The story of Cecil the lion is one I’ve avoided. I absolutely abhor stories that involve one animal cause celebre, be it Marius the Danish giraffe or some abused dog.
I dislike animal cruelty. I dislike poachers even more.
So you will not be getting any defenses of Dr. Walter Palmer from me.
But we’ve been dealing with poaching in Africa for a long time now, and that is not the part of the story I find disturbing.
What I find disturbing is that social media has turned into a giant lynch mob.
Vox reports:
When an American dentist named Walter Palmer killed a beloved lion named Cecil, the social media platforms that allowed outraged web users to spread the story also enabled them to do more than just fume. It gave them the power to act on their anger, to reach into Palmer’s life and punish him for what he’d done, without having to wait for the wheels of more formal justice to turn.
Web users uncovered Palmer’s personal information, including about his family, and published it online. They went after his business, a private dental practice, posting thousands of negative reviews on Yelp and other sites. The practice has since shut down. Users also went after professional websites that host his profile, leading the sites to remove his information. On Twitter and on his practice’s public Facebook page, people made threats of physical violence.
This should look familiar: It is the same set of tactics that has been used in online harassment campaigns such as the “Gamergate” movement that targeted women in technology, or the seemingly endless online harassment conducted against female journalists. It is a growing trend of internet mob justice, one that often bleeds into real-world harassment with real-world consequences.
It’s actually pretty similar to Gamergate.
This is the mob, and because the mob has projected onto Dr. Palmer the worst possible evil, it is totally okay to be an asshole to bring about justice.
Of course, this also gets mixed in with calls to ban all lion-hunting, and at the risk of getting the same treatment as Palmer, I’m going to say that this is a very short-sighted reaction.
Let’s get some facts on the table first.
Lions are not easy animals to live with. They are huge predators that have killed people, but they also do enjoy eating cattle.
If you’re a poor farmer in Sub-Saharan Africa, you are not going to like lions very much. You’re not going to be sitting by the campfire at night in awe of the roaring lions. You’re not going to be proud that all these Westerners love lions so much that they will raise an internet lynch mob to get someone who poached one.
Instead, you’re probably sitting by the fire with a gun or a spear, hoping that the damned things don’t show up an take a calf.
And you certainly hope they don’t kill your children while they sleep.
Most of the people engaging in the lynch mob who are also excoriating hunting have never lived anywhere near large carnivores. Even those of us who live near black bears in the East Coast honestly don’t have a clue. Black bears are timid creatures that have killed very few people in recorded history of this continent.
We have no clue what it’s like to live with large predators. Predators would be a constant worry for our ancestors living in hunter-gatherer camps, and even in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, predation by wolves was a constant worry.
Most Westerners live in cities, and the city has an insulating affect. Most people have never seen an animal kill anything, unless they see it on television.
And what most people see on television is pretty sanitize. Sir David Attenborough readily admitted that the most gory parts of predatory sequences had to be clipped from his documentaries.
Most Westerners think of lions as being really big cats.
Which is exactly what they are.
However, even a domestic cat can be a fierce predator to a mouse or a songbird.
And when you scale up a cat to the size of a lion, you are the mouse or the songbird.
We have a very distorted view of what lions are about. The Lion King posits that the lion cub gets presented by the mandrill on top of the big cliff and all the subject animals, which are mostly things that lions eat, are just elated to see their new prince.
In truth, most of these animals would be avoiding a lion with cubs, and in the case of African buffalo, they would be actively seeking out the cub to trample it to death.
It is certainly true that lion numbers have dropped in recent years.
In 1975, there were an estimated 250,000 lions in Africa. There are now 25-30,000.
Were those lions all killed by trophy hunters?
Even if we accept that some were, there is just no way there are that many trophy hunters in the world who would kill that many lions.
No, what really got the lions is that in many countries where they are found populations are on the rise, but the economies are not growing fast enough to keep up with the population growth. Millions of people are being forced to farm and raise stock in the last redoubts of lions, and the lions start to cause problems.
If your’e a poor person living in Africa, you have every reason to want lions dead. Lion poisoning is becoming quite common in Kenya and in other parts of Africa. Poisoning does in entire prides of lions, but it takes care of the problem from the perspective of the poor farmer.
If we Westerners truly value lions, then we have to think of ways to make the lives of people living in those regions better. One way to do this is to create some sort of economic value for lions, and the best way to do this is to allow some limited, managed hunting.
