[Polecat]

I just wonder why people care about this one specific lion. Cause it had a nickname and was "famous"? No one cares about animals being killed on mass so we can eat them, i know i don't, but oh no, a lion is killed, they are running out of those in Zimbabwe. Is it because it had a dramatic story line? Everyone will forget about this "massive tragedy" in a few weeks anyway.

[chasing]

> Cause it had a nickname and was "famous"?

Well, yes.

> No one cares about animals being killed on mass so we can eat them, i know i don't, but oh no, a lion is killed, they are running out of those in Zimbabwe.

It's not about animal death, it's about killing an iconic animal (a lion) which we're already in danger of losing entirely. And -- to make it worse -- killing it for no other reason than for some kind of misguided personal glory. And on top of that doing so in a way that smacks of old school rapacious colonialism.

> Everyone will forget about this "massive tragedy" in a few weeks anyway.

Sadly, yes. And when you finally see that news report in a few decades about how the last wild lion finally got poached, well, you can rest assured that we'll all forget about that "massive tragedy" in a few weeks, as well. No harm, no foul.

[tsotha]

>It's not about animal death, it's about killing an iconic animal (a lion) which we're already in danger of losing entirely.

Lions are not endangered. There are 20,000 of them in Zimbabwe alone.

[pvaldes]

Divide by two

[pvaldes]

Census 2004: Total estimates between 660 and 1415 Lions remaining in the protected (well studied) areas of Zimbabwe. Includes 15 big locations for this small country.

Source:

Bauer, Chardonet & Nowell (2006) Status and distribution of the lion in E-S Africa.

Bauer,H.(2003) Lion conservation in West and Central Africa. PhD Thesis, Leiden University, The Netherlands

[Polecat]

> killing it for no other reason than for some kind of misguided personal glory.

So would the issue then cover hunting as well, would there still have been an outcry if he did it legally?

[chasing]

My outcry stems from the fact that a wild lion is a rare, beautiful creature and we should be extra careful with them because I think we all would like to live in a world where out children, grandchildren, and people far into the future can continue to experience and admire these creatures.

So if you're asking if I care about people hunting lions legally? I don't like it and find it offensive, cruel, and destructive.

If you're asking whether I care about people hunting deer or rabbits? I don't like it, but I also recognize that it's much more complicated. And I don't think we're in danger of hunting those species out of existence, so it's a bit of a lesser issue. Also, eating when you've hunted does change the equation. I'm not a vegetarian. I understand that animals die so I can eat meat. Whether that's moral is a completely different issue.

[nzp]

> My outcry stems from the fact that a wild lion is a rare, beautiful creature and we should be extra careful with them because I think we all would like to live in a world where out children, grandchildren, and people far into the future can continue to experience and admire these creatures.

So it's again just about "us", about our own perverse pleasure of experiencing and projecting our own suppressed wilderness fantasies onto other sentient beings? And if the creature isn't "beautiful" by some random standard, well, sucks to be them? That's the exact "logic" all the trophy hunters have, they want to experience the majestic wilderness and be a part of the "circle of life" by a playing a faked game of life and death with a powerful beast. After all, where's the grandeur in hunting a mere cow, right? Of course, all in a highly controlled and for them completely safe and alienated fashion, with practically zero risk of being killed themselves.

> Also, eating when you've hunted does change the equation.

Unless you're in a specific situation where you're environmentally forced to hunt in order to survive, I don't see how it changes anything. Would you be willing to let your cat or dog be hunted by your neighbors on the condition that they eat them?

[chasing]

No, I don't want you hunting and eating my cat.

[nzp]

I don't want to hunt and eat your cat either. :)

[JVIDEL]

>a wild lion is a rare

A Black Rhino is rare, extremely rare

Even Tigers have it worse than lions nowadays

[k-mcgrady]

>> "No one cares about animals being killed on mass so we can eat them"

Pretty sure there's quite a large group of people that care about that...

[Polecat]

Fair enough, but i don't think the large amount of people who got outraged about this do care.

[enraged_camel]

People form stronger bonds with animals that aren't edible.

On top of that, lions are regarded as noble animals, and this particular lion was killed in a dishonorable way, AND suffered for over 40 hours.

[nzp]

A lion is well edible. So is a cat, a dog, and just about any other creature people in various cultures regard as "pets".

As far as suffering goes, milk cows in particular suffer their whole lives being literally raped, having suction devices affixed to their nipples, and their children taken away from them almost as soon as they're born.

[Polecat]

>People form stronger bonds with animals that aren't edible.

True, but not with animals they have only seen picture of.

>On top of that, lions are regarded as noble animals, and this particular lion was killed in a dishonorable way, AND suffered for over 40 hours.

Dishonorable because it was a human who did it? Nature doesn't care about honor, really.

[enraged_camel]

No, dishonorable because the guy lured the lion out of the zoo with a piece of meat, then shot it with an arrow from his Jeep. Then the animal bled for 40 hours before they finally caught up to it and killed it. Then he bragged about how he's an amazing hunter.

[mondoshawan]

Any facts to back "forming bonds with"? I have many anecdotal stories of people related and unrelated forming bonds as strong as dogs with chickens and pigs which were later slaughtered and eaten.

[mondoshawan]

Any facts to back "forming bonds with"? I have