Jimmy Kimmel’s soliloquy about the death of Cecil the Lion is actually quite moving.
He blasts the Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer, for shooting the beloved beast in Zimbabwe. Palmer said he didn’t know he was hunting an animal of Cecil’s stature. The lion was known throughout southern Africa as a tourist attraction. He was 13 years old and was wearing a GPS tracking device in a collar round his neck.
Palmer’s guides used a dead animal to bait the lion. They dragged the bait across a stretch of land to lure Cecil out of the park where he lived — and where hunting is prohibited. Once they got Cecil to follow the bait into hunting territory, Palmer shot Cecil with a crossbow. Cecil didn’t die right away. Palmer and his guides had to track him down. They found Cecil, shot him with a gun, skinned him and took his head.
My favorite part, though, of Kimmel’s rant, dealt with Palmer’s statement, in which he said he didn’t know about Cecil’s status when he “took” the lion.
“You take an aspirin,” Kimmel said, wondering why Palmer didn’t say he simply “killed” the beloved beast.
This story is going to percolate for a while. As for Palmer, he’s in hiding. He’s shut down his dental practice.