Now, hunting like this can be abused, and it is certainly true that a lot of the money spent on this kind of hunting doesn’t stay in the communities, but it is still enough of a payment to give people incentive to keep lions alive.
Managed hunting, by definition, is not the same kind of hunting that seeks to make animals extinct. It is a kind of hunting that we’d recognize in our own country, especially if we paid some attention to the conservation policies of Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt began a conservation revolution in this country. Before his time, we saw wild animals as either commodities or nuisances. When we began to conserve them as game animals, they were seen as creatures with value that extended beyond that animal’s life.
Using this conservation tool, we’ve seen all sorts of species rebound from near extinction. The cougar that was wiped out in the East is making a strong comeback in the West, where it is still hounded with strictly regulated hunting (except in California, where the cougars carry off dogs on a pretty regular basis).
But the US is rich country, and most of Africa is not. Land and resources are being stretched.
If we do want lions to exist, we either say that the lives of Africans don’t matter or we say that we have to use trophy hunting as way of generating funds and adding value to the people who otherwise would be better off without them.
No country in Africa would ever set up such a draconian conservation policy that would deny people the right to graze their cattle on public lands or on private property. They might deny it in a park, but outside the park, they are much more likely to look the other way if a lion gets killed.
Westerners look upon the lion situation with self-righteous ignorance. We can’t be bothered to elect politicians who will actually do a thing about climate change, which is driving extinctions left and right, and we can’t be bothered to stop having children or curbing our rapacious desire for new stuff.
But we can tell the poor nations of Africa that they must save their lions– just don’t ask us to pay for it!
Cecil the lion was named for Cecil Rhodes. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps you’ve heard of the Rhodes Scholar program at Oxford that was funded through his estate. Rhodes was champion of British imperialism and a diamond magnate in Southern Africa. He was instrumental in getting a chunk of southeastern Africa added to the British Empire which were called “the Rhodesias”. Rhodes wound up ruling that region as a part of the British South Africa Company. Yes. It was essentially a corporate colony, which Rhodes as the CEO. The region of the Rhodesias became a land of white landowners with large numbers of landless native Africans working on the plantations and mines.Southern Rhodesia became independent under the racist regime of Ian Smith. Dylann Roof, the Charleston church shooter, would pose with two flags on his jacket. One of these was Ian Smith’s Rhodesian flag, and Rhodesia, Ian Smith, and Cecil Rhodes have long captured the imagination of white supremacists
So Westerners have named a lion in honor of a brutal imperialist.
The West has grown fat off of Africa. First with the slaves. Then with the gold and the ivory and the diamonds.
And now when the Africans try to live in basket-cases we’ve left behind, we excoriate them for killing lions. We excoriate them for poisoning them, and we excoriate them when they try to raise money for conservation by selling a few tags to trophy hunters.
The West has forgotten what it’s done to Africa.
And the West is now so far removed from that natural world and its processes that it cannot have a reasoned moral discussion about how to best save the African lion.
It’s all turpitude masquerading as morality.
Cecil the lion was a killer. He killed game animals to survive. When took over his pride, he killed his predecessor’s cubs in order to bring the lionesses into estrus again.
He was not Mufasa or Simba.
He was a great cat who lived by the tooth and the claw, and he was magnificent. He lived a life far better than most dogs in North America, who spend their days pacing behind closed fences. He lived, breathed, fought, and fucked.
A poacher killed him, but if a poacher had not, he probably would have been killed an in an even more horrific manner. Male lions don’t rule over their prides forever. Soon or later, another male lion or a coalition of males would have overthrown him, and he would have either been killed by them or died from his wounds. Or he would have starved to death as he tried to eke out an existence on the edge of pride territories.
He may have been already a victim of an overthrow, and maybe that was the reason he was so easily lured out of Hwange National Park so easily.
The poacher may have actually done the old boy a favor.
What irks me most, though, is that we now live in this bizarre world that combines ignorance of wildlife management issues with the disgusting behavior of a lynch mob.
It’s more sound and fury, but this does signify something.
Western man is a totally adrift in this world.
He will either burn us all up or blow us all up, because he’d rather be self-righteous than think critically.
And that scares the hell out of me.
He was thirteen years old and had already survived one brutal takeover. It would have been nice to continue to follow him and see just how long a male lion can live and thrive under (mostly) natural circumstances. This was a one-in-a-thousand chance (just pulling out a number; I have no idea of the exact chances) to follow an OLD lion to his natural end – even though we know beyond reasonable doubt that that end would have come in the jaws & claws of another lion or lions.
I wish he’d have killed the fucking poachers.
That would have been nice. I’m not so sure that the circumstances here are that unusual, however, or that it would have been an exceptional case. Lions are one of those animals that have kind of been researched to death…of course that’s not to say that humans can’t keep learning and be surprised. When I was doing research in South Africa, there was an old male whose sons were also in his coalition. This situation allowed him to live to the ripe old age of 16 and he died a natural death.
Sorry to disagree, but we have to ask, is Zimbabwe a nation of laws or not? In Zimbabwe, It is illegal to hunt game at night, and to lure animals from a protected park. It is also illegal to hunt animals that have radio collars and are part of a scientific study. That’s the core of the issue: Dr. Palmer committed a crime, and should suffer the legal ramifications of his actions.
Also, shooting the lion at night and wounding it, allowing it to suffer for almost two days, is hardly a favor. Cecil was not a decrepit animal, but by all accounts strong, active and fit.
I am against those who call for Dr. Palmer’s head, but I do think he should suffer the legal consequences of the crime of poaching. He must have known what he was doing; why else try to destroy the lion’s radio collar? BTW, Dr. Palmer has a history of illegal hunting, as well as sexual harassment, another indication of an arrogant attitude. I am sorry that his wife and children are forced to go through this hell with him because of his bad choices.
Lions and people will have to sort out the collision of their worlds, but I feel for all the wild animals whose habitat is being destroyed. When they are gone, as they surely will be one day, we will be less of a people because of it.
I offer no defense of poachers. I say that from the beginning.
But, no one has yet answered the problem that exists in parts of Africa: you have lots of poor people, a growing population, and a stagnant economy. Lions are huge liabilities. If you just ban trophy hunting, they will kill off all the lions, regardless of what the law says. In Medieval England, the king declare the deer his personal property. He made it a crime to poach them, and it didn’t work at all. Over the centuries, the deer population crashed, and England became a nation of poachers.
It would have to think of ways that find some economic benefit for the populace so they don’t go around poisoning all the lions. That’s all I’m saying.
I’m offering no defense of someone who poaches lions or lures them out of National Parks, but this is being used as a bludgeon to attack all lion hunting, and I think this is quite misguided.
The whole point is that everyone freaking out about Cecil is completely missing the big picture. Everyone already agrees that poaching is bad. Don’t pretend that’s somehow a contentious point.
The Oxford study group said collared lions have been killed before. The Lion Aid organization says lamping and baiting lions from the national are legal as well.
In fact, according to South African guides, it’s standard practice in Zimbabwe tfor professional hunters to claim the carcass under another landowner’s allocation if the game is shot on the wrong property.
The only difference is that the Task Force found out that the carcass was on the property which wasn’t under the national quota. If Cecil the Lion was shot on a property which is allocated for the annual lion hunt, then the organization wouldn’t had said anything.
And 40 hours of tracking is dedicated. Ask any bow-hunter, and they will tell you how long they spent trying to find a deer dying from a misplaced broadhead. Bears are even more diffcult since the fats clot the blood flow,a nd there’s not much to go on.
It’s strange that Palmer went AWOL and no one can find him. But the truth is we don’t know the facts, and there are lots of speculations. Until the U.S. government or Zimbabwean government finds him, we are not really sure what happened.
The hunt may be unethical according to American standards, but the way it was conducted was not illegal. The only illegal aspect is that the lion was shot on a property which wasn’t part of this year’s program for lion hunting.
Does that make Palmer a poacher? Who knows. In Africa, the full responsibility falls upon the guiding company and the professional hunters and not the clients. It will be interesting how the whole thing will carry out in courts.
Is he a poacher? Judging based on his record in Wisconsin? Definitely.
Actually, I would contend, when they tried to destroy the GPS collar, it’s not because they knew it was Cecil or that it was part of the Oxford program. After all, remember, the researchers did say collared lions were shot before.
What probably happened is that after they shot the lion, they realized there was a GPS collar and they can’t just dump the body on another landowner’s property since the data of where it was shot would be recorded.
But we don’t know. That’s just more speculations.
Regarding the fact that Cecil was shot when it was dark, I’m trying to find info on exactly what time it was and how that’s been proven.
This piece under “Laws” says you can shoot 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset. It would be dark then, but legal.
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/07/30/a-look-at-lion-hunting-in-zimbabwe
I have no desire to pay all that money to fly around the world and shoot an old lion. I’m not without compassion. That’s a question of someone’s emotional character and turn-ons.
