Anti-Hunters and Cecil the Lion
As the only hunter in my small company, I am getting a lot of questions from the non-hunters, and I suspect a few anti-hunters, about my take on the Walter Palmer/Cecil the Lion story.
I tell people that I was taught by my father to be respectful of the animals I hunt. His belief, and so my belief, is that we don't hunt to simply kill an animal, (which a lot of non and anti-hunters believe), we hunt because it's part of our lives. My Dad's rule was, unless it's a pest or menace like a mouse or rat, if you kill an animal, you eat that animal. He loved pheasant and duck and goose, and that's what he hunted. In our part of Illinois, that was about all the wild game animals that you could hunt at that time. There were no deer or turkey seasons back then.
We farmed and he wouldn't even kill foxes that would get into the chickens because he thought they were beautiful animals and beneficial in the long run because they kept down the ground squirrel population which would damage our crops.
So that's what I relate. It's a family tradition as I go hunting with my brothers and nephews, and we eat everything we hunt. My kids have eaten more venison, doves, wild turkey, goose, duck and pheasants in their lives than most people. And I think there is a definite health benefit to eating wild game as it is low in cholesterol and hasn't been filled with anti-biotics and growth hormones.
I said almost every hunter I know is also a strong conservationist that works for maintaining and improving habitat for the wild game in our country.
I end with the comment that while I would love to go on a safari in Africa, I would probably prefer shooting animals with my camera than my rifle. I don't have any desire to kill any of those big game animals because first of all, I don't want to hunt a diminishing species even if it is legal, and second, I wouldn't eat a lion or other large cat, and I doubt if I would be able to bring the meat home from any animal I would hunt over in Africa.
Now if happened to shoot a big 10 point buck this deer season, I would certainly have it mounted. But the primary reason I hunt is I like to eat the animals I go after. Tagging the big trophy specimen would just be icing on the cake. If I can't bring the meat home, I really don't want to hunt it. Which is why I have no desire to go on an African safari except to take pictures of those magnificent animals that I have never seen in their natural habitat.
I also tell people if managed correctly, the trophy/big game hunting can be a boon for conservation of these endangered species and for the economies of these African countries. I said shooting a lion such as Cecil is something that does not appeal to me, but I would like to see how Dr. Palmer approached this hunt. There are so many conflicting stories about it right now. If he did anything illegal, he needs to be held accountable, but if the lion was legally taken, then that's another story.
The responses I'm getting are that hunting for meat for the freezer is OK with most non-hunters, but once you start to hunt strictly for a wall decoration or to feed your ego, it should be outlawed. Of course the anti-hunters don't think hunting should be allowed at all, but you will never change their minds.
I'm concerned that many non-hunters will rush to judgment about this story and swallow the media hype without looking into what really happened and move from the non-hunter into the anti-hunting category.
Any thoughts?