Cecil the lion - why do people do this?

MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK

Legendary Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2003
Posts
41,068
Media
0
Likes
41,254
Points
718
Location
New Jersey, USA
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
First people complain about Mugabe being totalitarian. Now you're suggesting he isn't totalitarian enough?

My ideas for stopping illegal poaching:
You would need to have spy satellites watching over every single individual endangered animal, with unmanned drones to fire rubber bullets upon anyone who got within firing distance of a given endangered animal. Likely a multibillion endeavor - and this is for animals who live in contained areas like Wildlife preserves.

Alternatively, governments would have to pay all citizens with wildlife and backcountry/bush survival skills a premium to reject all cash offers by poachers to help guide hunts.

Alternatively, the US can stop the crippling economic sanctions it has imposed on Zimbabwe
No, not totalitarian in the common sense, but it seems they need to stop turning a blind eye to this, cause they know it only invites more trouble if they don't. No more, no less.
I think the main problem is that these things help their economy and they don't wanna lose that little but important bit of dough on it.
 

jaap_stam

Cherished Member
Joined
May 15, 2015
Posts
896
Media
0
Likes
291
Points
98
Location
Eindhoven, Jakarta
Sexuality
Unsure
Gender
Male
No, not totalitarian in the common sense, but it seems they need to stop turning a blind eye to this, cause they know it only invites more trouble if they don't. No more, no less.
I think the main problem is that these things help their economy and they don't wanna lose that little but important bit of dough on it.

It's just very interesting how people are up in arms about this one lion, when illegal poaching is a multi billion dollar industry across the continent - the principle consumers of the products of poaching being Americans and Europeans. Very interesting that the responsibility for stopping this somehow falls solely on this one African leader. What about Americans creating laws that penalize their own citizens for hunting protected species abroad?
 

HungThickx6

Sexy Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2007
Posts
78
Media
7
Likes
33
Points
488
Location
Sydney Australia
Sexuality
100% Gay, 0% Straight
Gender
Male
The barbarian who killed Cecil has been kicked in the teeth [pun intended] on social media worldwide and he will end up regretting what he did, and rightly so.
I wish it was the same for all who kill these majestic wild animals.
Much tougher penalties are needed worldwide.
 

Daisy

Loved Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Posts
4,742
Media
0
Likes
553
Points
258
Location
California (United States)
Sexuality
No Response
Gender
Female
Nice story to get people upset. Where is the outcry against people getting killed? It's a frigging cat. Stop eating chickens and wearing leather if the killing of animals bothers you so much.

Except that chickens are not endangered and it's not illegal and they're not part of a ten year study by a university.
 

JulieInNaplesFL

Legendary Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Posts
2,651
Media
7
Likes
2,422
Points
543
Location
Naples/ FtMyers Florida
Verification
View
Sexuality
99% Straight, 1% Gay
Gender
Female
In Zimbabwe Lions aren't endangered either. 70% of the people over there don't even know about the killing and very few that do don't care. It's food over there. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Is this the best Americans have to worry about? This country is going down the drain and idiots are worrying about a friggen Lion being killed. Why don't you worry about all the killing of PEOPLE here in America. Protest and bitch about that instead of a Lion thousands of miles away.
And I'd suggest you look at the political motive in this from Zimbabwe goobernment. And no goobernment isn't spelled wrong.
 

rawdirt

Legendary Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Apr 24, 2013
Posts
123
Media
17
Likes
1,415
Points
463
Location
USA
Verification
View
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
It's a shame about the lion. How many people have been killed since the lion died. More than zero? Oh, then why isn't there a thread for each person who died? As an American, your existence necessitates the killing of a hundred animals a day. You have the largest carbon footprint by magnitudes of 10's--and that's not just because you eat so much more than everyone else. If you truly love animals, endangered or university-studied, move to a less-developed country. You'll save a million animals a year.
 
D

deleted15807

Guest
Humans by far are the most deadly force on the planet, killing everything in it's path or not.
 

misfit446

Experimental Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2011
Posts
79
Media
0
Likes
10
Points
43
Yes Humans are nasty beasts. We r animals just the same. To senselessly kill a proud being of the animal kingdom just to do it is senseless. If he were starving I'd give him a pass. But he wasn't. If he was freezing and needed the pelt Id give him a pass but he wasn't. To pay a yearly wage for most people to take a crack at him? No pass. But then again as was said above look what we do to ourselves. What we do to the most vulnerable of our own species? Why is this a surprise? Humans in general are nasty, petty and mean. Not all mind u but just think about some of those co workers you are around or the neighbors who seem to be a little off. Yes we husband animals for food and even as companions. But this, in my opinion, was totally senseless. And to find out the hunting leaders lured that majestic creature off the protected land? Heads should roll. And I think Zimbabwe has a right to look into this. And he should at least testify about the hunt. I'm sure he documented it. Come on, a hunt of this magnitude? There's gotta be video! My say. Sorry for long post!
Misfit
 

b.c.

