Cecil the lion's killer found to be American dentist

For those who do not want to read the entire article, it was a bow hunter with a proper hunting license in Zimbabwe. The controversy (which is under legal investigation) is that the lion was lured by the hunters out of a national park onto private land half a mile over the park border so it could be killed.

I agree this is an unethical method. I should note, however, the lion was 13 years old which is well beyond life expectancy in the wild. I cannot imagine he would have lived much longer even if he was left alone.
 
Well as I see it this dentist has therefore committed a crime, if he is therefore prosecuted for what he has done he will therefore be a criminal, a criminal should not therefore be considered fit and proper to practice dentistry, thus he should be relieved of his duties.
 
There are some very prominent conservationists that have promoted the hunting of elderly male lions (over younger ones) as a means of sustainable conservation. For example look at this article from Panthera's Luke Hunter, one of the top cat conservationists in the world.
Hunting Lions: Unpalatable but Necessary for Conservation? | Panthera

I am NOT saying his age justifies the method of luring him out of a national park. I do NOT condone that. I was just throwing out a mitigating circumstance to point out that in spite of the deplorable ethics it may not have a detrimental effect in terms of the overall population.
 
But there is the separate issue of this lion attracting legitimate visitors to the Park and therefore contributing to the success of the park and economic contributions of the park to the local people. The economic and cultural aspects adding to the conservation issues make this especially deplorable.
And for what?
 
Zooplantman said:
But there is the separate issue of this lion attracting legitimate visitors to the Park and therefore contributing to the success of the park and economic contributions of the park to the local people. The economic and cultural aspects adding to the conservation issues make this especially deplorable.
And for what?
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Very well stated and I agree. However, the fact still remains that Cecil would not have lived more than a year or two longer and whatever revenue he generated for the park would have soon dried up. (This is NOT a justification for what happened, just an observation).
 
Arizona Docent said:
For those who do not want to read the entire article, it was a bow hunter with a proper hunting license in Zimbabwe. The controversy (which is under legal investigation) is that the lion was lured by the hunters out of a national park onto private land half a mile over the park border so it could be killed.

I agree this is an unethical method. I should note, however, the lion was 13 years old which is well beyond life expectancy in the wild. I cannot imagine he would have lived much longer even if he was left alone.
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The other part of the controversy appears to be that he was shot with an arrow, but the time between being first shot and ultimately being killed was apparently 40 hours (which, if correct, is far far far too long and certainly unethical and inhumane).

It was a point of pride for Minnesotan dentist and big-game hunter Walter Palmer to shoot his prey with a crossbow and not carry firearms as a back-up.

It is said he could skewer a playing card from 100 metres. But Palmer's "purist" approach seems to have spelt a slow, painful death for one of Zimbabwe's most beloved animals.
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Quote from this story: American dentist identified as killer of Cecil the lion | Stuff.co.nz

Interestingly, he was the subject of a detailed study of lions by Oxford University, and was wearing a GPS tracking collar.
 
I believe it's been said this man has previous felony charges related to wildlife poaching in the United States, but I heard this in passing on a tabloid television program a family member was watching.

If true, well, food for thought!
 
It sounds like the hunter didn't want to kill any lion: he wanted to kill Cecil in particular.
 
Arizona Docent said:
For those who do not want to read the entire article, it was a bow hunter with a proper hunting license in Zimbabwe. The controversy (which is under legal investigation) is that the lion was lured by the hunters out of a national park onto private land half a mile over the park border so it could be killed.

I agree this is an unethical method. I should note, however, the lion was 13 years old which is well beyond life expectancy in the wild. I cannot imagine he would have lived much longer even if he was left alone.
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I have been trying to find the true story as you can not believe what the media presents outright.

Both the land owner and guide have now been charged and it seems there was no permit to kill a lion on this property. The Hunter paid them $50,000 and was told he was hunting legally. Apparently the property has no resident lion population so can not get a lion quota.

The hunter was caught in a similar situation in the past. He paid guides a large fee for a large bear, when the could not get one where he was allowed to hunt, they took him somewhere else.

I dont know weather he knew both times the guides were dodgy or he just has very bad luck picking guides.
 
I understand that the person concerned dentistry practice is now closed, he now faces prosecution for what he did to the innocent lion Cecil.
 
Pertinax said:
Sad story indeed. But why or for what was this particular individual Lion 'famous'?:confused:
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I read he was particularly recognisable as a large male with a very dark mane, its actually black a lot of it.

I also reckon that his longevity and 'catchy' name made him become more famous than the average lion.
 
it always amuses me seeing the trophy hunters standing next to a big dead animal with a proud "look what I just done!" expression, but looking like monumental tossers. I particularly liked the line in the first linked article, saying something like they are "honouring the animal" by killing it with a bow.
 
As a male lion the best way to go is defending his territory to the very end to the next single male or coalition waiting as nature intends, as brutal as it may be, but not via a tw@ with ££'s and a weapon.
 
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There has been a lot of bs since this happened about how he was a "friendly" lion. Large predators that lose their fear of humans are regularly destroyed all the time in National Parks. Also Lion baiting from a blind is how Lions are usually hunted. Hemingway talks about Lion hunting very often in his works.

It is going to be a very unpopular opinion around here I am sure but cultivated hunting markets of the White Rhino or the African Lion in Texas may be the only guaranteed way to save either. Considering none of the countries in Africa can get the simple concept of rule of law. Look at the example of the Scimitar Oryx on Texas ranches now.
 
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tschandler71 said:
There has been a lot of bs since this happened about how he was a "friendly" lion. Large predators that lose their fear of humans are regularly destroyed all the time in National Parks. Also Lion baiting from a blind is how Lions are usually hunted. Hemingway talks about Lion hunting very often in his works.

It is going to be a very unpopular opinion around here I am sure but cultivated hunting markets of the White Rhino or the African Lion in Texas may be the only guaranteed way to save either. Considering none of the countries in Africa can get the simple concept of rule of law. Look at the example of the Scimitar Oryx on Texas ranches now.
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There's been talk that raising rhinos to harvest horns could potentially help the species both by the captive breeding and by reducing demand for poached rhino horn. It's an interesting possibility.
 
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