Convicted Felon Who Killed “Cecil” the Lion Mirrors Republican Cruelty Toward Americans

Republican policies and practices towards wild beasts are not unlike their barbarism and cruelty targeting women, people of color, and others…

The news that it was an American with money who illegally killed and beheaded a ‘beloved, studied, and protected” wild African lion, although sickening, was not surprising and typically American and Republican. The man’s assertion that because he paid $50-plus thousand to kill the lion and behead it, his abominable actions were “legal and properly handled and conducted” could have come from the mouth of any Republican. However, like any and every Republican, the Minnesota dentist, Walter James Palmer, is a dirty filthy liar and his felony record for illegally killing wildlife in America means he is repeat offender; albeit in a foreign country.

The black-maned lion Palmer lured, killed, and beheaded in early July is not the first African lion he killed, so his assertion that he “had no idea that the lion I took was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt” is patently false. Palmer said “I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion.” One seriously wonders what kind of human being pays tens-of-thousands of dollars and travels halfway around the world to slay a wild animal he had no interest in except as a trophy. He certainly did not spend that kind of money, time, and travel expense because he was hungry; he is just barbaric to love hunting down and killing an animal for sheer sport.

Everything Palmer says is a lie; including that he has an ounce of “deep regret.” The only regret he has is that he was caught. According to African wildlife expert, Dex Kotze, it is impossible that Palmer and his hunting team did not know it was a noted protected lion. Kotze said, “I mean a black mane lion like that you can see from afar;” especially since Palmer was hunting with a bow. He continued that “You are definitely going to identify that this is a collared lion and it is Cecil. Because all the conservationists and wildlife industry in that area would have been very familiar with that lion.”

The founder of the research unit at Oxford responsible for monitoring and studying the lion, Professor David MacDonald, said that “Cecil was lured across the border by freshly slaughtered animal bait into a neighboring hunting concession area, and when he was shot by a bow hunter outside the park he was shot illegally. That is unforgivable and a terrible tragedy for lion conservation.”

Palmer is no stranger to illegally hunting and killing wild animals, or lying that he was innocent in pursuing “an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally.” In 2008 Palmer pleaded guilty to lying to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear he killed in Wisconsin. Palmer shot and killed the bear outside of the authorized hunting zone in 2006 and then lied to officials telling them he “killed the bear legally and responsibly” because it is something he loves doing. Walker was fined nearly $3,000 and given one year probation that obviously had no deterrent value or effect.

It was little surprise to learn that the coward who illegally killed the protected lion contributed to Republicans, or has a felony record in Wisconsin for illegally killing a black bear in 2006. Republicans have about the same appreciation for wildlife, particularly endangered and protected wildlife, as they do for most Americans. Interestingly, there is a direct correlation between Republican disregard and cruelty toward wild animals and their cruelty towards millions and millions of Americans.

Several academic studies have found a clear link between animal cruelty and violence against humans, and the link is so well-documented and firmly established that criminal profilers routinely use animal cruelty reports in assessing the possible threat criminals pose to family members, co-workers, and society. No matter how supportive of “sports hunting” some people may be, the idea of killing purely for the sake of killing and a trophy, is the ultimate expression of animal cruelty; particularly when an animal is mortally wounded and suffers so some “sporting man” can decapitate it and mount the head on a wall.

Republicans do not hunt down and kill Americans, particularly poor Americans, but their cruel policies, practices, and attitude towards wild beasts are not unlike their barbarism and cruelty targeting women, people of color, children, the disabled, and the elderly. Throughout the Western United States animal rights activists and conservationists are fighting ferociously to prevent the cruel slaughter of wildlife and the loss of habitat for myriad endangered and protected animals, that is tantamount to Democrats combating Republicans to stop their cruel attacks on Americans that are homeless, children, the poor, or the elderly. In fact, over the past six years Republicans have made sport out of, and became predatory in, seeking new and more abusive means to inflict pain and suffering on American citizens; including luring them with lies to support policies that are contrary to their own best interests, and in many cases survival.

If this pathetic human being who said he just loves killing wild animals for sheer sport and trophy, is a real sports man as he and his ilk are apt to boast, there is a way he can prove it to himself and the world. Palmer could have stripped naked, abandoned his weapons, stalked the lion on its turf, and then fought the wild beast to the death; that would be fair and sporting. The same goes for any so-called sportsman that loves killing for enjoyment and a trophy; including “sport fishing” where true ‘sport’ would be the “sporting man” putting the same sized hook in his lip as the fish to see who prevails and how much the person really loves “the sport” when it is a fair contest.

For many human beings, the wanton killing of wild animals is appalling, even when it is for sustenance and survival among indigenous people. An important reason why there are vegans and vegetarians in the population is because even the thought of killing animals raised for food is considered cruel. However, it is difficult to imagine there are many people who think killing wild animals, and beheading them for a wall trophy, is anything less than barbaric and cruel. But one wonders if that is even true because there are millions of Americans who recoil against animal cruelty, or slaughtering wild life for sport, and yet still avidly support Republicans because they practice cruelty against Americans; “an activity they love.”