DuckSouth.com

If you are not familiar with the story, apparently an American Dentist and avid big game bow hunter killed "the most famous lion in Africa (that was collared) when his PH lured "a lion" into bow range very near the same game preserve in which this famous lion, Cecil, was known to live.

The unknowns are did they intentionally bait this particular lion. Did they see the collar before the shot, etc.

This story is catching fire right now (on cover of Drudge the last two days) and I would imagine will have carry over into all forms of hunting.

Thoughts, discussion?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/29/africa/zi ... index.html

All I will say is, that if that was the same cat killed in the first few seconds of the video, that collar is not exactly easily visible.

If you read more on him he has a history of wildlife infractions and also some improprieties in the work place. It all paints him as not the most ethical person. Hard not to pre-judge him.

Most articles I've read specify that after the lion was shot with an arrow, he was tracked down and 40 hours later shot with a gun. Then he was skinned and beheaded.

For the record, I skin and "behead" every animal I kill. And you know those beef patties you had for supper last night, Mr. "that's awful"? Yeah, that cow was skinned and beheaded. Kinda hard to get a steak from a cow that has its skin on.

Maybe the gubment should start requiring a permit to buy meat. To get the permit, you have to go visit the place where the live animals are slaughtered. Don't want to get a permit? Go grow carrots. This stuff is ridiculous.

Bad for all forms of hunting no matter how it shakes out. Sounds like unethical outfitters, at least a slightly unethical dentist, and now it is a poop storm in the national media. There are people camped out in front of his dentist's office waiting for him to show up. The irony of this is, how many people were shot in Memphis, Chicago, and Baltimore this week? The media and the nut jobs are more focused on one old lion in Zimbabwe than on the people being killed in this country...

yankee wrote: The media and the nut jobs are more focused on one old lion in Zimbabwe than on the people being killed in this country...

Sorry but I'll have to call BS on that statement. The same idiots are also focused on gay marriage, free healthcare for all, confederate flag removal etc. etc. etc.

Christians being beheaded, babies killed, racist violent crimes, etc and these people are worried about a freakin lion. These folk are why this world is screwed up. Hunt a liberal next time

tombstone wrote:Christians being beheaded, babies killed, racist violent crimes, etc and these people are worried about a freakin lion. These folk are why this world is screwed up. Hunt a liberal next time

Yep yep

Smoke68 wrote:Most articles I've read specify that after the lion was shot with an arrow, he was tracked down and 40 hours later shot with a gun. Then he was skinned and beheaded.

For the record, I skin and "behead" every animal I kill. And you know those beef patties you had for supper last night, Mr. "that's awful"? Yeah, that cow was skinned and beheaded. Kinda hard to get a steak from a cow that has its skin on.

To be clear, it's been reported that they just left the remaining carcass there after removing the head and skinned it. It paints the picture that all anti-hunters want to see, and how they want the world to see all hunters. He was purely after the trophy. They lured him off a refuge by dragging a dead animal and leaving a scent to follow out of the park. He shot it at night with a spotlight (legal, but so is pure trophy hunting in Africa). They had the opportunity to have saved face in this slightly, but chose not to. They could have immediately reported that they shot this lion after realizing it had a collar (if they really didn't see it when he shot it, which is doubtful since he shot it with a bow and was using a big spotlight) and explained it was an accident. Instead they got the hell out of dodge and tried to cover it up. All this is still very suspicious since he had a collar and was shot at close range, and more importantly, this particular lion was extremely well known by photographers the world over and park regulars. The chance these PH's hunting immediately adjacent to the park could not immediately identify this lion is almost nil. The chance they didn't know that shooting a collared lion was illegal is almost is again almost nil. If they knew there were collared lions in the vicinity (which again is almost absolutely yes), then they would have taken extra precaution before shooting a lion to make sure it didn't have a collar. This is of course if this operation was on the up-and-up. The chance that the dentist hunter had zero knowledge of any of this seems to be absolutely farcical. If half of the things that are being said about this hunt are true, then it's pretty deplorable ethically in my mind.

That being said, I don't like to criticize any legal form of hunting (even if it's "legal" and flirts the grey area like it appears in this case). The more rights us as hunters give up willingly, the more that will be taken, and continue that way. There are many well run outfits in Africa who are true to what every African claims when they hunt there. They do donate the meat to locals (including lions), and they follow the law to a 'T'. This obviously was not one of those operations, and should be shut down, and the PH's should lose their licenses.

On a larger scale, this story makes me realize how odd of a world we live in today. I'm only 32 and so much has changed even in my lifetime, it's scary. When I was a kid, if people didn't like hunting, they didn't do it. Now people get on the internet and say a person should "suffer the same fate of their quarry", even for legally hunting and following all ethical grounds in hunting ducks (I've seen the posts in response to duck hunting videos I've posted on YouTube). 90% of these people eat meat, and 99% wear leather or other animal products. It's a bleeding heart mentality of people brainwashed into believing the meat in their big mac magically appeared on that bun without the slightest bit of suffering. Those cows that live their final days being shipping off in crate, and live in putrid bacteria infested feed lots suffer a million times worse than the deer I shot with an arrow that took 30 seconds to expire.

This guy is a poacher, and should be treated as such and be fined and face the realistic punishment unless he absolutely can prove there was no culpability on his part. However, he's facing more scrutiny and admonishment than ISIS.

The guides and the dentist are all examples of the ugly, unethical side of big game trophy hunting. I hate that this specific lion was killed and I hate that it was an American hunter that did it. Bad deal all around.

Well said, Duramax!

Steven Rinella often writes and talks about the lunacy of the anti-hunters that have no issue with eating store bought meat. What is more ethical and kind to the animal - being held in captivity its whole life and spending its last days suffering in a feed lot, or an animal that has live free its entire life until the moment it is struck with a fatal shot from a rifle or bow?

He is getting creamed on Yelp reviews. He has closed his business doors and disconnected his phone number.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/river-bluff-dental-bloomington

thats bullshart

Funny how an animal can rile everyone up. Waiting on Obama to comment on the situation. Meanwhile planed parenthood can sell fetus parts at a restaurant and guess what the government steps in to save them and orders no more videos to be released of the wrongdoing. Sad sad sad. If they were selling unborn puppy parts it would generate more headlines!!!!!

lilwhitelie wrote:Funny how an animal can rile everyone up. Waiting on Obama to comment on the situation. Meanwhile planed parenthood can sell fetus parts at a restaurant and guess what the government steps in to save them and orders no more videos to be released of the wrongdoing. Sad sad sad. If they were selling unborn puppy parts it would generate more headlines!!!!!

I think this whole thing is a national distraction from the Planned Parenthood scandal. Get people talking about something else.