But I don’t want to be misled either.
“Hunting of lions in Zimbabwe can take place at any time of the year but in state-run areas it is limited to 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset.”
So, the 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after doesn’t apply to private properties.
This is so on point. I just listened to NPR’s On Point regarding this situation as well as canned hunting (http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/07/31/cecil-the-leion-zimbabwe-walter-palmer-big-game). This is my assessment of the situation as I posted it on my Facebook page: People largely *are* biophobic. People readily get outraged over large fluffy animals dying, regardless of logic, science, or potential benefits to conservation. People like to demonize individuals, point fingers, and find a scapegoat while ignoring their own morally ambiguous actions. People want easy solutions, like banning trophy hunting, rather than addressing economic inequality in African countries, livestock depredation issues, and the harm that so-called “ecotourism” does inflict on the landscape and animals (because I’m sick of hearing that photographic safaris are the only possible way to fund conservation, and that they’ll work everywhere).
Now I just want one thorough literature review of the ecological and human costs and benefits of regulated hunting in African countries. ..
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0073808
Finally! The first balanced, rational thing I’ve read on the subject of Cecil’s death, ever since this fiasco started.
I have deliberately tuned this story out as it seemed a media feeding frenzy.
But isn’t it true that distemper has played a significant role in the decline of lion populations?
Not just distemper, Canine distemper!
Americmews is having another circus.
They picked up on this:
And automatically assumed Jericho, the brother of Cecil, was posted. There’s no detail how it was shot or why it was shot, or if it was legal or illegal.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/01/jericho-not-dead-cecil-the-lion-zimbabwe?CMP=fb_gu
Jericho’s not dead
He’s surely alive
Growling on the inside
Roaring as a lion!
Why does no one consider the benefits to the economy from the vast majority of people who prefer to see LIVE animals, i.e. eco-tourism. Blood lusty hunters are in the minority in this world.
More jobs would be created than with hunting, more money would be brought in over a longer period of time. Kill an animal and it no longer has any value.
If that were how the economics worked, it would make sense. But an outfitter is going to make a lot more money than a tourism operator, and the government is going to get a bigger cut from trophy fees than from tourism. And this is Zimbabwe… Plus, those people hunting lions have a lot of money to spend.
Ecotourism in Africa is difficult, especially in nations where people haven’t heard of like Burkina Faso. It’s also not an option for politically unstable nations like the Congo as tourists avoid those countries as well.
Plus, in order, for the model to succeed, they need something which stands out from other countries or regions such as the Kermode Bear in Canada. No one comes here to see grizzlies or black bears. Alaska have those too, and so does Montana. So the only unique thing we have are the Spirit Bears and that is limited to a very specific corner of the province.
In short, why would someone want to see lions in Zimbabwe when they can go Kenya or Tanzania? Both are countries which are well-known to Americans and have been politically stable. They also got the perks of being heavily broadcasted through nature documentaries.
There’s no incentive to go to a region which is prone to military dictatorships, rampant with poverty and diseases or one that people never heard of.
And even Kenya’s ecotourism model is not succeeding:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildlife-poison-wcvin
I agree with Megan Davidson’s comments in one of her posts above, but I apologize, I even call for Palmer’s head (figuratively of course) for the following reasons:
1. We need to hand an exemplary punishment to any poacher caught
2. Palmer tarnished the image of the USA all over the world.
3. We don’t know how many animals he might have illegally killed in the USA and Canada.
4. We don’t know how much of his money handed over to “professional guides” may have landed into the hands of money launders (I am sure all of it can be categorized as money laundering) and terrorist activity financiers.
5. He brought a very bad name to professional and ethical hunters, who actually support conservation, albeit as consumptive users.
There’s some speculations that the black bear Palmer poached was because the guiding company he was with egged him on. Remember, he wasn’t in trouble for shooting the bear, but for lying to the authorities.
Not the first time a guided company got into trouble either.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/ted-nugent-s-new-brunswick-outfitters-face-illegal-hunting-charges-1.2994860
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Convicted+guide+outfitter+allowed+continue+operating/10888402/story.html
http://www.theprovince.com/news/bc/named+hunting+guide+found+guilty+hunting+grizzly+with+bait/11252595/story.html
News from this year alone in Canada. Imagine how rampant it is in United States.
All I can say, Dave, is that we got to set an exemplary punishment for unethical hunters.
So, guilty until proven innocent. Got it.