The Lion, the Dentist and the Internet

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by Crockett, Jul 29, 2015.

  1. Crockett

    Crockett 5,000+ Posts

    It's all over the news and social media. Beloved Lion from a wildlife preserve comes onto private property (allegedly lured) and killed by an American dentist who had paid big money for guides and permits in hopes of killing big game. I'm saddened by the death of the lion, but more saddened by the avalanche of media and public shaming of a dentist who seems to me more a victim than a perp. I honestly don't like killing big animals, though I deal cruelly with the mice in the garage or a copperhead in the garden. But I know and like a lot of hunters and I can certainly see where killing a mature male lion with a bow and arrow would be an incredible thrill ... buck fever times 100.

    What I hope doesn't get lost in all of this is how much hunters and sportsmen have contributed to wildlife habitat preservation and reintroduction of species to areas where they had been all but wiped out. I've seen dramatic increases in deer and wild turkey population in areas where despite spending countless hours in the wild, I seldom spotted them as a youth.
     
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2015
  2. Larry T Spider

    Larry T Spider 100+ Posts

    I would have an easier time seeing the dentist as a victim if he didn't already have a poaching conviction here in the US. I am fine with allowing hunting of these animals if it keeps more of them alive, which works well in theory. They are supposed to be getting big money for rich guys to hunt animals that needed to be taken anyway. The money then goes to preservation efforts. In reality some Africans use the money to line their pockets while allowing animals that don't need to be taken to be killed. It's all extremely corrupt and many of the lions that are killed are raised around humans on preserves then are moved into areas where canned hunting is allowed.

    I don't have too much sympathy for the dentist because he has the money, education, and hunting experience to know better. Hell, the lion had a collar on it that they were unable to remove. He will have a hard time convincing me he was just along for the ride and was oblivious.
     
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  3. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    +1 He doesn't deserve the vitriol he's received but his background undercuts his innocence. I saw 1 site went so far as to report that he has a sexual harassment suit against him that was settled for $125k and he was initially reprimanded by the governing body for dentists in Minnesota.

    It's time for this story to go away though. Please leave my facebook feed now.
     
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  4. TheWalkingHorn

    TheWalkingHorn 500+ Posts

    If you're in a hurry just skip to the 2:00 minute mark.

     
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  5. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    Kimmel is right. Why the hell does someone want to kill a beautiful animal like this—as “sport”? How about you put down your high powered weapon, chase this cat down and kill it with your bare hands. That might be a little closer to sporting, you ******* barbaric douche.

    /rant
    Can you explain the “thrill” please because I don’t get this at all.
     
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  6. TheWalkingHorn

    TheWalkingHorn 500+ Posts


    I erased what I originally wanted to say and inserted the kimmel clip. But I'm glad you said it. :)
     
  7. Crockett

    Crockett 5,000+ Posts

    Sorry I've introduced something I can't explain. My dad is a deer hunter and loves it, but I never really asked about the moment he pulls the trigger on a big buck. I do know that the day after he makes his kill (he won't shoot an unimpressive specimen) is a very sad day for him. I believe he loves the hunt more than the killing, but the killing is an integral part of it.
     
  8. Larry T Spider

    Larry T Spider 100+ Posts

    I do kind of get the thrill even though I'm not a big hunter. There is even a thrill from catching a big fish. I just don't get wanting to shoot stuff like lions though. It would make me much more sad than whatever thrill was provided. I also don't believe in shooting anything unless you are going to eat it or there was another need. And yes, I have eaten plenty of squirrel and it's not too bad with the right Cajuns cooking it.
     
  9. Hollandtx

    Hollandtx 250+ Posts

    I don't hunt, but I understand the need for it, and I can hold my nose at high priced trophy hunts if they indeed help preserve wildlife in the end. I can even understand the thrill, the burst of adrenaline one might get after stalking, tracking--you know, actually hunting your prey...but this, no. This was in no way a hunt. This was luring a protected animal (who was fairly used to seeing human beings) with a dead carcass tied to a truck, hitting him in the eyes with a spotlight (a practice I thought if not illegal, was certainly looked on with distain by a real hunter, it's called jack-lighting I think) and merely injuring the animal.
    Then, being unable to even track a bleeding animal for 40 hours until it could be put out of it's suffering. Once you find the lion, you feel the need to try to break the tracking collar, then skin it, and take his head. Good for you, you masterful "hunter".

    The type of person who could look at that magnificent head hanging in his trophy room, without a shred of remorse or shame is beyond my comprehension. His killing of the lion was like shooting fish in a barrel. I see no reason to feel the "thrill or a rush" over something as pathetic as that. None whatsoever.
     
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  10. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

    It would see that at 14 years the poor lion had reached maturity and average death age but that is only lions in the wild. in relative captivity they live from 25 to 30 years. This guy was 14.

    I'm ok with hunting to eat. Thinning an overgrown herd is ok as well as long as the meat is used in my opinion.

