Archive 2015 · Shooting Wildlife

OldProf
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Shooting Wildlife

I have stated once a long time ago in this forum that "If you shoot wildlife with a weapon they are gone forever, but if you shoot it with a camera they are immortalized". I read this today in The Telegraph:

Cecil the lion – the most famous creature in one of Zimbabwe's national parks – was killed by an American hunter who has boasted about shooting a menagerie of animals with his bow and arrow, The Telegraph can reveal.

Walter James Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota, is believed to have paid £35,000 to shoot and kill the much-loved lion with a bow and arrow. The animal was shot on July 1 in Hwange National Park. Two independent sources have confirmed the hunter's identity to the paper, which has also seen a copy of the relevant hunting permit.

truly sad

Jul 28, 2015 at 02:17 PM

surfnron
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Shooting Wildlife

The man claimed he didn't know "who" the lion was - it was his guides that lured the lion out of the sanctuary for him to shoot, and they have been charged with poaching ~ Ron

Jul 28, 2015 at 07:20 PM

eyelaser
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Shooting Wildlife

This is a very sad story on many fronts. Firstly, this Minnesota dentist has a history of unethical/illegal hunting...apparently concerning a black bear....so his words defending his actions do not hold much water. My understanding is that the PH (professional hunters) and their paying hunter saw the lion within the confines of the national park and lured it out by tying bait to their vehicle. It was then shot with bow and arrow using a spot light to see it. But the lion did not die....after tracking it for 40 hours the lion was found and shot, skinned and beheaded. The tracking color was removed and it was attempted to be destroyed. A fee of about $50K was paid to the PH for the opportunity to get this trophy.
Now what compounds this terrible story above and beyond the loss of an iconic male lion and a huge tourist draw to Zimbabwe is the effect the loss has on the lion population. This male lion was the dominant male over two prides and his death will certainly mean that all the young cubs will be killed by whatever new male comes in to claim the pride females. They do this to bring the females into estrus which happens very quickly after they lose their cubs. It is interesting to note that of the 25,000 lions remaining in the wild in Africa only about 5000 are adult males so the loss of even one is disastrous. Hard to believe there were 250,000 lions not so long ago. Or maybe it's not hard to believe...we have a long history of decimating some of nature's most iconic species.
From one of my favorite folk songs, "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn"
Eric

1
https://eyelaser.smugmug.com/Nature/Botswana2007/i-zZmRSRF/0/X2/Botswana2007%20%2815%20of%20169%29-X2.jpg

2
https://eyelaser.smugmug.com/Nature/Botswana2007/i-Vwc3P2q/0/X2/209V6888-Editlioneyes-X2.jpg

3
https://eyelaser.smugmug.com/Nature/Kenya-Namibia-SAfrica2006/i-2B2F49x/0/X2/malelionyawningfullbody2fullcrop-X2.jpg

4
https://eyelaser.smugmug.com/Nature/Lions-Kenya-Tanzania-2010/i-Mc2swH9/0/X2/A71D4798-Editlionmalebigyawn-X2.jpg

5
https://eyelaser.smugmug.com/Nature/Chitabe-Lebala-Savuti-2013/i-f8sjNTX/0/X2/3BOT1801lionflehmancloseup-X2.jpg

6
https://eyelaser.smugmug.com/Nature/Kenya-Tanzania-2010/i-qfBBdpH/0/X2/A71D0972-Editwindsweptkingcrop-X2.jpg

Jul 28, 2015 at 10:17 PM

dalite
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Shooting Wildlife

Eric, you shot some lions . . . and immortalized them.

Aug 02, 2015 at 10:21 PM

barrye
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Shooting Wildlife

The world would be a richer and more diverse place if the only trophy put on a wall was a photograph.

Barry

Aug 03, 2015 at 10:09 AM

raymondjbarlow
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Shooting Wildlife

All hunters world wide that shoot these iconic creatures, should be formally identified to the public, this should be a part of the permit. The fee for a tag should be the hunters right or left arm.

The people who allow hunting in these parks in Africa are also criminals to society. They are greedy selfish, ignorant and absolutely stupid.

If enough good people of our world stand up against all these morons, it will not stop, but it will become more difficult to destroy nature. these 2 guides will pay a heavy price for their actions, it won't surprise me if they lose their lives. Also, a shame.

I am not against hunting, but I am against this garbage.

In the end, we all become guilty of hate, this is more then unfortunate. even myself.. we should control our emotions, and deal with this intelligently. there is always a way to solve such problems. I am sure the world press will help speck out against such crimes, and their will be some good out of Cecil's death.

Aug 03, 2015 at 11:27 AM

jdc562
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Shooting Wildlife

I am not against hunting. There are places where it is needed for range management--especially where a history of mismanagement has screwed up natural population regulation to the detriment of the range environment. However, the recently publicized cases of killing Cecil the lion and the bull giraffe by American bow hunters are disgusting examples of cruel, unethical hunting devoid of redeeming purposes. The bow-hunting dentist only injured Cecil with an arrow; then the wounded lion reportedly wandered for more than a day until someone with a gun finally delivered the coup de grace. In the videos of the giraffe hunt, the hunter gloated next to the conscious and struggling animal as it slowly died with a "perfectly placed" arrow in its chest. No coup de grace here--it would have shortened the video of the hunter dominating the giraffe as it vainly tried to unbend its long neck. In both cases, there were no net ecological benefits demonstrated in culling these animals, although the giraffe hunter tried to spin one with unsubstantiated claims and no considerations of the no-cull alternatives. Even hunters would condemn these incidents as being the hunters' ego trips at the expense of animal suffering--violations of the basic ethics of conscientious hunting.

Aug 03, 2015 at 01:14 PM


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