The man who killed Cecil the lion, seems to be contrite about killing the wrong lion. He is reported as saying that he hadn’t realised he was hunting a protected one. But killing any lion (and all the other precious endangered species he’s slaughtered) in a world where we are now beginning to realise that animals have a different consciousness to ours, and have gifts that are a closed book to our different intelligences, seems not just wrong, but cruel and crass.
Yet I discover that in this country too, as in South Africa, and presumably other places, gangs of rich white men fly in to shoot animals penned up in enclosures … all for the fun of killing a captive lion or deer, or whatever. I read that an Englishman, also run to earth for his killing of these great creatures on safari, refuses to comment, saying it’s a private matter. But it isn’t of course.
These creatures are dying out because these men are killing them, and our planet and our children and grand-children will be deprived of a vital source of life as well as beauty. Scientists say that our survival depends on the survival of the large animals. So we ARE all involved in this killing by rich white men, as well as poor poachers, even if we think we aren’t.
Let’s hope Cecil’s death helps to change humankind’s thinking about our place on this planet… for we are not so much homo sapiens as homo murderous.
Avaaz has a petition we can sign in an effort to stop the hunting of lions. Perhaps it would be a start to stop calling these magnificent creatures ‘big-game’, and to stop calling the killing ‘trophy hunting’. There are other more appropriate names for this destruction of life on earth .
Google Avaaz, RIP Cecil if you want to help.
valeriedavies 
Well said!
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Thank you Bruce… the world seems to agree on this one !!!
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Well said Valerie. The murder of Cecil was horrific. Wouldn’t it be a testament to his memory if some positive steps toward stopping this abomination would take shape? Thank you for speaking out and giving us a positive step we can take.
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Thank you Ardys… we are all agreed it feels… and yes, that’s my hope too, that magnificent Cecil didn’t die in vain…
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Avaaz is a good organisation to support. Well said about Cecil and all ions and all so-called big game. The nomenclature really does need changing to help the change we need to see in attitudes. This killing made me very sad. I find it impossible to begin to understand why someone would want to kill in this way. Thank you for speaking up.
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Thank you, Sally… sometimes it’s hard to refrain from saying the obvious – but it seems we’re all agreed !!!!
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It is beyond my comprehension that people do this in spite of the fact that we know of impending mass extinctions. Maybe this will end up doing some good if it raises awareness and the will to change things.
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I know – I feel the same… we all know we’re destroying our world and yet some people don’t seem to mind ….yes, I hope too that Cecil’s death will have jolted us all into awareness…
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I cried when I read about that human friendly lion’s death and how the men went about killing it. I really don’t understand how anyone can just kill for sport. Well, said Valerie!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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I know… even the word ‘sport’ is an outrage isn’t it !
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It is…outrage is the perfect word…as is disgusting.
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My husband said that to kill a socialized animal, no matter how big, is like shooting your neighbor’s cocker spaniel.
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Yes, though at least cocker spaniels are not an endangered species yet –
I think !
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Thank you for this post. I consider killing animals for sport barbaric. I’m ashamed of our species.
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Yes, it’s so hard trying ot to be judgemental and at the same time feel that some things are an outrage…
And yes, as a species we have a way to go, I feel !!!!
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I just read something in the newspaper about this dentist being the target of internet rage and how unfair it is. I don’t know how I feel about that. If you don’t want to be hated, don’t do hateful things, right?
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I feel that everything has consequences. When he posted boastful photos of himself on the internet, pillaging the planet and killing endangered species which support our life as well as his, he was asking for it !!!!
Quite apart from the moral aspect of it… killing anything, just because homo non-sapiens thinks he has a right to ….no, my sympathies for him are blunted !!
I wonder if Cecil thinks it’s unfair …
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Heartbreaking! Check out my blog, and raise awareness. Trophy hunting must stop!! https://roarforserenity.wordpress.com/
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Thank you, and I have also checked out the canned lion shooting
web-site you point us to, and will join my efforts to the rest…
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I really can’t understand why anyone would consider it acceptable to do this – and particularly in this day and age when you would think our awareness had been raised.
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I know, it makes me realise what a sheltered group we bloggers are – we are unanimous on this… though thank heavens much of the rest of the world is too… for various reasons !
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I grew up in an era when a Big Game Hunter was what every little boy wanted to be, but I soon worked out for myself that such heroes were in fact both cowardly and destructive. What bravery is actually involved in going out with a high-powered weapon and backup? (We won’t even talk about penned animals!) It seems that as a kid I had more maturity than these grown and wealthy ‘sportsmen’.
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Yes, I agree with everything you say.. and yes, in the end it all comes down to our state of consciousness and how aware we are… and in the mean-time the world has to cope with homo sapiens and its ignorance !
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I’m so mad about this! I don’t get why they feel the need to kill these animals. They are endangered and it serves so purpose like putting food on the table or keeping the population from getting out of control. I’m just so disgusted with these hunters.
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It seems to be a case of ego, heartlessness, and too much money !!!!
The professionals who are being blamed by the hunter were at least trying to make a living, the hunters do it for fun and ego satisfaction….
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They are obviously over compensating for something.
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Marine wildlife, animal wildlife, we are killing and taking them all, it’s not enough to make a species extinct, we are scraping the bottoms of oceans in our efforts to make money, upsetting the balance of the ecosystem and the livelihoods of those who used to live sustainably, who only took what was necessary for survival, leaving the rest to replenish. Those with their eye on the prize have no interest or understanding of the consequence, it is despicable.
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Claire I ‘m with you on every word you say. and of course the wider picture as you ay,is that the whole world is being destroyed… I was horrified to learn yesterday that this country exports CONTAINER – loads of bees to California where those who have survived are released to do their work on the mono- crops of oranges etc,, and then when those crops are over, they die because there’s no other food for them.. ‘.those that the gods wish to destroy they first make mad’ indeed….
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Agreed, we seem to be indifferent to what we do to the earth and what / who we share it with.
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Yet I have a feeling that Cecil’s death is snowballing into something that may help to change our thinking – or at least make more people more aware of our fragile planet and its life…
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