I have been absolutely shocked and outraged for days over the killing of Cecil the lion by a dentist, a so-called “trophy” hunter from Minnesota, a man who already has a felony record in connection with the illegal killing of a black bear in Wisconsin back in 2006…
I don’t think I need to go into any details, since in the past few days this dentist-lion story has been all over the news (even here in Italy) and social media…
But I do feel the need to write a post about it. My outrage needs an outlet, and my blog is a clear choice for that, even though this story has nothing to do with myeloma. So here goes.
Something clearly needs to be done. Lions may well be EXTINCT by the year 2050…and that isn’t too far from now. Indeed, scientists predict that many of the species that are currently targets of these so-called “trophy” hunters will be extinct three generations from now.
Extinct. In just three generations. WHY???
I’m not asking for Walter Palmer’s head on a platter as others have done on social media. Or for the head of any other “trophy” hunter, for that matter. Reacting with violence puts us on the same level as these sick folks.
However, the nincompoop Minnesotan dentist needs to be punished in some way AND, most importantly, he must be stopped from killing animals, any animals!, in the future. 
Perhaps, like Cecil, he could be fitted with a GPS collar or ankle bracelet to ensure he never harms an animal again. Anyone who enjoys tracking a wounded lion for 40 hours, shooting it, then beheading and skinning it, while attempting to destroy its GPS collar so as not to get caught (and then, when he gets caught, says he is “sorry”??? Hello??? That does not correspond to the definition of “sorry” in my book!), is someone who should be kept as far away as possible from any sort of weapon.
And perhaps someday, with some form of rehabilitation (a few suggestions: working, under strict supervision, in a national park; joining anti-poaching teams all over the world, at his own expense, of course; donating huge sums of money to the Oxford University project that was studying Cecil, and so on…), this dentist might be brought to realize all the harm he has done in his life thus far. He might even reach out to pick up a camera instead of a crossbow. That wouldn’t bring back Cecil or the countless other animals that have been victims of all the unbelievably stupid “trophy” hunters, but…but it’s a start.
And things in fact seem to be moving in that direction now, so I can only hope that Cecil’s death will mark the beginning of the end of senseless, cruel, and ILLEGAL “trophy” hunting.
Shoot photos, not bullets!!!!!! No more illegal poaching!!!!!
And now for a couple of links…
Jimmy Kimmel’s perfect thoughts on this story: https://goo.gl/HSW4vC (For the record, I agree with everything he says, except for the bit about hunting. Hunting “because it’s part of your culture or something” is also abhorrent, IMO…see the yearly cruel pilot whale slaughter in the Faroe Islands, e.g.).
There are many petitions you can sign online. Here is one of them: https://goo.gl/KWqqM8
The Oxford University project’s website: www.wildcru.org In case you have any extra money lying around…