for yelling at me about my night guard but at least she didn't kill #CecilTheLion
— Jerry O'Connell (@MrJerryOC) July 28, 2015
SHAME ON HIM! I want them to take his citizenship away. I'm ashamed and horrified by what he did. #CecilTheLion https://t.co/SGRwiOi0UK
— Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) July 28, 2015
At this point it’s not clear as to whether Palmer will face charges for killing the lion.
Several years ago a “hunter” entered the municipal zoo of Birmingham Alabama and shot a large whitetail deer named Bucky that had been in the zoo for several years and beheaded him, leaving the carcass in the grounds. He was arrested some time later when exhibiting the mounted head at a deer hunting expo in the Birmingham Municipal Civic Center. He , like the dentist, just wanted an an easy trophy without the necessity of an actual hunt. Recently someone shot a pet domesticated Zebra on a farm in North Alabama.
There are many deer hunters locally who operate in an ethical manner. Neither Bucky’s killer nor this guy fall within that category.
What is sad about this is that there is more uproar about the death of an animal than there is about the 15 y.o. murdering the 8 y.o. girl in San Diego and dumping her body in a recycling bin.
When did animal life become more important than human life?
No wonder this country is so screwed up.
Wolfpack Bravo…
Your ignorance and patheticism strangulates logic, common sense, and American values. What is really sad is that idiotics like yourself have no intellectual bearing and to use a 15 yo. killing an 8 yo. to compare and contrast to the brutal murder and killing of Cecil the Lion is simpleminded. The young killing another youngen is almost ascommon as murder and killing of animals. Cecil the Lion has every ounce of right to life as any human. This country is crewed up because of things like you…
No crawl…..
And this gets more press than the illegal that was arrested and deported 5 times and killed Kathryn Steinle.
most of the celebrities in our country are usually too busy trying to find their homosexual victories I can’t imagine why they care about an old lion who would probably be torn to pieces before too long by a younger lion. the American news media is showing what they do best–create hate and discontent over some issue that has suddenly become fashionable to protest. makes me very unproud to be an American when I hear so much being made about something while our president is on the verge of accomplishing his goal of total destruction of our freedoms and economy while they occupy themselves contemplating their navels and trying to find something to bitch about that is none of their business. no wonder the rest of the world hates us.
While I believe that hunting a lion (and trophy hunting in general) is inherently grossly unethical, and I believe that anyone who wants to go kill a lion is a real jerkoff who just wants to destroy something rare and beautiful, I also believe that under no circumstances should this guy be extradited to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a hellish country run by Robert Mugabe, an awful dictator. There is no due process there. He would not get a fair trial, and would then be imprisoned under utterly inhumane conditions. In America, we don’t subject our citizens to such barbarism. Boycott his dental practice, make him a pariah, but the very idea of sending someone to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe for trial is far worse than what he did.
If there is any justice in the world, this arrogant jerk will be extradited to Zimbabwe and convicted of poaching.
What happened to “Innocent until proved guilty”? There’s entirely too much of that in this country. I hope you’ll be treated better by the jury and the public if you’re ever charged with a crime. All you know is what the talking heads tell you. Maybe you should reserve judgement until you know all the facts.
Dont know of any of these celebrates except Osborn what jerry springer trash. I find most of these self righteous meat eating hypocrites advacating harm, murder and death. Sharon your life style is paid for by some devil worshiping loser who bite the heads off little animals to shock people and sell records. Listining to you scumbags advocating helping animals is like micheal jackson helping little boys.
Must be out of work, so they spend their time trolling Facebook. Bunch of losers. Cecil The Lion? Never heard of him.
Cecil was a lion at the end of his natural life and would have soon been torn to shreds by a younger male to take over his territory. Then he would have wandered around suffering from his wounds for days or weeks, too weak to defend himself from other predators who would have finally finished him off. Zero impact on their local society.
But that evil American Republican shot him in a legal area by legal means (if the guides did something illegal, then their law should punish them). In the meantime, the national, state and local economies profited to the tune of around 50 large – even larger in that third world country. Money for education, health, infrastructure or whatever the government chose to do with the funds. Our stupid government should stay out of this and all of the socialist celebrities should mind their own business. But it is a convenient smoke screen by the MSM to take attention away from planned parenthood, Hillary’s growing problems, 18 TRILLION national debt, destruction of our military and on and on………………………………..
They ran out of available mileage on the Confederate Flag. Realized they were about to see the Civil War start all over again if they didn’t back off, and needed a bew liberal driven distraction.
You will never NEED a lion, and you will never NEED a crying talk-show host, but someday you may NEED a good dentist.
That is quite possibly the most intelligent statement I have heard in this entire “Cecil the Lion” debacle.
The operative word is you “MAY”. need a dentist. Feel free to take up for the loser. I had a dentist office business manager try jerking me around. Next time I came to see the dentist , I pointed out, that in this small city, there are ten Yellow Pages of dentists. I could go to a different one each week for a couple of years with no repeats. I could easily see two each year for the rest of my life.
I take it you have your fingers crossed that nobody is smart enough to believe there are plenty of dentists ?
Good luck with that. I have no respect for the guy. He is a known game law violator , with a record. Like most Republicans, (he is one) he decided long ago that laws and rules are for others , but not him. Keep watching , for the outcome. I’m hoping the bastard can’t buy his way out of this. Maybe he can fix the teeth of the other guys inside for awhile, at $ .26 cents an hour. That’s close to what Bernie Madoff was paid his first two years. I’m within a few cent either way. In Zimbabwe, he can probably spend at least a day on each inmate.
Elsewhere on the web somebody commented that we are talking about religion here, in the broad sense. There are these people who have a Commandment that reads “Thou Shalt Not Kill Wild Animals for Sport”. Okay, if that is what they feel they are free to have that religious precept, they can think killing for a trophy is immoral. What is scary though is to read what the same people would like to do with the dentist, and presumably anybody else who does not share their “religion”. Far more evil ways to cause the dentist a painful death than ISIL can come up with in the enforcing of its version of morality.
except the difference is, none of these people who are criticizing the dentist would ACTUALLY do him any physical harm, or kill him. it is hyperbole. big difference.
Strict safety AND continuing education are an absolute necessity for proper gun handing. Without those two elements, responsible gun owners consistently carry the burden and “bad rap” for those who are irresponsible. Ethical hunting has the same morals, if not more, as you are willingly taking a life. This dentist who paid for the hunt is responsible for knowing the credentials/creditability of his guide and the laws in Zimbabwe. I don’t care how much he paid for the trip. I believe this “tizzy” is significant. Failing to mention this Minnesota Dentist was sited by the DNR in Wisconsin for illegally killing a bear, I believe, makes this article unbalanced journalism. Shame on you GunsAmerica.
Hunting a protected animal was sure a big mistake. If he was mislead by the guides, they’re responsible. Why do the celebrities have to stick their noses into this issue? I think they make matters worse.