The U.S.’s gun culture once again proves its indecency on the international stage in last month’s killing of a popular Zimbabwean lion named Cecil.
Cecil was important to many before dying, both as a beloved lion by the locals as well as by an integral part of Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. But Cecil’s true, skyrocketing fame came posthumously as a scapegoat for political angling.
American dentist Walter Palmer paid $50,000 for a lion hunt in Zimbabwe, which was led by a local guide. During the hunt, the famous lion was lured outside the national park in which hunting is forbidden. Palmer said he was reliant on the local guides to abide by hunting laws, though the evidence of a destroyed tracking collar seems to imply some understanding of the illegality of the hunt.
While the senseless killing of a majestic and endangered animal is always a tragedy, the aftermath of the occurrence has consisted mostly of pandering to an audience predisposed to fake environmental and compassionate activism. It is incredibly easy to hate one man for acting as his culture condones without actually hating the culture. It is also incredibly easy to rile up an audience desperate to prove their own compassion in a way that most likely won’t affect them or their lifestyle at all.
Following Jimmy Kimmel’s impassioned speech encouraging viewers to donate to the research unit, donations have skyrocketed, with 7,000 gifts totaling over $427,000.
The environmental minister of Zimbabwe has called for the extradition of the American dentist to be tried in Zimbabwe for his crimes, and an American petition to the same effect has been sent to the White House, which well exceeded the 100,000 required signatures.
The incident has become lucrative for the study that was halted and for the popularity of the wildlife conservation movement. Palmer was quick to be shunned in the public’s rush to declare concern for an animal almost no one in this country had heard of before.
In a country where hunting is a national pastime and gun violence is already such an issue, it is actually disheartening to see such outrage for a lion and so little political response for the hundreds lost to gun violence in our own country.
Palmer’s actions are not reflective of a personal evilness but of the evilness prevalent in a culture that revels in the killing of rare and beautiful animals for a temporary high of false superiority.
Those who condemn him most likely contribute to that culture without a thought to the lives damaged and lost to it within our own country. According to shootingtracker.com, there have been 225 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2015 alone, but the U.S. saved its most comprehensive outrage for Cecil.
The sudden concern for endangered wildlife and the hate for this one man seem like veiled hypocrisy to protect our own image of innocence.
Palmer probably should be extradited and face his crimes in the country where they were committed. Ignorance of the law is not innocence, and he should be held responsible for any illegal actions of his, as well as the guide who knowingly led the lion out of the reservation. But to act like Palmer is anything more than a product is to let ourselves off the hook, and to assume that dealing with him is dealing with the problem is to pave the way for more tragedies.
jordrile@indiana.edu
