I believe scum like him deserve to be hunted down and treat like they treated Cecil. It discussing and cowardly. The two men who helped him lure and then hunt (if you can even call it that) Cecil have been released on bail. He has also shoot a rhino and leopard and back in America he has shoot Californian bighorns and Elk.

Don't know if anyone saw it but there was a documentary on last night called Return of the Giant Killers about how one particular pride of Lions have survived harsh arid conditions by learning to take down Elephants.
In just the first 10 minutes or so, it totally confirmed my point below of just how delicate Lion Politics are and how much damage will have been done by killing Cecil !!!

Walter Palmer is just as evil a scumbag as the hunt organisers who set the baiting trap up, they all knew exactly what they were doing as the question would've been asked..."why do we need to bait a Lion?" I'll tell you why, because they knew damn well they were within the protective boundaries of that Zimbabwian National Park, and Cecil was untouchable!!!

What they have done to that magnificent iconic Mammal is absolutely disgusting. Luring him away from the park, wounding him first to make killing him easier, removing his satellite tracking collar and beheading him, sick and twisted in my view.

Lion politics (between Lions of course) is both delicate and intricate, and the slightest upset can cause major repercussions whether it be between prides, or within a pride...

Firstly they lured him not only from the park but away from his pride, and this can cause devastation as other males such as nomads are fully aware when a pride alpha male is not around, so the cubs are killed off by any newcomers and despite a fight put up by the females they will eventually give in and will end up mating with the newcomer(s). He was in his prime and has probably sired many cubs with a good successful gene.
The pride was also open to Hyena or Cape Hunting Dog attacks, probably the Lions worst 2 enemies!

Then they removed his satellite collar and that tells you right there that he was of course being monitored. Part of a Big Cat study. So they knew he had a collar on before killing him so chances are they knew it was him.

Their lives are so delicate it's unbelievable, sometimes they have poor weather years and die of starvation, injuries from herbivores (horns or kicks from Cape Buffalo, Zebra, Giraffe) can prevent hunting or even kill a Lion, etc etc the list goes on and that is dealt with on a fine line in Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest, but to take out a defenceless pride male (in this case HE WAS DEFENCELESS against man-made weapons) is downright cowardly, disgusting, and in my view punishable, and they have no idea what they've done to that finely tuned ecosystem!

I might also add, some of the other majestic Mammals that he's killed were also of particular importance and some were within conservation areas in his home country including a Grizzly Bear in a protected NP, a Bighorn Sheep and an American Elk (similar to our Red Deer) all 3 of which are real iconic North American Mammals, that's not to mention the highly protected Rhino that he killed! It makes my blood boil, and to suddenly start showing compassion now for fear of prison... NO WAY, he knew exactly what he was doing in all instances, and so much so that even the Governer of Minnesota was outraged!
Jail them all, and throw away the key!
Cheers
Rob



-- Edited by Rob Creek on Thursday 30th of July 2015 06:23:01 PM

-- Edited by Rob Creek on Thursday 30th of July 2015 06:23:37 PM

Totally agree Mike. I suspect he only regrets killing Cecil because a) it could lead to him being convicted b) his business seems to be being hit and c)as you say it was a well liked and well known animal. I doubt he actually regrets the killing and would have happily killed a.n.other lion if he had been told this one was off limits.


I deplore trophy hunting and if this leads to a reduction in it then it some good may come from it.


Have you noticed though that it always seems to be the wealthy that are involved in the destruction of any of our natural resources, either through habitat destruction or paying a fortune to kill the wildlife that supports the economy of other countries either through trophy hunting, or by buying stupid medicinal products like Rhino Horn.



-- Edited by Craig Higson on Wednesday 29th of July 2015 10:34:05 PM

apparently Cecil the lion was enticed out of an area where it should have been safe by meat on the back of a pick up, the lion was apparently semi tame and completly trusting around humans, Palmer has also killed at least 43 other animals and uses a bow and arrow set up, although i couldn't afford the £35,000 i would pay to see a scumbag like Walter hunted down,

Apparently a Minnesota dentist named Walter Palmer has now expressed regret at recently hunting and killing Cecil ( a celebrated and magnificent lion who delighted many visitors to a park/reserve in Zimbabwe); - he thought it was "legal."

Oh well then, you didn't realise what you were doing! That makes it OK, Walt.

I wonder just what planet do some people live on?
Palmer is obviously well educated, professionally successful and arguably relatively wealthy, (he allegedly paid £35,000 for the opportunity to kill this lion), and seemed genuinely proud of his actions at the time. It's only in the face of subsequent public outrage that his "regret" has emerged.

Palmer is of course depressingly typical of a sub species of human with no understanding of how things are in the wider world, but hey, cut the guy a bit of slack, he comes from Minnesota, and probably likes living in a log cabin at weekends and thinks of himself as some macho backwoodsman hunting and fishing good old American boy like Davey Crockett (though the latter came from Kentucky or Tennessee, or similar backwater well of ignorance).

On the wider scene, looking ahead, one wonders who will have the "privilege" of killing the last wild rhino or tiger on Planet Earth, and how much money will change hands as part of that transaction, because such a day comes ever closer unless this kind of obscenity is stopped.

Go for it Walt!