Worshipped Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Nov 7, 2005
Posts
20,540
Media
0
Likes
21,779
Points
468
Location
at home
Verification
View
Gender
Male
I personally don't see where there's anything wrong with public outcry when, via any number of circumstances, certain atrocities, whether committed against people, animals, OR the environment, even in the midst of THOUSANDS of others, just so happens to capture the public's attention.

Maybe it takes incidents coming to the attention of MANY, and awareness, and public outcry, to initiate social and ideological CHANGE, on various levels, and where NO change may have otherwise occurred.

Which at least, imo, is preferable to accepting such events as the natural order of things, or worse still DISMISSING them because a lot of other s****** is also happening.

And I particularly find it rather disingenuous when someone references the "killing of people here in America" yet go into threads where we DO discuss those issues, and dismiss them and make light of our concerns THERE as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Daisy

rawdirt

Legendary Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Apr 24, 2013
Posts
123
Media
17
Likes
1,415
Points
463
Location
USA
Verification
View
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
[hmmm.... thought I had a response, but seems I'm fresh out of troll feed.]
I'm not sure if that's directed at me or not, but what effect does your computer-posting activism and moral self-righteousness do for anyone or anything?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MisterVIP

AlteredEgo

Mythical Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Posts
19,176
Media
37
Likes
26,249
Points
368
Location
Hello (Sud-Ouest, Burkina Faso)
Sexuality
No Response
My ideas for stopping illegal poaching:
You would need to have spy satellites watching over every single individual endangered animal, with unmanned drones to fire rubber bullets upon anyone who got within firing distance of a given endangered animal. Likely a multibillion endeavor - and this is for animals who live in contained areas like Wildlife preserves.
There are drone experiments at work right now to deter poaching. I heard about it a month ago on BBC News, but I don't remember where, or whose experiment. They did say it was effective. They did patrols by drone, and if they saw signs of poachers, or poachers, enforcement peeps showed up and made busts.
 

MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK

Legendary Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2003
Posts
41,068
Media
0
Likes
41,254
Points
718
Location
New Jersey, USA
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
There are drone experiments at work right now to deter poaching. I heard about it a month ago on BBC News, but I don't remember where, or whose experiment. They did say it was effective. They did patrols by drone, and if they saw signs of poachers, or poachers, enforcement peeps showed up and made busts.
I really have to wonder-if old Cecil was so valued, then how did those repulsive retards slip past the park where he was and goad him out without any officials getting wise? Seems too cozy for me. But hey, if those drones do their jobs like you mentioned there, AE, I'll applaud all the way.
 

ManofThunder

Legendary Member
Verified
Gold
Joined
Nov 20, 2010
Posts
4,820
Media
52
Likes
1,913
Points
248
Location
UK
Verification
View
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
It's a shame about the lion. How many people have been killed since the lion died. More than zero? Oh, then why isn't there a thread for each person who died? As an American, your existence necessitates the killing of a hundred animals a day. You have the largest carbon footprint by magnitudes of 10's--and that's not just because you eat so much more than everyone else. If you truly love animals, endangered or university-studied, move to a less-developed country. You'll save a million animals a year.
Hunting for food is completely different to trophy hunting and poaching. A hunter kills their prey as quickly and as efficiently as possible, to feed their family - via the meat of the animal itself or with the money they are paid for the body. For them, it is a job that has to be done. They may enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the act of shooting, but they never make the animals suffer unnecessarily.

A trophy hunter, on the other hand - kills purely for fun. They are amateurs. They are the same wealthy Americans (or any other first-world nationality), that have the huge carbon footprint you mentioned. They pay thousands of dollars to kill (often endangered) creatures, often inefficiently, prolonging the animals suffering - purely for 'glory' and bragging rights. A hunter wouldn't shoot a lion with a crossbow. A hunter wouldn't waste their time or energy, tracking a wounded animal for forty hours - only for a gun to deliver the killing blow. They would have simply used a gun in the first place.

