In Zimbabwe, We Don’t Cry for Lions

[philosslayer]

My mind was absorbed by the biochemistry of gene editing when the text messages and Facebook posts distracted me. So sorry about Cecil. Did Cecil live near your place in Zimbabwe?

Cecil who? I wondered. When I turned on the news and discovered that the messages were about a lion killed by an American dentist, the village boy inside me instinctively cheered: One lion fewer to menace families like mine.

My excitement was doused when I realized that the lion killer was being painted as the villain. I faced the starkest cultural contradiction I’d experienced during my five years studying in the United States. Did all those Americans signing petitions understand that lions actually kill people? That all the talk about Cecil being “beloved” or a “local favorite” was media hype? Did Jimmy Kimmel choke up because Cecil was murdered or because he confused him with Simba from “The Lion King”?

In my village in Zimbabwe, surrounded by wildlife conservation areas, no lion has ever been beloved, or granted an affectionate nickname. They are objects of terror.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/opinion/in-zimbabwe-we-dont-cry-for-lions.html?_r=1

[AllFieldsRequired]

1. I hope that dentist never has a full nights sleep ever again.

[HFRN]

41. I'd love to blast 'lion sleeps tonight' at his house EE-E-E-OH-MUM-OH-WEH!!!!

every night

[WestCoastLib]

2. The economic realities of 2nd and 3rd world countries doesn't lessen the importance of conservation

There are interesting discussions to be had about the fact that environmental concerns are a relative luxury that those of us in wealthy countries can worry about, while impoverished populations don't.

However, none of those interesting discussions lessen the importance of conserving our environment.

Whether they do, or not, all members of the human species should cry for our planet and for the destruction of our environment.

[LittleBlue]

3. I'm glad a Zimbabwean chimed in on this

Thanks for posting

edit- After reading the whole thing I feel embarrassed for America and the west.

[AngryAmish]

8. This entire spectacle is embarrassing.

It just shows how ignorant americans are.

[KittyWampus]

21. This article shows just how eager some are to portray Americans as "ignorant".

Cecil was on a nature preserve and lured off it.

So he was a threat to NOBODY.

[AngryAmish]

38. Arguing with people on the internet is stupid.

Even dumber is arguing with people's parasites.

I have wasted enough of my time.

[kcr]

47. Even worse when you realize how dumb it made you look, huh?

Kind of embarrassing, isn't it? What that dentist did was akin to going hunting in a zoo. No American who was outraged came out looking dumb, here.

[MADem]

4. That is certainly the other side of the story!

That said, I think the issue is that this guy killed a lion wearing a collar in a conservation area, not a lion that was running around stealing chickens and mauling children.

It's a good essay--well written, very vivid. I can see his life and his perspective. He has a point.

I still feel bad for the damn lion, lured out from his easy sheltered life with dead meat, wounded and hunted for two days. Ugh.

[MoonRiver]

5. Stop encroaching on the lions' territory.

They won't hurt you then. Sorry, but lions deserve as much support and protections as humans.

[PoliticAverse]

6. Do you live in a nice safe area where all dangerous wild animals have been eliminated?

What if the lions think most of Africa is "their territory"?

[MoonRiver]

10. Do you think lions have no rights to a living territory?

Humans CAN'T HAVE IT ALL.

[NobodyHere]

16. Why not?

They certainly have the piece of land you live on. Would you deny it for others?

[MoonRiver]

22. Why are you referencing me? I live in the U.S. not Africa.

We live in front of a vast wooded area, where there are bobcats, occasional mountain lions and all other sorts of creatures. We embrace them. I have even walked side by our resident bobcat (on different sides of a fence) and had a conversation with him/her. When we were done "talking" he went next door to the neighbor's yard and rolled around, then meandered off into the woods. Obviously I am quite comfortable with wildlife.

[Jamastiene]

48. The most dangerous species is the human species. n/t

[AngryAmish]

7. Humans and lions have lived side by side since there were lions and humans

[MoonRiver]

9. Exactly, and they respected each other' territories.

Not so much any more. Humans think they own it all.

