The story has sparked disgust and outrage around the globe. I was incredibly sad, even though I knew nothing about Cecil before the story broke. Cecil was such a beautiful animal; tourists came from far and wide to enjoy and photograph him.
He can be seen on video coming straight toward tourist vehicles, lying languorously in the road, playing with his mates and cubs, and growling at his brother, Jericho, who shared the pride with him. Being a photographer, I thought: I would love to photograph him. Why would anyone want to kill him?
The hunter, an American dentist who reportedly paid $55,000 for the hunt, was photographed smiling with the dead Cecil, and took the trophy head and pelt back to the US.
His guides have been arrested for illegal poaching and a petition rapidly gained 100,000 signatures here to have the dentist extradited back to Zimbabwe to face criminal charges. He says everything was on the up and up, with permits, etc. and the guides are responsible.
Why has this story gained such traction? Major reasons are that lions are charismatic animals and Cecil had a name. And when you name something, it gains importance. Cecil was named after Cecil Rhodes, the British mining magnate and for whom the country of Rhodesia is named.
Although there are reportedly 20,000 lions remaining in Africa, Cecil stood out because he had a beautiful dark mane, lived in a park, wore a collar as part of a Wildlife Conservation Research project and allowed tourists to come reasonably close to him.
Since 2008 he has worn a GPS tracking collar. Researchers have learned that the cubs are usually killed by the next dominant lion, so the impact can be larger than just a death such as Cecil’s.
The lion, with a rapidly declining population, is listed as vulnerable, not yet as endangered. Some want to change that classification, and prohibit trophies from such hunts entering the country.
I began wondering how to approach this topic from a Science of Mind perspective All of us, including the lion, are expressions of God in action. We don’t recognize evil, although we do recognize free will, at least in humans.
So the dentist has a choice...he chooses to hunt and kill animals. He wants trophies, and there are photos of him on the Internet with his many trophy kills.
Ernest Holmes says, ‘Love is the greatest power in the Universe. It is the basis and source of everything.” So to my mind, killing animals for sport is the farthest thing from love I can imagine.
He also says: “To believe in a just law of cause and effect, carrying with it a punishment or a reward, is to believe in righteousness.” So perhaps that is now being carried out.
As the flak continues, the dentist reportedly has closed his practice and is in hiding from protests, angry threats, public shaming and possible legal fallout. In Zimbabwe, tourist revenues have fallen as international tourists cancel their trips, and perceive that country as not serious in protecting animal rights.
It’s a complex issue, and there are many arguments given on the Internet for and against trophy hunting. Some cite the revenues coming to Zimbabwe to further conservation efforts. Some discuss the many other injustices that deserve our attention.
But as we look around our world we see our God-given natural heritage -- not just wildlife -- disappearing. Cecil’s death simply makes this more strikingly visible. He becomes a symbol, a banner, for conserving the natural beauty of our planet. It’s up to us to decide how we can be part of the solution.
Ernest Holmes also says: “Even God cannot do our job for us.”
And so it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment