The senseless, brutal, and illegal killing of Cecil,
a beloved lion who inhabited Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe has had the
Internet abuzz for several days. The black-maned lion was a favorite of
visitors to the park, and was radio-collared by a British university for study
and monitoring. Then, one day, a rich American big game hunter, who had paid
$55K for the privilege, a safari tour operator, and a local guide committed
what has to be described as a heinous act. It is reliably reported that the
latter two lured Cecil from the park and that the hunter shot Cecil with a bow
and arrow. He only wounded him, though, and they had to track the poor animal
for 40 hours where he was shot with a rifle. That, by the way, is a common
practice of hunters. They don’t like to leave a wounded animal to suffer. But,
it didn’t stop there. Despite the fact that they had to have noticed the
tracking collar, they beheaded and skinned Cecil and left his corpse to rot.
When word of this deed got out—including a photo of
the hunter and the tour operator kneeling next to Cecil’s corpse—there was
outrage. From Zimbabweans, and from people around the world, but especially
here in the United States. As of now, the two Zimbabweans are in the justice
system, and Zimbabwean authorities have requested that the American be
extradited back to Zimbabwe to face trial.
Putting the justified outrage and the legal issues
aside for a moment, I’d like to address the issues that underlay this senseless
act. While I understand those who feel that this outpouring of sympathy for a
lion, when so many humans in Zimbabwe continue to suffer privation and abuse,
is misplaced, I think they miss the point. The causes of this act relate directly
to the troubles all Zimbabweans face.
These causes are greed, corruption, and a culture of
violence. The tour operator and the guide were, I believe, motivated by simple
greed. After all, $55K, or whatever portion of it they received, is a powerful
motivator. That, along with the culture of corruption that I witnessed during
the three years that I served as the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe lead to people
doing terrible things sometimes. I still remember with disgust the local
official who threatened to take over the remaining game parks in the country
and who encouraged the locals to barbecue all the animals. Until such unbridled
greed and uncontrolled corruption is brought under control, incidents such as
this will continue to take place.
When greed and corruption are combined with a
culture of violence, and here I hold many of my fellow Americans as being as
guilty as many Zimbabweans, you have a potent witch’s brew that inevitably
leads to disaster. In the U.S., our obsession with guns leads to frequent acts
of violence that kills not animals but people. This is something we have to
deal with—but, as yet, we seem to lack the political will. Zimbabweans need to
do the same.
Cecil was not the first victim of this insidious
concoction. Who can forget the Facebook photo of the woman kneeling next to the
corpse of a giraffe she’d shot during a safari? She, like the killer of Cecil,
had no doubt paid a large sum for the privilege of killing this otherwise
harmless creature. And, while we're at it, don't forget the other animals that fall prey to trophy hunters and poachers.
Until we all—governments and people on both sides of
the Atlantic and around the world—commit to serious efforts to curb corruption,
reduce the lure of greed, and address the issues of weapons and violence, we
will continue to see such outrageous acts. We need to do this, not just for
lions and giraffes and other innocent animals, but for all the people who
suffer and die because of greed, corruption and violence.
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