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Cecil the Lion Killed by Dentist Causes Uproar
Cecil the Lion Killed by Dentist Causes Uproar (no pun intended).
All over the news and here is but one article.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3177303/PICTURED-American-dentist-passion-hunting-killed-Cecil-Lion-bow-arrow-Zimbabwe.html
All over the news and here is but one article.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3177303/PICTURED-American-dentist-passion-hunting-killed-Cecil-Lion-bow-arrow-Zimbabwe.html
It's only true if it's on this forum where opinions are facts and facts are opinions
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
Replies
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
They are allowed to be hunted under controlled management conditions, but this guys guides were not supposed go after that lion and baited it to come off the preservation.
If he didn't know it was a set up hunt and he did have the proper papers and permission to hunt a lion then he shouldn't be punished. If he did know and was in on it, then shame on him.
But the crazies are sending him death threats and putting stuffed lion toys/animals in front of his dental practice trying to put him outta business.
Same ones screaming are most likely against any and all hunting under any circumstances.
I don't see anything wrong with going after a trophy legally if that is what they want to do.
This guy has a history, though.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
A sorry set of circumstances. The dentist seems to have a lust for trophies. "...likely against any and all hunting under any circumstances." Well, that's making an assumption I wouldn't want to make. I don't care if his business is ruined, and it's just as legal to put stuffed toys in a public place as it is legal to lure a tame lion off a park and kill it...if that's legal, which apparently it isn't. It wasn't a hunt, it was an assassination.
To hell with him.
My guess is that most regulars of this forum hold this view or one similar to it. I do.
I have taken nice, representative specimens of elk and pronghorn antelope, but still would like to take a really nice mule deer and whitetail. I don't want to do badly enough to pay for a guided trophy hunt, and will die just as happy as not if I don't accomplish that. I also plan to eat whatever I shoot, within reason (no way I'll eat a prairie dog). The only caveat is that mule deer I have taken out of country with lots of sage brush has such a strong, gamey taste it's barely palatable. That goes even for does and small bucks.
As for the dentist who shot Cecil, I'll reserve judgement. Based on the article posted by Chief, it appears that the hunter legally took the lion, and he did track the wounded animal for two days to finish it off. Maybe there's some sort of law on the books about baiting near a national park or something. I don't know. What he did may have been unethical, though, as it's hard to imagine he and his guide didn't know where this lion came from. Again, I'll wait for more facts to be presented.
This reminds me of an incident that occurred years ago in northern Utah. There is a private park on which a large herd of elk stayed. They were protected, and people would pay to ride a sleigh loaded with hay to get up close and personal while park personnel fed the animals. The park was bordered by public land and was open to hunting. During one hunting season, something happened to spook the elk, and they ran onto the public land. Many of them were killed because of this. I don't think that any laws were broken, but I'll leave it up to you as to whether or not the hunters were behaving in an ethical manner. To me, it's a gray area.
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
If the PH knowingly lured the lion out of a preserve, it wasn't really sporting. But if they were on a legitimate lease the PH had then I think they were legal. I'm sure that the hunter being from Minnesota, didn't know all the rules & regs so he relied on the outfitter to keep him legal. It's his money though, and if he wants to drop $50K-$60K on a lion hunt that's his business.
If it weren't for hunters paying big bucks over in Africa there would be no Elephants/Rhinos/Big Cats. Hunter's dollars pay for conservation of the species. Personally, I wouldn't shoot anything in Africa. The local poachers kill far more endangered animals than paying hunters ever have. If I shoot it, I eat it.
If he was in on it, then he deserves what he gets
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
If he was legal all I see is anti-hunters have a poster animal to whine about and don't believe they won't try and stop deer hunters/prairie dog shooters and all animal shootin.
Them people are nuts with death threats and all.
I can see not wanting to trophy hunt and I can see doing it.
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
I don't claim to know that sportsmen dollars support wildlife in Zimbabwe; they do here in the US. The governments of a lot of African governments are corrupt and so I imagine a lot of cash that should go to wildlife lines some pockets.
I have no idea what it's worth to shoot a legal lion, but this one cost $55,000. It's his money but not necessarily his lion.
Me 3
This would have been the case whether the lion was famous or not....
Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
They are connected in the context he described....just like bombing an aspirin factory...
Does the us and Zimbabwe have an extradition agreement?
But rarely is the bait dragged through a game reserve behind a truck.....It appears as if Cecil had a propensity for chasing vehicles anyway....
Some lady on the news said the biggest poacher in Africa is a leader who had a baby elephant cooked and ate some of it for his birthday celebration. They ate Dumbo!
Matter of perspective, I reckon. Not much outrage/news coverage here over the birthday bash in comparison.
Elephants were slaughtered to celebrate the Zimbabwean president's birthday
"His guests were fed a young elephant, and two buffaloes, two sables and five impalas were also donated to the president by a local landowner. He also threw in a lion and a crocodile to be stuffed as an extra gift for Mugabe. On top of this, 40 cows were offered to the president by two members of his government. A second elephant is going to be shot and given to the Victoria Falls community."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/robert-mugabe-eats-a-zoo-for-obscene-91st-birthday-party-10077805.html
Words of wisdom from Big Chief: Flush twice, it's a long way to the Mess Hall
I'd rather have my sister work in a whorehouse than own another Taurus!
If the guide, landowner, hunter, or whatever did something against the laws and regulations, that is poaching and I hope they hang. But if everything was on the up and up, I do not see any issues with this or any other trophy hunt.
Such was the case of "Sampson" a 7x7 or 7x8 bull elk that every winter came down from Rocky Mt. N.P. into Estes Park and hung out around the YMCA, one morning the locals found him with his head and shoulders cut off, the guy was caught and prosecuted. For what, so you can lie about how great a hunter you are. Just my .02Cents on the subject.
JAY
Well, the lion wasn't shot for meat, he was shot by either a compound bow or a crossbow by a dentist who is apparently rich and likes to boast about his prowess. (Pictures.) That's not a trait to be admired. The PH apparently DID do something wrong, he was arrested for it. The pictures remind me of Vladamir Putin.
And it was left to waste. So where does that leave us? Coyotes are pests, so are prairie dogs. Lions are not, which makes act much worse since it was apparently wanton.
In no way is this apparently criminal act morally equivalent to selling baby organs, let's be clear. There seems to be a question of expediency on the part of some who say it doesn't matter to the animal. It matters to those of us who are hunters who need all the positive imagery we can get, not crap like this. You could argue it doesn't matter to the fetus if it is being sold on the black market.
I wouldn't be surprised if it costs the dentist his business.
Probably ought to ask that question to Africans whose livestock (and sometimes the Africans themselves) are preyed upon by lions. Throughout Rhodesia and South Africa lions were treated as vermin for many years. The only reason that changed is that it's more profitable to charge wealthy Europeans and Americans healthy license and trophy fees for the opportunity to kill one.
That being said, the act of baiting this cat (or any animal) off a reserve in order to kill it and for the people (the rangers) who are paid to protect the animal to be part and party to it is IMHO despicable.....
I am cool with killing elephants. I am not cool with killing elephants just to saw off the tusks and make their foot into an ashtray, nor am I cool with killing elephants if it does not align with good conservation. Or with an inadequate weapon.