[AngryAmish]

12. Always respected...

[Scootaloo]

17. The Tsavo lions and the dentist have something in common

All three are thrill-killers driven by a lack of masculine features

[haikugal]

33. LOL...

[hifiguy]

45. Well-played.

[philosslayer]

14. You can't be serious.

n/t

[LanternWaste]

20. You then think the sentiment that humanity overruns anything it desires is absurd?

You then think the sentiment that humanity overruns anything it desires is absurd or not serious?

[philosslayer]

27. Do you think the good people of Zimbabwe..

Who live in villages, and are getting by on a few hundred dollars a year, are overrunning anything?

[philosslayer]

43. They didn't "respect each others territories"

Back then any more than they do now. Lions killed humans, humans killed lions. Its been that way since both evolved. I'm not sure where you conjured up this utopia of days gone by where "humans and the beasts of the earth lived in joyous harmony."

[bvar22]

15. ...and Lions have eaten humans ever since they have lived side by side.

It is nice to hear from the other side, the people who have to live in proximity to the Lions.
If a people are going to raise stock in many parts of Africa, that is what attracts the predators.

The dentist is still an asshole, thrill killer gun nut with too much money to spend.

[Warpy]

11. There are lions that menace the villages

and those are pests that need to be relocated or even destroyed. We do the same here with problem bears and cougars. Generally, they leave humans alone unless they are injured or starving. Apparently we don't taste very good.

What this guy needs to realize is that Cecil was protected and wearing a collar. He was lured out of the preserve by bait dumps. There is no report of his ever having been a pest.

In no way was this anything but a canned hunt by unscrupulous guides and featuring a 1%er who didn't give a damn how it happened as long as he got a lion's head for his trophy room.

That's really the deal here, fury against a 1% twit spending a fortune to kill threatened and endangered animals because of his status as a 1% twit. It's proof positive that such people are grossly undertaxed.

It's for this reason that so many of us here in the west hope he's extradited and spends time in a Zimbabwean prison thinking about where his life has gone wrong--like killing an obviously protected animal wearing a collar.

We really do understand, at least those of us in parts of the country with large and dangerous animals around, that problem animals must be dealt with. We would hope they are dealt with by professionals who actually hunt them down, kill the right animal, and don't let it suffer wounded for 40 hours until somebody manages to finish it off. We don't even mind if the heads and hides of problem animals are displayed in Zimbabwe, where they can give comfort to threatened people.

We just want to end hunting them for fun and profit. Those days should be over.

[dhill926]

18. extremely well put....

thank you...

[Blue_Tires]

30. You'd think that the writer would be outraged over

how the local officials in his country come across to the world, since the dentist obviously didn't act alone...

The last thing he should want is to see the same old stereotype recycled of "No matter the law, with a little cash slipped to the right people, we'll look the other way"

[Paladin]

31. Beautifully put. Thank you so much. (nt)

[hifiguy]

46. + a brazilian. nt

[GusBob]

13. best line in the article a great question

Last edited Wed Aug 5, 2015, 05:41 PM - Edit history (1)

why do americans care more for African animals than African people?

the decades of genocide, rape, war, murder, poverty, starvation, drought, exploitation, disease, corruption do not compare to a trophy hunting

if you use a device that uses the mineral coltran (play station 2 for example), or buy diamonds, chances are you contribute to the man-made problems in Africa


edit coltran not cobalt

[LanternWaste]

23. Yet many people reject the premise that Americans care more for X than Y

Yet many people reject the premise that Americans care more for X than Y. Lacking any objective review, it's at best, an allegation predicated on myopia and bias.

[Go Vols]

24. that ^^^^^

[tabasco]

32. Wildlife is disappearing from this planet

Human life is responsible.

Oh yes, Sparky, it possible to care about human life and wildlife. The first sentence in your post is a logical fallacy.

[GusBob]

34. The sentence is from the article.

[lame54]

19. Doesn't he realize that's how we see Dentist here?

[KittyWampus]

25. Article sounds like the people who eradicated wolves in America.

Then we find OOPS!

Predators at the top of the food chain are necessary for the eco-system.

It's one thing to take out an animal if it's actively threatening you.

It's another to kill them in a canned trophy hunt.

[n2doc]

26. Zimbabwe's human population has increased 5x since 1950

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Zimbabwe

Perhaps less breeding would lead to better living all around.