I'm not a hypocrite. I eat meat, which requires the death of an animal. I can't condemn all hunting. However, I can condemn this form of hunting - without any hesitation. This was an endangered animal, which was illegally poached and made to suffer for forty hours - just to satisfy the ego of a wealthy tourist. This lion wasn't killed because the hunters were starving - he was killed purely for profit and pleasure. If you don't care about the killing of Cecil, that's your business - but don't pretend this is comparable to standard hunting/farming/living practices. The average person living in a developed country, doesn't intentionally harm any creature - especially not in such a cruel way. What happened in the case of Cecil was as cruel and criminal as someone shooting your pet dog, leaving him bleeding and whining for hours - then killing him. Just for fun. You're doing yourself, Cecil and real hunters an injustice by suggesting otherwise.

I'll never understand why people get so defensive, when topics like this are discussed. Yes, the world has a lot of problems. This is just one of many, that people are complaining about. No-one has stopped complaining about homophobia, racism or women's rights. Political, religious, economic and environmental debates are still happening. The world still cares about massacres, terrorism and police shootings. Despite our innate selfishness, greed and capacity for evil throughout human history - good has always triumphed. What separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom, is our unwavering empathy and respect for all living things. Even in primitive times, people worshipped trees etc. Why shouldn't we also complain about the death of a lion? Tomorrow, starving children will be the main headline. The day after that, terrorism will be the main topic of conversation. All of these horrors, big or small - deserve their moment of limelight. They all deserve attention, even though I sometimes disagree with the way the attention is given.

Frankly, I don't like the way many people have responded to Cecil's death. As Joll mentioned earlier in the thread, although punishment is deserved - we shouldn't crucify this man. However, some people are going out of their way to ruin his life. It's a problem that social media has had, for a while. Traditional media still has a lot of power, but the social media power of Twitter, Facebook and all similar sites - is truly scary. It breeds a skewed sense of what justice actually is.

Before and after the UK election, I noticed a strong sense of mob-justice. The abuse that was directed at politicians before the election was bad enough, but after the election - it became ridiculous. Everywhere I looked, there was poison written. Soon, it had spawned enough irrational anger - that people decided it would be a sensible idea to protest the victory of the democratically elected government. I was disappointed by the election result, but demanding that a government (which the majority of the public voted for) should step down - was absurd. That's just one example of social media giving people the false-confidence to enforce their personal point of view on everyone else. I've seen people wishing incredibly horrible deaths for hunters, because of Cecil the lion. As far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't talk about the importance of compassion for animals - then talk about torturing a human. It's hypocritical.

I understand the frustration, when people try to force their ideology onto others. Anyone suggesting that a murdered lion is more important than a murdered human, is wrong. However, you just have to ignore those hypocritical extremists. Even if you're pro-hunting, the killing of Cecil was objectively wrong - for the reasons I've already given. It's indefensible and people should be talking about it. Don't let the facts of an important discussion, be obscured by your personal biases or the ramblings of extremists on television and social media.
 

thirteenbyseven

Legendary Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2004
Posts
2,424
Media
0
Likes
1,519
Points
333
Location
Orange County, SoCal
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Male
I don't wish to "de-intellectualize" some fabulously well-expressed posts, but even a low-brow knuckle-dragger such as myself had to marvel how deftly and shrewdly the media brought the late Cecil the lion up to the level of we humans. Perhaps it was his friendly and benign name: Cecil. Cecil is a goofball name of a creature you could play fetch with and teach really neat tricks and he wouldn't reciprocate by eating you. By contrast a lion name Conan would likely devour your balls the moment he lay eyes on you.

But even as the people of the world weep for the dearly departed Cecil, eons ago in a land far-far away (Orange County California) there was another legendary lion named Frasier. Frasier was a retired circus lion sent to Lion Country Safari with the intention that he live out his remaining years playing golf and shuffleboard in a topography and climate that vaguely resembled his native Africa. By the sheerest of coincidences, Lion Country Safari at that time was in the midst of a sticky wicket with its female lionesses. One by one, the experts had flown in porn stud lions to mate with the considerable number of available females. All had been firmly ejected, to the point that the lionesses had chased away these feline lotharios out with violence. Fabio the lion and Juan-Pablo the lion. This lion mate rejection was reaching a crisis point.

Then Frazier came on the scene. In his brief two-year reign as head-honcho of his pride of lionesses, he fathered no less than 35 cubs!!!

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/frasier-521341-lion-country.html
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zarathrustra