On Tuesday, July 28, The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force confirmed that Walter James Palmer of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, paid at least $50,000 to track and kill a beloved and well-known lion at the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Cecil, the unsuspecting victim, was a beautiful 13-year-old lion that had been wearing a GPS collar as part of an Oxford University research project. This team of Oxford Conservationists had been tracking Cecil for 7 years, and the lion had become both a local favorite and an attraction for safari-goers.

Walter Palmer, a successful dentist, had hired a company to help him hunt and kill this lion. His two guides assisted him in tying a dead animal to the back of a truck in order to lure the lion out of the park — this was necessary due to laws against killing animals within the park’s boundaries. Reportedly, the hunters shone a spotlight on Cecil, shot him with a bow and arrow that did not kill him, and then proceeded to track him for 40 hours before fatally shooting him with a gun. Cecil was then skinned, and his head was taken as a presumable “prize.” His body was left at the scene.

An extraordinary number of questions arise from this information. Questions that can only be answered by Walter James Palmer himself. Namely, why are you shooting a lion in the first place? I am unquestionably curious to know why a human being would be compelled to do that. How is that fun? Do you have some muddled complex where you feel better about yourself after killing other living things that are stronger than you? Furthermore, what pride is there in killing a lion? I cannot find a single point of satisfaction in pulling a trigger and watching an animal drop dead. It just seems to me that because it is so trivially easy to shoot something, doing so is devoid of meaning. If you bested the lion in single combat with nothing but your bare hands that would be one thing, but is there anything at all “brave” about shooting a recently wounded animal?

These questions are precursors to a larger, more convoluted ethical dilemma that has often riddled my brain and been the subject of many scientific and sociological debates: What gives humans the notion that we are superior to all other living things? Why does society state that the murder of one species is less tragic than another? Some argue that we are superior beings because we are self-aware and capable of imagination. In my opinion, this does not at all justify the killing of innocent living things. It can even be argued that our cognitive prowess gives the human species immense potential for destruction. We have clearly done more harm than good to this planet that we are lucky to call home, and I doubt that will stop any time soon.

By stating that humans are superior to all other living things, (which is incredibly anthropocentric in itself), we are judging other species based on uniquely human characteristics. It is a bit like saying that Tom Brady is more important than Stephen Hawking because Hawking can't throw a football; if you change the frame of reference, you change the judgement of importance. Apart from the human race’s sentience, imagination and ability to wield tools, we are still driven by the same fundamental evolutionary laws as all other species. Our intelligence has merely been the adaptation that has secured our competitive success. And, are we sincerely proud to be part of a species that boasts Donald Trump as a member? I think not. On a simpler note, pain is pain. We may feel and receive pain in a different way than other animals, but they still experience the same suffering and torment.

There has been incredible backlash towards the dentist. While there is absolutely no defending Walter Palmer in this horrific tragedy, there are more pressing issues than bashing him on the Internet and leaving threatening voicemails and notes at his practice. He is not the problem. Would we have even heard about this if the lion was not a well-known and beloved lion in the Hwange National Park? How many people before this man have done the exact same thing and gone unnoticed? The Internet and legions of other animal rights activists have decided to crucify this man. What he did is unacceptable, and I cannot imagine a person who enjoys murdering and skinning an animal, but I believe this conversation needs to be expanded beyond brainstorming suitable punishments for the dentist.

I think that the bigger issue here is that big game hunting (i.e., killing elephants, cheetahs, white rhinos and other precarious species) is legal. Furthermore, canned hunting is legal. For those of you unfamiliar with this practice, it essentially includes tourists visiting different countries in Africa and paying a large sum of money to shoot a fenced-in animal until it dies. Many tourists travel to Africa because they want to see lions. Occasionally, there is the opportunity to pay money to play and pose with lion cubs and other lions, but these lion cubs do not stay small and tame forever and the animal parks no longer have use or space for them. These animals cannot fend for themselves in the wild because they were raised in captivity, so they are sold to organizations that use them in canned hunts. These animals cannot run away and potentially would not even try; they have been raised and coddled by humans for their entire lives.

As an avid animal lover, I do not agree with what this man did. However, I believe we can and should use this opportunity to talk about animal cruelty and the legality of canned hunting instead of ruining one person’s life. Visit Campaign Against Canned Hunting to learn more about canned hunting and see how you can raise awareness or make a donation.