[boomer55]

36. human overpopulation is the elephant in the room for so many of our worlds problems

[MisterP]

49. a lot of it was even state policy--though I don't recall if they blocked access to contraceptives

to the extent where a quarter of pregnancies were ending in abortions like in Mesoamerica

[Blue_Tires]

28. Chock full of strawmen

but beneath the avalanche of false indignation, the writer does make half a point...

[Jamastiene]

29. Sounds like the jerks where I live who kill just about every animal they see, because

they are so ignorant and afraid of them. They automatically assume the animal is around JUST to kill them when, in reality, if they practiced the tiniest amount of common sense when dealing with wildlife and didn't react in such an over-reactionary way, they wouldn't have such bad luck around the wildlife.

People have been warning me for years about the wildlife where I live. There are snakes here longer than I am tall. There are spiders here who grow almost as large as some of the Australian spiders you see pictures of and hear about. Raccoons, opossums, bobcats, foxes and at least one bear, and just about every other animal in the entire area seem to hang out in my backyard. I've been here 11 years now. If they wanted me dead or harmed, they would have long since taken me out of this world. Why they don't do it is because I use common sense when I see a wild animal. I don't immediately try to kill it or corner it because of superstitious nonsense. Funny how that works. People who have a healthy respect for wildlife but don't go around seeing it as the enemy to be taunted, tortured, and killed on sight, seem to live through our encounters with wildlife, while people who want every animal around them killed just because they might harm someone have nothing but bad encounters with wildlife. That is how it works.

The person who wrote that sounds just like the dumbasses who go around torturing and taunting wild animals bigger than them then claiming the animals are killers when they finally have had enough of a bunch of superstitious nonsense from cruel people and finally attack to try to get away.

Duh, lions kill because they are hungry. They gotta feed their families just like the rest of us. If you want them to stop killing you, stop seeing them as the enemy to be tortured and cornered and killed, just because they MIGHT be the one that ate someone's offspring when they weren't watching the kid while on some safari.

A friend of mine got bitten by a rattlesnake when he was 12 years old. It took him months to recover. He has a pet snake today 30 years later and loves snakes. When I was younger, I saw snakes the way I was taught to see them, as enemies just waiting to bite people. I asked my friend what happened and why the rattlesnake bit him. He said he was messing with it even after it assumed a defensive position. He said he didn't kill the snake, did not want the snake killed, and did not blame the snake after he was bitten. He was being disrespectful by messing with the snake even after it showed fear and the feeling of being cornered. I learned from his experience. He taught me about snakes after that. I no longer hated them. The rest of my family is fucking hysterical if they even see a snake on the road while riding down the road in a car. Fucking silly superstitious bullshit.

I'm sick of people claiming any and every animal in the wild is just waiting to kill as many humans as possible. Look at the actual statistics for the truth. There are less than 30,000 lions left in the wild but humans are overpopulating the damn planet in the BILLIONS, that billions with a B, not M. More humans kill lions than lions kill people. I fear the two legged bastards who go around killing any animal they see because it MIGHT be dangerous to them (aka, they fear it). I'll take my chances with the wildlife. I am firmly in the two legs bad, four legs good category. People always mean pain for me. So, I'll takes my chances with the wildlife and watch people.

[MoonRiver]

35. Well said!

The most dangerous and destructive animal on earth is human.

[BeanMusical]

39. +1

[darkangel218]

40. +1 million

Thank you.

[BlueStater]

37. What is the point of this article?

So because lions act on their natural instincts as predators and kill other animals, including occasionally human beings, we should be happy that some rich asshole dentist killed a lion for no reason other than his own masculinity issues?

I also love how the writer pulls that usual bullshit of guilting people by making it seem like they care more about animals than human beings, as if it's impossible for the human brain to feel compassion and concern for more than one thing at a time. What crap.

[HFRN]

42. Ever wondered about what kind of dentist doesn't recommend Trident?

for their patients who chew gum, when the other 4 out of 5 do?

well, NOW YOU KNOW!!!

[ecstatic]

44. Interesting. There's a movie called Prey that ensured

that I will never step foot on a safari/ tour involving lions. Scary as hell!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_(2007_film)