Saturday, August 01, 2015

Zimbabwe Seeks US Poacher

Cecil, the lion king
Update:  So it turns out that the pillar of commerce, Dr. Palmer, is a previousl felon!  He was convicted of making false statements to US wildlife officials about a black bear he killed in Wisconsin.  The doctor was fined $3000 and put on probation.  Conservationists in Africa think that Palmer is unlikely to face criminal charges for his slaughter and decapitation of Cecil because he employed two Zimbabwean professional "hunters" to entice Cecil away from his protection within the boundaries of the national park.  Should that be the case if Palmer directed his employees to lay out bait and bring Cecil to him outside the park's boundaries?  US Person thinks Not.  The idiot obviously has a habit of killing protected animals. What he did in Zimbawe was the moral equivalent of shooting a zoo animal released from its cage to satisfy his blood lust. The possibility of extradition not being honored by the US or that he is not charged with another felony crime is all the more reason his dental practice should be closed down by economic action. Otherwise, his hideous callousness mayl go completely unpunished.

{31.07.2015}Although Zimbabwe maybe be considered a dysfunctional state {26.06.08, Zimbabwe Fights Back}, it still has enough collective sense to respond to international outrage over the killing of Cecil the Lion. To call what dentist Walter Palmer of Minnesota did in Zimbabwe hunting is to sanitize a craven act of moral cowardice for profit. Zimbabwe has an extradition treaty with the United States. A petition with 180,000 signatures on it is at the White House calling for the US government to comply with Zimbabwe's request for extradition. Palmer would face poaching charges in Zimbabwe's courts--a suitable resolution for his incredibly selfish and stupid act. US Person urges all of Palmer's clients to boycott his dental practice as a way of showing him his actions will not be tolerated by Americans, nor will they contribute to his means to perpetrate such depredations in the future. The brave dentist is currently in hiding.

Cecil was collared and a research subject of Oxford University when he was lured by food outside Hwange park boundaries to be shot with a bow and arrow by Palmer. It took Cecil forty hours to die. Palmer paid his guides $50,000 so he could kill a lion and prove his obvious lack of manhood. The panic stricken guides took the collar off Cecil, hid it in a tree, decapitated him, and skinned the popular icon since he was only a business transaction to them. Extraditing Palmer is the very least the United States can do to show the world it considers animal conservation a serious moral undertaking. Trophy killing further endagners animals already facing serious threats from climate change and human encroachment. It has to stop now. Legislation has been introduced in Congres to further restrict trophy importation under the Endangered Species Act. Call your representative and tell them you want trophy hunting made illegal, full stop or there will be many more dead Cecil the Lions. May he rest in peace.