Tag Archives: poaching

International news

Cecil becomes martyr to a worthy cause

cecil

Cecil the Lion might not have died in vain.

Consider this: Outrage over the beast’s killing has spurred renewed calls for severe restrictions, even outright bans, on trophy killings of big-game animals.

This gives me hope that we human beings can become a touch more civilized after all.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/cecil-the-lion-shows-shifting-attitudes-toward-africas-big-game/ar-BBlkQOU

Cecil’s death at the hands of an American dentist has prompted calls for the dentist’s return to Zimbabwe, which wants to prosecute him for poaching. Cecil was a beloved big cat, a favorite of tourists visiting the preserve where Cecil lived with his pride of lionesses and the cubs he sired. Then he was lured out of the restricted zone into a place here Palmer allegedly shot him.

There’s been international anger over the incident.

I now will stipulate a couple of things.

First, I’m not a hunter. Yes, I’ve gone hunting. My most memorable excursion was in Washington state, in 1970. I had returned home from Vietnam and went with some Army pals into the Olympic Mountains to track down a black bear. We didn’t find anything, but we had a wonderful day traipsing through the forest.

I don’t know what I would have done with the beast had I shot one.

Second, I’ve never much liked the idea of hunting animals just to mount their head on a wall and brag about what a brave man I am. I understand that some individuals do like doing these things and in some way I also understand the thrill of tracking down big game and firing a kill shot.

It’s just not my thing, you know?

Plus, being a city slicker my entire life, I’ve never had the need to hunt animals for food. But those who live in rural settings and who cannot get to the grocery store regularly, well, I can understand how hunting fits into someone’s lifestyle.

However, I’ve long preferred to live on a planet populated by plenty of God’s other creatures.

Cecil was one of them. His death seems to energized the feeling among millions of other humans that the world is big enough to share.

International news

CECIL Act? Come on, senator

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s staff must have worked into the wee hours to come up with an appropriate acronym to identify some legislation that reacts to the death of a beloved lion in Zimbabwe.

It’s called — get ready for this, as it’s a mouthful — the Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act.

The legislation is named in memory of Cecil the Lion, the beast that was killed by American dentist Walter Palmer, who paid 50 grand to hunt the lion that had become a favorite of tourists to the national park in Zimbabwe where he lived.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/bob-menendez-cecil-lion-act-legislation-curb-hunting-africa-species-120857.html

Palmer’s deed has caused significant outrage around the world. Cecil was a beloved animal. What’s worse, though, is that Palmer’s outfitters lured the animal out of the park — where hunting is prohibited — and into a free-fire zone, where Palmer shot Cecil with a crossbow. It gets even more grim. Cecil didn’t die right away. Palmer and his guides looked for hours to find him; then they shot him with a gun, skinned him and beheaded him.

By my definition of the word, this looks like poaching to me.

Back to the New Jersey Democrat’s legislation. It’s a ridiculous use of Congress’s time.

Menendez is upset about Cecil’s death. I am, too. However, I almost always am leery of legislation enacted in a fit of rage over a single act by an irresponsible hunter.

Palmer faces possible extradition to Zimbabwe, where he could be prosecuted for poaching.

The real bad guys in this episode, though, are the guides who went to great lengths to lure the great cat from the national park to a location where he could be shot to death.

If they are as experienced as we’ve all been led to believe they were, they knew what they were doing and they knew where they were. They knew Cecil was protected as long as he remained inside the national park boundary.

Congress need not get involved here. It has many other issues with which it should concern itself.

International news

The dentist didn’t ‘take’ a lion

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.

Jimmy Kimmel Gets Choked Up About Cecil the Lion

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.

International news

Dentist in trouble over poaching allegation

Cecil

I’ll admit that I hadn’t heard of Cecil the Lion … until today.

That’s when I learned of the beast’s death, allegedly at the hands of an American dentist known for hunting big game in Africa.

Well, this was no ordinary hunt — allegedly!

Zimbabwe police: American dentist being sought for lion poaching

Cecil was known throughout southern Africa. He was beloved by the people of Zimbabwe. He was a rare black-mane lion.

Cecil is now dead. Dr. Walter Palmer is facing possible charges of poaching.

Look, I’m not a hunter, although I’ve gone on a couple of hunting excursions in my life. I once went looking for black bear in the Olympic Mountains of Washington state. We didn’t find any, although I did spot a cougar running through the rain forest.

Dr. Palmer has been charged with doing something quite reprehensible. He has been accused of luring Cecil out of his protected area into a neighboring tract. He was baited with a carcass and then allegedly shot with a cross bow. But the arrow didn’t kill him. Palmer and his guides allegedly then looked for hours to find the wounded animal; they reportedly killed, skinned and beheaded the great beast.

This story makes me sick.

Palmer supposedly paid $50,000 for the hunt, which I reckon came from a whole lot of root canals, bridge work and tooth extractions back in Minnesota, where the dentist has his practice.

Palmer said he didn’t realize he shot a beloved animal and that he followed normal hunting procedures.

If this man is guilty, he deserves the maximum punishment that Zimbabwe law allows.

I’m not saying he deserves the same fate that Cecil met, but I feel strangely compelled to point out that several African governments have enacted strict punishment for those caught poaching wildlife. They have ordered park rangers to shoot poachers on sight.

Yes, they take this crime seriously.

International news

Drones are hunting poachers in Africa

A curious thought crossed my mind when I saw a headline referring to “poacher-hunting drones.”

It was that someone was using unmanned aircraft to actually shoot at poachers caught killing wild animals in Africa. A part of me — the evil part, no doubt — wanted that notion to be true.

Alas, it turns out that the drones are being used to track down poachers and relaying their location to park rangers who then arrest the bad guys — if they don’t shoot them to death first.

Can Poacher-Hunting Drones Save Endangered Species in Africa?

Poaching of elephants and rhinos in Africa long has been a crisis for governments seeking to protect the wildlife. One study says 100,000 elephants have been killed for their ivory in the past three years; rhino populations have been decimated as well, with poachers taking the horns of the rhinos to make some kind of magic potion or aphrodisiac.

A project called Air Shepherds, a U.S.-based operation, has been launched to help African governments in the hunt against poachers. They plan to use drones equipped with state-of-the-art tracking technology. They spot the poachers from the air and transmit the location data to ground forces, who then go to the location to make the arrest.

It’s also known that some countries on the continent have issued shoot-on-sight orders to park rangers who catch poachers in the act of killing these magnificent beasts.

So, the drones are helpful in locating the poachers. It’s then up to the rangers to do what they must to stop them from killing the animals.

Oh, and for the record: I wouldn’t object at all if governments used the drones to blast these poachers to smithereens.