    This case appears unseemly with luring the animal from the protected area. However the nearly $60K for the poacher/guides was probably too much to resist. The Dentist chose poorly.
     
  11. OrngNugz

    OrngNugz 500+ Posts

    [QUOTE="A dentist who seems to me more a victim than a perp."[/QUOTE]

    You have got to be kidding me here. This guy deserves to get publicly shamed and ridiculed for what he did and I hope others that would otherwise behave the same way think again before taking a similar action. This dentist is no "hunter", he did not track his kill he was simply waiting to take a shot. I hope he loses his livelihood over this, if you want to shoot big game animals use a camera.
     
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  12. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

    There are stories of over reproduction of some animals when they are over protected so there is an extreme in the other direction of this topic. (Certainly not the case here)

    I wonder if he knew the lion was lured from the preserve? That is a big deal to me. He has shown, at least from internet articles, that he has apparently broken hunting rules before.

    Hunter/buyer beware what you are purchasing/hunting. Did he know he was killing the iconic Lion? He chose poorly at minimum.
     
  13. chango

    chango 2,500+ Posts

    Arthur: [pointing at a mounted moose on the wall] Where's the rest of this moose?

    Burt Johnson: Arthur, I think it's time we got to know one another.

    Arthur: I do too. That's why I had to come over today. Hmhmhmhm. This is a tough room.

    Arthur: [patting the moose] I don't have to tell you that.

    Arthur: You must've hated this moose.

    Burt Johnson: Why don't you forget the moose for a moment!

    Arthur: [looks at the moose; then, to Burt] Right.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  14. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

    Bison are awesome to see on the range. They make good fajitas as well. :popcorn: Not sure about Lion burgers?!?








    too soon?
     
  15. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

    Anti-dentite bast***s!
     
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    Last edited: Jul 30, 2015
  16. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

    Like others, can't understand how someone could find pleasure in killing such a magistic beast.
     
  17. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

    Are they delicious?
     
  18. Clean

    Clean 5,000+ Posts

    Feline lives matter!!!!!!
     
    • Like Like x 2
  19. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

    http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/...-biggest-importer-of-trophy-lions-like-cecil/

    We're #1!

    um... wait a second.

    [​IMG]

    Holy shnikes it is getting worse, not better.(BTW, unlike aggy, the trend since '95 is the significant one and not just last 2-3 years)

    Hmm an interesting trend as well:

    [​IMG]

    not nice at all with the bow and arrow thing either(yuck, 40 hour kill):

     
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    Last edited: Jul 30, 2015
  20. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    I really don't see why anyone enjoys hunting just for the sake of shooting a live animal. If you're going to use the meat that's one thing, but killing just for sport is screwed up. Nevertheless, I really don't care much about this story and think it's silly that anyone puts much time or thought into it.
     
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  21. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

    Thats too much thought, Bro.
     
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  22. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    for hundreds of thousands of years lions were hunters and man was prey. We were what was for lunch and they were the diners. Then we got fire and sharp sticks and bows and arrows and then firearms. Game on.

    I don't give a zhit why anybody kills the big cats, who survive by slaughtering the most graceful animals in Africa. They will still kill humans when given the chance. I have never paid to hunt anything, except for paying for the license from the state of Texas. I don't even lease land but occasionally hunt on friends' land and shoot and then eat what I kill. But the thrill, if you want to call it that, is in the hunting, not the eating. For scores of centuries men hunted to survive and something of that habit survives in some of us. As Ortega y Gassett said, man does not hunt to kill, he kills in order to hunt.

    people who get all pizzy about somebody killing a stupid cat never seem to mention the human scum who runs "Zimbabwe." Have you heard Kimmel or other snarky trash like him say anything bad about Robert Mugabe? I think not. You want to see human garbage, look up Mugabe and what he has done to thousands of people because of their race and how he has driven the breadbasket of africa to the brink of starvation. South Africa is awash with refugees from Zimbabwe and the justice all these pathetic morons want to return the dentist to face.
     
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  23. TheWalkingHorn

    TheWalkingHorn 500+ Posts

    [​IMG]
     
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  24. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Amor Fati

    My wifi is gluten-free and sustainably raised
     
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  25. TheWalkingHorn

    TheWalkingHorn 500+ Posts

    Hippie.
     
  26. zork

    zork 2,500+ Posts

  27. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

    Not sure if I buy argument that leader of country is evil, cool to kill all plants and animals. I don't have a problem with legal hunts. I personally couldn't kill an exotic animal and don't get the thrill others get from it, but I certainly understand.

    I guess it's yet to be determined if it was a legal kill. I know the far left is going to come after him regardless; I don't wish that on him.
     
  28. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    LC: nobody made that argument. I don[t think it is cool to kill all plants and animals and if I did I don[t think it would be cool because the leader of the country is evil. My point was that it is passing strange that all these people are whining about killing an animal but don't seem upset that this tyrant has been destroying the country for decades.
     
  29. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

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