~George Orwell, Animal Farm
“I never yet heard of a useless thing that was not ground out of
existence by evolution sooner or later. Did you? And pain gets needless.”
― H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau
The slaying of the 13 year old lion, Cecil, by a Midwestern American dentist who paid $54K for the privilege of being able to say he killed a lion, and to parade its head and pelt around, has generated a certain amount of outrage. I can't say I'm not appalled by it, also. But the reasons are complicated.
I'm not a vegetarian, although I tried it for a few years because of my belief that most animal husbandry is ecologically unstable, wasteful and cruel. Here's what I realized by this experiment--humans are culturally omnivores for a reason. I came to the conclusion that while some people may do well on a vegetable-based diet, some of us are better-served with animal proteins, and Lord, I know, I'm one. I've since done what I can to be sure that the meat, dairy, and eggs I eat are sustainably sourced to the best of my ability. But I believe that, especially city-raised people like myself, need to get a grip on the idea that the deaths of animals is the price paid for keeping your ass alive. (Lierre Keith's The Vegetarian Myth is a great meditation on this conundrum about being a meat-eater, and concerned about the act of killing and being ecological.)
What Walter Palmer did in taking his fancy trip to Africa to kill a lion just because he could pay enough for the privilege of doing so, turns a lot of the idea of responsible hunting on its head. It wasn't for food--the corpse of Cecil lay rotting. It wasn't for self-defense as can occur with bear and other predator animals. It was for solely privilege. To be able to say he was one of the guys who did kill a lion. It's probably no surprise that more liberal-leaning people are appalled by this, because that is naked conspicuous consumption, right there. But more than that, there is a spiritual notion behind it, beyond economics: this creature's life was given up for a sick trophy that had nothing to do with cunning or skill, but an asshole's desire to say he dominated this half-tame, lured, majestic beast. The life of the pride that Cecil lead itself is jeopardized because of this ignorant and unbalanced move. This "mighty hunter" wouldn't have disgusted me if he shot deer, rabbits, moose--that's meat. But he did this for balls and because he liked the killing bits. (This "skillful" and "responsible" guy wounded the lion and took 40 hours to track and finish him--so that's certainly not an ideal way to earn a trophy is it?)
