Just The Facts Ma’am
Dr. Walter J. Palmer, a Minnesota dentist, is now the most hated man in America.
He has had to shut down his practice. His office building is now covered with hate posters – some calling for his head. Hollywood has imploded with stars tripping over themselves trying to outdo themselves in their outrage over the dentist’s actions.
For those without electricity over the last couple of days, here’s the story: Palmer, besides being a dentist, is a big game hunter. Big game as in elephants, bison, rhinos and, yes, lions. He paid about $50,000 to hunt a lion in Africa.
He got one. Unfortunately for him, it turned out to be a well-known and popular lion who went by the name of Cecil. This lion lived in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park and was a favorite of the thousands of visitors who went through the park each year.
For his part, Palmer has issued the following: “I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.”
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a rather sane organization, issued the following: “If, as has been reported, this dentist and his guides lured Cecil out of the park with food so as to shoot him on private property, because shooting him in the park would have been illegal, he needs to be extradited, charged, and, preferably, hanged.”
Which, if you are following this on the news, pretty much sums up what many previously rational people believe.
And let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story, or public crucifixion in this case.
First, if the African guides did something illegal, such as illegal baiting, they should be prosecuted. If Palmer was involved in any knowingly illegal actions, he should, too. But let’s let the facts come out before we start calling for someone’s head being placed on a wall.
And Palmer, whatever you think about his hobby, does not deserve death as so many indignant types want.
One little fact that seems to be missing from the minds of the Hollywood types is that it is perfectly legal, with the proper licenses, to hunt lions in Africa.
In an interview earlier this week with The Washington Post, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimated some 600 lions are legally killed each year. Jane Smart, the global director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group, was quoted as saying that estimate is quite old and the actual number is higher.
Smart, in that same interview, said, “However unpleasant people find this, this can be a good conservation technique.” She also was quoted as saying habitat destruction and illegal poaching were even bigger threats to the lion population.
The irony is that the lion population, to save it, has to be controlled. And that means regulated hunting just like with deer in this country. And the reason those lions have to be hunted is because of man’s destruction of the lion’s habitat and food sources.
We hope all those animal huggers realize that as they sit down at their favorite steak house and deride Palmer’s “despicable act.”
And we hope they will show the same outrage over domestic violence, homelessness, veteran and elderly abuse and other horrors facing humans as they do a dead lion.
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