Monday, August 3, 2015

Cecil and the water diviner

I must write about this, I reckon. It won't go away, so I'll have to do something on it.

First, in case you don't know the story.

Cecil was a black-maned lion killed by American big-game hunter Dr. Walter Palmer in Zimbabwe. Cecil was a 13-old star attraction at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Palmer lured him with a carcass outside of the park, shot him with a bow and arrow, then beheaded and skinned him.

But Cecil was not just any other lion. He wore a collar by which scientists at the University of Oxford had been tracking him since 2008. He was by all accounts a friendly, as they say in war.

Social media exploded.

First, this is not exactly the same as the guy who put fireworks into the mouth of a dog and let them explode, essentially killing the dog in the worst way possible.

To me, it's darn close. And in another stark way, it's worse. African lions have fallen from 200,000 to 30,000 in the past couple of decades. To kill for sport, rather than for meat as with deer (which frankly I still wouldn't do), is to me criminal.

But...

And it's a big but ...

In Zimbabwe, there are other matters that might be more pressing.

Eunice Vhunise, a resident of Harare, Zimbabwe (which is near the park) says this: "It's so cruel, but I don't understand the whole fuss; there are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe -- we have water shortages, no electricity, and no jobs -- yet people are making noise about a lion?

"I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly, the attention is just too much."

An economic meltdown over the past few years have closed many companies in that country and left two-thirds of the population out of work while battling acute water and electricity shortages.

So, here's the deal as I see it. Let's start an offering in Cecil's name (and Palmer should pay the first $50,000 or so U.S. dollars as that's what it cost him to kill Cecil) that will help provide clean drinking water for the residents of Harare. Let that offering also begin to explore other means of providing electricity.

Let's quit talking about doing harm to Palmer, as a human life -- even a fool's life -- isn't of the same worth as an animal, even one who has a name. Just stop it.

And let's quit killing game for sport and buy all those guys and gals a video game or two if they just have to go shoot something.

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